Fireside Debate Poll on tires in the snow

[Cherokeester]

Lets's talk something other than Toyotas. Your terrain is snow covered roads, highways, byways, interstates and city. Just like what we have had in the last week. Think only regular roads, not 4x4 extreme trails and stuff. What is the best tire and air pressure that would give your 4x4 the safest and best performance. If your idea is not listed then speak up!

 

[SLC97SR5]

Narrow, street psi and a super mild highway tread works well for me.

My Mud and All terrains don't hold a candle to the highway rib tread that I installed on the F350.

The smaller the void in the tread, and the more sipes, the larger surface area of snow the tread can hold. Snow adheres to snow better than rubber. The MT's clean out too easy and doesn't allow snow to pack in and the AT's load up and don't have the siping to grip other snow particles.

 

[Spork]

So... just to confuse things, what's wide and what's narrow? 31" tire that is 10" across may be considered wide, but a 33" tire 10" across may be considered narrow.

I got a set of Dura-tracks that are great in the snow, I've also heard them referred to as a hybrid tire because they aren't aggressive enough to be considered a mud terrain, but are more aggressive than the average All terrain. I run them at normal pressure and they work great.

Maybe I'm just difficult today, I've found things vary so much with how a vehicle performs in the snow. Vehicle weight, weight distribution, tire size/pressure/design, vehicle power, etc all change how things work in the snow. I had a front wheel drive at one point that sucked in the snow, Chevy econobox/pre-Geo variety, whatever tires it had sucked in the snow. (small/narrow/low rolling resistance), my rear wheel drive Mercedes I had at the same time was great in the snow, had normal car tires on it but the weight was pretty evenly split front to rear and it handled great in the snow, made me wonder what all the front wheel drive advocates were smoking. I used to drive a Samurai over Sardine Canyon for work and it was running all terrain 215/75/15 tires and handled great, it also didn't have enough power to get you into trouble, max speed was 35mph (downhill) when there was 6" of snow on the road. You would get there but it wouldn't be fast.

 

[DAA]

Tires I've driven on slick roads the past few weeks...

KM2's - suck city! As expected from any MT on slippery pavement.
KO's - much better, could live with them for DD on slick roads. Actually, I have DD them, for as long as they have existed...
Kumho Road Venture AT's - somewhat surprisingly, to me at least, these seem to work a bit better than the good old KO's on snowy roads - they were CHEAP, too.
Falken Rocky Mountain ATS (Wild Peak) - best of this bunch, in my opinion. First time I've had them, they're on the 100 series I DD, these will be my next on my CTD too (replacing KO's).

Running them all at normal street pressure.

Note, the two I think are working best, the Kumhos and the Falkens are the ones that look the least aggressive/most like highway tires. They are also the ones that roll smoothest and quietest on dry pavement. The Kumhos were way cheap, have them on my Son's ZJ, been very pleased with the purchase. The Falkens are on the car I DD, a pig of a Toyota, they were about $150 less for the set than KO's, and for the application, I think I really like them better. If I don't get my CTD sold, I'm pretty sure I'll be replacing the KO's on it now with Falkens. We have KO's on both my CTD and my Wife's Denali right now, and they were on the 'Cruiser before the Falkens went on, so I've driven them the most this winter (and many previous winters). Been running KO's since they hit the market, have worn out I don't know how many sets on how many vehicles, but it has been a LOT. Have always liked them, still do, but I think newer designs are starting to pass them by and I'm not sure I'll be buying any more of them (but then again, I might...). KM2's are on my LJ, they aren't any better or any worse than any other MT I've ever owned on slick roads, which is to say, they suck for that particular situation. That's not what I bought them for though, and I've really liked them off road and even on dry pavement (quiet and smooth for MT's), pretty sure that's what I'll buy again for the LJ.

- DAA

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I run 33x10.50 KO's in the winter at 35psi and they work well. If they make the Duratrac in that size I may try them next, heard a lot of good things about them.

Did the folks who voted for a wider A/T at low pressure read the requirements of the poll? I definitely don't want a wide, aired down tire on the street in the snow.

 

[Hickey]

I've driven at least 1 million miles on snow covered roads at this point in my career. Type of snow and temperature make a lot of difference, but in general, a narrow tire will give better traction since it will mean more weight concentrated in a smaller area. Wide tires spread the load and float. Wide tires also offer more resistance when you encounter slush, where a pizza cutter slices through it easier.

Sipes are very important for snowpack and ice. Aggressive tread cleans out faster. My favorite winter tire is the Cooper AT3. Tons of sipes and aggressive tread. 55,000 mile warrantee and quiet on road. Bought a set for my wife's Grand Cherokee and love em. When my Rubicon BFG muds wear out, it will also get Cooper AT3's.

 

[thenag]

Goodyear Duratrac's are really really good on snow. I am running a stock size on my f250 and it does really well. You can put studs in them if you really want to. I haven't run a whole lot of other truck tires in the snow but they seem to work better than most.

(Of course my FWD Fiesta with Michelle X-Ice's on it is a much better snow car so long as the snow is less than 4 inches or so)

I would run Duratrac's on my jeep if they made them in a 37 inch size. but they don't so I "have to" run the kevlar mtr's...

Nathan

 

[sixstringsteve]

The only time I like my KM2's (or any mud terrain for that matter) is when the snow is over 3" deep. For all other snow driving, I prefer LT/AT tires. Something like the newer Big O A/T. Not very aggressive, lots of sipes, lots of flex to grip the pavement.

 

[JL Rockies]

I've only used Goodyear MT/R so I don't know it compared to anything else. I'm all about tall and skinny 40 psi.

 

[Unimog]

Tall and skinny. On the road, more edges and sipes are better. Bigger lugs are only better when it gets deep.

 

[LT.]

I am a little late to the party but, here in New Mexico i live at 7300 feet. Years ago we used to get more snow than we have received in the last 15 years or so. With that in mind the best vehicle i have ever driven in super deep snow has been a 1985 Toyota land cruiser fj 60. It had some old school bias ply mud and snows. I think they were a 7.50x15 or 16. Super agressive and that year we had a four foot snow fall over night. No chains just four wheel drive and we drove home to the house which sat at 8500 feet. Oddly enough the second best vehicle i have ever driven in the snow is my little ford escape. With 245/75/r16s and good tread this vehicle is all but unstoppable in all bit the deapest snow. I have driven to the jemez mountains with a little more than two feet of fresh virgin snow and the escape never even slipped a tire. Maybe because of the traction control and the lack of horse power.
At any rate, tall skinny tires is the secret run at street pressures with lots of sipping is the hot ticket. Next i would say is the more equal split of weight amongst the drive tires. In my case both were SUV's. Four wheel drive or all wheel drive.

LT.

 

[Maverick]

Oops, didn't read the poll requirements and voted big fat mud.

Dunno what tall/skinny is anymore. Tires on the trucks range from 275 to 315, 11-13" wide, 33-35" tall. Seems skinny-ish. May try 325/65r18's next winter. That seems fat. The 295/70r18's Nitto's I have suck in deep snow. Not bad on packed.

BFG AT KO and Toyo AT have been good for me. Nitto Terra Grappler AT not so good. New IROKs pretty good, but I'll take the AT/KO overall.

Gonna try out some Artic Claw or IceX or Blizzaks soon on the wife's car.

 

[flexyfool]

A skinny BFG AT with fresh tread. Something like a 285/85R16. I had a set of these many years ago on an '85 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup while living in northern NY. I could drive 20 MPH faster than anything else on the road in bad weather. This was in 20" fresh snow, a couple inches of slush, or hardpack. The state salts the roads so much that you rarely see ice on any paved street, but I expect they would work good on ice too. I ran the same tread sized 37x12.5R17 in Idaho 5-6 years ago. Good on ice. Average on snow and slush. Too wide so floats.

Tire pressure has little effect.

 

[Maverick]

So after almost having to chain up weds night while pulling a 2-place snowmobile trailer out of my driveway, I fired the Nitto's for winter duty and pulled the trigger on some Duratrac's.

Driving up to my friend's cabin in Timberlakes tonight I can tell you they WORK. (they'd better). I'd have been stuck a couple times, and def would have had to chain up.

I'll be putting the Nitto's back on in March. Looking for some 99-2010 Stuperduty 18" rims.