Wildtrak vs Badlands sas 2 door for winter driving

[LSW]

Hi,

My questions are:

Does the rear sway bar and HOSS 3.0 suspension of the 2 door wildtrak contribute to a safer/more stable on-road winter driving machine given the relativley short 100" wheelbase of the 2 door?

Does it make any sesnse to go for a badlands 2 door and then install a rear sway bar if necessary (do the 2 doors come with the mounting points machined in?). Or is putting a manual front sway disconnect on the WT if desired someday a better choice?

Will the BL front sway bar disconnect be at all useful in winter conditions with snow of varying depths piled up everywhere with ice underneath?

We already have a 4 door outer banks non sas for my wife but I am looking to upgrade my B.Sport to a two door full size. I have had the sport get stuck in deep snow when it beaches itself and can't get traction; sometimes plows don't arrive on the side streets for many days after heavy snowfall. Driving will be 90% paved city street with 10% gravel/trails.

Anyhow, the vehicle is for driving in Alaska which involves a lot of mixed winter driving. Of course I will go with the full time 4 auto and swap to winter tires every season.

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[nhmountainman]

Same same.

 

[Oldhippie]

I would think ya don’t want sway bars in heavy snow/ice…they are for carving dry pavement twisties…

 

[lapazleo]

Apples to apples. A redundant question. Sway bars have nothing to do with snow driving by the way.

 

[Fly]

Nokian hakkapelliitas come in 315/70/17. That’s going to be the best thing for winter on-road driving.

 

[AKBronc49]

They will handle the same.

I'm in Anchorage and this my 3rd winter with my 4dr Sasquatch on Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT2 studded tires. Very solid, sure footed winter vehicle.

 

[zombie]

3rd option, makes no difference.

 

[Min_Ahn]

It’s all about the tires

 

[USSCajun]

Big Bend with winter tires, saved you $15,000.

 

[3People1Body]

Do you like Blue or Orange? Pick? I picked Blue.

 

[LSW]

OK, thanks everyone, it seems like it doesn't matter much either way!

 

[Overcooked]

have decent tires and maintain reasonable speed, they are the same

 

[0ne]

Rear sway bar on 2dr helps a lot with brake dive and tightens up handling.

 

[FilmcoBronci]

.
[/QUOTE]
3rd season with our 6G working in blizzards in the Rockies. On and off road. Sway bars and Hoss have zero to do with your snow question.
Tires Tires tires.
We have a 4Dr and 2 Dr. Non sas added/Bilstiens
4Dr is lighter in the a*s but a Winter snow rated tire is your single most important investment.

For us, on some remote film shoots, lift and ground clearance for off road snow and rut depth was a specific issue more important than sway bar flex and articulation, but tires even helped solve that.

6G’s are brilliant snow with proper Winter rated tires. We use AT3 Wildpeaks , a versatile tire for our work on and off road. My producer buddies in Alaska ALL have Nokians if that is useful info.
Talk of Sway bar and Hoss is a distraction. .
Tires are your main and only concern.
Good luck. They’re magic rides.

 

[LSW]

Thanks all. Like I said, I’d get the studded tires which are only the nokians for the SAS 315/70r17 35’s afaik (unless you have studs custom added to other brands?). That's just a given. All of my vehicles have always had a set of studded winter tires which probably get more time on the vehicle than the summer tires.

I took the Outer Banks 4 door on some wintery, but plowed mountain roads today and the thing that stood out is how rough even the plowed roads are at 30-40 mph. Lots of hard bumps in the non-SAS outer banks which I presume has HOSS 1.0. This was with General Altimax Arctic 255/70R18 studded tires. Only felt some back end drift a few times on the downhills with a little bit of deep powder. Would be fun comparing the three HOSS levels in these types of conditions. Overall even this OBX is pretty fun to drive in the snow so far!

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