Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Best AT/Mud tires for Snow & Ice?

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by Laythrom » Sun Aug 11, 2013 3:32 am

Okay, long story short, I'm a bit new to the whole TB/Off Road scene and I am currently trying to research new tires for a future purchase. I am looking at 33 x 12.5 (which is 315/70R17 I believe) but was wondering what the best tires would be for snow and ice. I live in Northeast Ohio and have to deal with that crap around 4 months out of the year. Originally I was looking at the Goodyear Wrangler MT/R until I saw several complaints about winter usage. Honestly, I want a good tire (with decent wear) that is good during the winter and since I'm looking at $250-350 per tire, I don't wish to be suprised. Anyone have any suggestions?
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by djthumper » Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:20 am

Good luck with what you are trying to figure out. I am sure a few of the guys will tell you what they are running.

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by v7guy » Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:25 am

The tires that come to mind ( and may not be an A/T) are the Duratracs, the gaurd dogs and I've read some favorable stuff about the Trxus. You'll need to do a little more reading to make a decision. But I think those are a decent place to start.
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by boog2006 » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:41 am

I believe the 315's are 35's and 285's are 33's.

I like the Duratracs so far...but have had little winter weather miles on them.

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by mikekey » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:49 am

boog2006 wrote:I believe the 315's are 35's and 285's are 33's.

I like the Duratracs so far...but have had little winter weather miles on them.

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Welcome Mat, I have family from Youngstown, spent many summers in Oh and plenty of christmases there when I was younger.

315 isn't always 35" tire. I believe Hardtrailz noted that on the BFG they where in fact 33's. My Nitto's are 315 but don't measure out to 35 either. They're 34.60. So it can depend on the tire. Being FL now I don't have much advice about snow.
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by ErikSS » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:56 am

My 315/70/17's are close to what they claim on BFGs website. Well.. my rears are a bit extra worn. LOL 34.4 x 12.4
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by Moots1288 » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:03 am

I am waiting to try out my MT/Rs in the snow.. I've read alot of good reviews about them and duratracs.
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by bilit66 » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:48 am

I am running the Hankook Dynapro Atm. Quiet but aggressive.
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by TangoBravo » Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:41 pm

I use treadwright products on all my vehicles and I am very happy with them. On my TB I have guard dogs. Put this set on last fall and they did well through winter, looks like they will have enough tread left to go another winter. They did great in our snow hands down best I've use to date. On ice they did good as well, for the climate I have and how hard I am on tires I have no reason to change. But I caution you these tires are not for everyone, read around about the pros and cons before you buy any tire BUT especially a treadwright tire.
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by Opeth » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:42 pm

I have Cooper Discoverer STT on mine, made it though a Syracuse, NY winter with ease. (We are one of the snowiest cities in the USA) Only time I used 4WD with them was to crawl deep snowy hills to my GF's house, or to bust through the street plows mess at the end of my driveway. Otherwise they have so much traction I never need more than 2WD with these tires in the winter.
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by HARDTRAILZ » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:05 pm

315 is typically a 35, but all brands, styles, sizes can vary quite abit. My buddy's km2s in 315 75 16 are 33.5. My old 35 12.5 were nearly an inch under my 315 70 17 guard dogs measured right at 35 inches new.
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by Laythrom » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:32 pm

My apologies on the mix up with tire sizes in my initial post; I didn't realize my mistake until reading through some of the comments. I do appreciate all of the input and will continue to thumb through all of these manufacture's info data and reviews.
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by HawkTown28 » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:32 pm

A good all terrain tire will typically do better in the snow than any mud terrain, but if you are looking for a mud terrain then Toyo open country MT's are a great tire. I believe they have a great warranty , good tread life, and as for muds go, they have good wet and snow traction.
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by soldier32mp » Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:02 pm

I'm running the BFGs all terrain I live in pa and the ones I have on now are on there 3 rd year with a lot of meat still left the don't flex too much the side walls are stiff and wear evenly ..
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by SmokeyMcBlazer » Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:50 pm

I ran the interco trxus' on my old 4runner. fantastic tire in the snow and on ice. I rarely used the 4wd for these things at all. the only knock on the trxus' was their wet pavement manners. I really love those tires tho, they just look mean. once i lift my tb those bad boys will go right back underneath.
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by Wahugg » Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:53 pm

Duratracs hands down.

I've put about 25k on them now over the past year and a half in both Michigan and Ohio snow. They're winter rated, studable, and have a great tread pattern. In my OPINION, they are about as good as a tire as you can get before you start considering tracks ;)

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by navigator » Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:50 am

SmokeyMcBlazer wrote:I ran the interco trxus' on my old 4runner. fantastic tire in the snow and on ice. I rarely used the 4wd for these things at all. the only knock on the trxus' was their wet pavement manners. I really love those tires tho, they just look mean. once i lift my tb those bad boys will go right back underneath.


Wedon't get much snow/ice where I live, I'm just curious how they can be great on ice and poor on wet highway. Maybe you are talking about crunchy snow/ice vs sheet/black ice. We don't get a lot of snow/ice here but I wouldn't think much would work well on sheet ice except for chains/studs.

When I lived near Raleigh, we had a little snow one time. It was only like an inch maybe but it was really cold/fine snow and on the highway it packed really hard like ice. That was some slick stuff riding home. I had a little extended cab Ranger 2wd. It was really light in the rear. I started to stop on the side of the road and see if I could find something heavy to throw in the back to give it more weight but I was afraid if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get moving again. My 30 minute commute took over 3hrs and there was only snow on about 1/2 of the commute home. I know some folks it took a lot longer to get home.
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by TBYODA » Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:10 am

navigator wrote: My 30 minute commute took over 3hrs and there was only snow on about 1/2 of the commute home. I know some folks it took a lot longer to get home.

Sounds like the time when my sister lived in SC for while. She got up drove to work couldn't figure out why very few people were on the road. Streets had about 1" of snow. When she got work her boss told her to go home because the county was close due to the snow, only one snow plow for whole county. Being from NY she did think anything of the 1" of snow on the road. Haha
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by navigator » Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:17 am

snow in SE NC means you stay home.
From what I can tell ever since that episode I mentioned, the central part of the state begins spraying brine solution liberally if there is even a mention of snow. Here in the SE part of the state, you just wait till it melts. That is usually only a couple hrs but sometimes it can hang around a day or two.
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by TBYODA » Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:26 pm

Two words. Snow tires. ;)
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