JSharp

I'm looking at buying a set of tires and steel wheels to use off road and in the winter. Most of the people I've talked to who have run tires like BFG MT's in the winter say they are not good on hard packed snow and ice.

What about the Dunlop Rover RT?
http://tires2.digiknow.com/dunlop/di...ea=Light+Truck

These look like they'd be much better in the snow and adequate for the wheeling I do.

Opinions??

hillbilly

For winter wheeling (I'm assuming you talking about powder/packed snow conditions) you'd be wise to use a narrower tire. Your average mud tire tends to be wider, which help keep your rig on top of the soggy stuff so it doesn't sink and bury itself up to the axles in mud.

The exact opposite is needed in a winter/snow tire. The narrower the tire, the better it cuts thru the snow to get to the harder/packed surface below for traction. A wide tire used in heavy snow conditions will tend to plane on top of the snows surface, permitting the wheels to slip/slide.

Or course, all of this depends on your GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) and the width of tire desired. A light truck with really wide tires will slip worse than a heavier truck with the same tires.

:xmas13:

PistonSlap

Those Dunlops are pinned for studs. For ice traction, studs are great. On dry roads, they are very noisy. Most states limit the months that you can run studs. They would work great if you use them only as a second set of tires that you put on when the conditions require.

Without the studs, they are just another mud tires, and will not work that great on packed snow and ice.

jacksonpt

Nothign works well on ice and slick hardpack. Get a decent tire, have it siped, and/or run studs. For hardpack that you can get some grip on, run an aggressive tread and air down to get the biggest footprint you can.

AznSky

Ok i'm sorta confused. One person says narrower tire is better for snow, other says get more tread on snow. Which is correct?

I'm guessin it matters if it's hard packed or soft and slushy?

jacksonpt

Yup, that's excatly it. If it's a real powdery snow, then a narrow tire will cut through the snow more easily, getting tread on whatever is below the powder. If it's a hardpacked snow, then you can't really cut through it. That's why you need to get more tread on it.

When talking about traction in snow, are you talking about on road or off? Around here... hard packed snow on road quickly turns to ice from the pressure.

JSharp

This is what we get too. Wet snow that packs down and then later turns to ice. I'm sure no tire will work all that well once it gets to ice other than one with studs.

So I guess my question should have been qualified a little better. I was talking about on road usage.

Looking at the Dunlop it looked like it might be a better compromise on mixed dry pavement/fresh snow/packed snow than a typical mud tire.

JSharp

I hadn't really thought about studs. I'm going to use these for 3-4 months in the winter, and to wheel the rest of the year.

I'm sure they won't work as well off road as a lot of tires but it seems with stock tires I can already get to where I run out of ground clearance before I run out of traction most of the time. Unless it's very muddy that is...

mtnfreak

If you're going to get snow tires, get a snow-specific or AT tire with studs. If you want a good all around tire for snow & wheeling & road then get a good AT tire. The Radial Rover AT, Bridgestone Dueller AT, Cooper Discovery AT, etc. would be your best bet if you want one set of tires. Sounds like you need to do some other work to your vehicle before you need to worry about off-road tire issues.

JSharp

Yes, I have the problems every one else probably has. Never enough ground clearance, not enough flex etc. Mine's just worse. My stock wheels are already starting to look beat up too and I haven't even wheeled the truck very hard...

4RunnerFever

For winter specific, take a look at Nokian tires. I had a set on a SAAB and they were absolutely amazing.

Hope this helps.

MO-Runner

Interco makes the TRXUS Mud Terrain and the SSR series, both of which are siped and supposed to be good on snow and ice. (Well as good as possible I guess) Am still up in the air myself one which to go with to replace my ProComp MTs.

RidgeRunner

I have BFG T/A all terrain and run them year around. The snowflake emblem on the sidewall qualifies them here in Oregon as "Traction Device Tires" ie: the same as studs or chains. Now, before someone objects, I know that these tires by themselves will not be comparable to studs or chains which I've used both extensively.

But, if you get a pair, have them siped, and run them year around, you'll find that they will do an overall good job for you. Hey, one pair of tires!

In a 4wd vehicle you rarely need chains on most plowed surfaces, ice is the big problem, mainly for stopping.

my .02

Mick

Mr. Thompson

I could be wrong, but I think the Rover R/T has the Severe Snow Conditions snowflake symbol as well.

At TireTrends.com, the Rover R/T is classified as a Snow Tire (not a Winter Tire).

HTH,
Mr. T

PistonSlap

As the smartass Bridgestone rep said when someone asked the very same question "Have you ever seen a narrow snow shoe?" Wider is better. For soft snow, hard pack or ice.

Mr. Thompson

Deep snow = wide tire

Moderate snow, slush, ICE = narrow tire

'Nuff said.

JSharp

It does. The Dunlop site shows it as a snow + off road truck tire, which is what originally brought about my interest in it...

hillbilly

15+ inches of fresh snow + 4 wide mudder tires + 5200 lbs. 4Runner = SLED

No way you're gonna keep your truck on top of deep snow, no matter what tires you running. As far as the skinny snow shoe comparison, you can't compare the average 180lbs. man whose weight, when wearing snow shoes, is spread over a several square feet to a 5200lbs. truck whose foot print would be very lucky to exceed 4 total square feet. It would take tires 6x wider than you could every fit into the wheel wells to provide any 'snow shoe' effect....

PistonSlap

The point is that you gain nothing with a narrow tire. The goal of snow travel is not to dig down, it is to move forward. Unless you are in a situation where you don't have the horsepower, the wider the better. The more surface area you have, the better you will move forward.

hillbilly

I disagree. You can't move forward without firm footing.

At one time I owned an '89 Ford Probe (FWD) (no laughing). Stock tires were 185/70-14. I bought custom alloys/tires that were 225/50-15 (same radius, lower profile, and much wider), which is not unusual by todays standards.

Living in Nebraska many years ago, an early snow storm popped up before I was had a chance to put my stock steels/tires back on for the winter. Small storm (couple of inches of wetter/slushy stuff), but it hit shortly before rush hour. My ride was all over the road. Everytime I stopped (which was also thrilling) I had a miserable time getting started (tried feathering the pedal, rolling starts, etc), and even the slightest grade proved almost impossible. Tracking up a grade was horrible (left, then right, then left again).

In contrast, a year or so later with the stock 185/70-14 on, I made it to work by 0700 the morning after a 12+ inch snow storm on untreated roads that pretty much shut down the entire city. (The under carriage/suspension of my ride was frozen solid for nearly a week, but I didn't have half the difficulties as with the other tires).

And Nebraska's FLAT compared to many other parts for the country. The slightly wider 225/50-15's foot print was to much for my ~3000lbs car. Handled/cornered like a dream any other time, but put a little snow under it and it was useless.

My point is, if you go a little wider than stock you probably won't notice much difference, but fairly large leap in width may prove more trouble than you expected.