I was working at Mammoth Mountain for the past two months (I saw "was" because I tore my ACL and am out for the season now :mad: ) and a friend and I were talking about which tires were better. My mud terrain's (which are wider) or the narrow ones that the tow trucks and company vehicles had (I'm assuming the narrow tires are better hence why everyone had them). Thanks.

 

The only experiences I have had with snowtires were narrow ones. They seemed to hook up better and were definitly better when driving in slush and stuff. How do you like your MT's on the highway? Do they hum? I love the look of them tires but my pavement to dirt ratio isn't high enought o justify them.

 

The most important thing for winter traction seems to be tread design. Having said that and having serious winters up here, I believe a narrow tire is better. The weight of the vehicle is not dispersed as much (as with wider tires) so pushing the 4 (or more) narrow tires into the snow as much as possible from the weight of the vehicle, will allow the snow-biting shoulders of the tire, and the sipes to grip snow & ice a little better.

On wider tires, the weight of the vehicle is dispersed more. This will not push the snow-biting shoulders of the wider tires into the snow as much and probably not really allow the sipes to open up for extra grip.

 

tread pattern really does matter. tires with a tight patter (like my dayton timberlines) aren't good in the snow cause they just get clogged up. BFG M/Ts should be pretty good, cause they will throw the snow off... just like they do with mud.

 

Hey UkMyers,
Yea they hum a little, not as much as I expected tough . The only thing I don't like is that they killed my milage a little, because they don't like to roll as far as A/T's (I guess because of the tread pattern). They hold really good in the snow, but I managed to get myself stuck twice (super deep, at least two feet). Thanks for the input everyone.