Here's the deal. This coming winter will be my first with my 4runner lifted on the 35" BFG A/T's. Last winter was my first with a 4 wheel drive vehicle period. I'm the guy that gets out there after the big storm though and goes for coffee when everyone else stays home....and I'm usually doing it in some front wheel drive I own. I LOVE driving in snow.

My deal is, I have been thinking about the upcoming winter and what to expect from this truck. What is the behavior of these BFG A/T's in the snow...either packed road snow or loose freshly laid snow? Also, since I am running 35x12.50's (fyi: open diff front and rear), are these 60lb tires gonna cause alot of sliding around?

I want to be able to get out after that fresh storm (I hope we get this year in PA!) and really be able to get around. Should I air down some for these conditions or just stay where I am?

I just recall a friend who said he had a truck on 36's and it was a "sled" in the snow. This is coming from a guy who always has trucks. Having always had a car, I don't think I can be disappointed....at least I hope not.

 

I grew up in Cleveland. (No Browns / Steelers comments please, my whole family is from the 'Burgh) I ran BFG ATs up there and they did just fine. Although, I never ran a 12" wide tire. In my opinion narrower tires do much better in snow. My guess is a wide tire like that is going to cause some issues for you, regardless of tread.

 

I've run both a 9.5 and a 12.5. Both were fine.

I'd say this: if you know how to drive a 2wd in the snow, you'll be fine with a 4wd. Key is, don't drive it like a race car.

My advice is to take the truck out in the first snow, and find an empty parking lot. Slide the truck around, get a feel of when it cuts loose, and how it handles in turns, as well as get a feel for the distance a stop is going to take. Mess around for a while, and you'll get a good feel for the truck, without worrying about accidents.

 

Wait, doesn't everybody do this when it snows??

 

(Go steelers).


anyways Ive used all sorts of diffrent tires in the snow. Ive always liked BFG's in the snow. I had them on my 4runner when i first got it, so did my dad. We both loved them in the snow. I had some crapo cooper h\t tires on my 4runner two winters ago when my auto hubs went bad. I could barely make it anywhere. Getting to work was a scary experience.

 

Absolutely....I didn't know there was any other way to learn to drive in snow. Getting sideways in parking lot over and over makes it no biggie when it happens on the road.

Bump for more experiences with these BFG's.

I've been doing some Googl'ing on these and I am reading a ton of good things on the BFG A/T's in the snow because of the heavy siping. I've seen pics of guys in 20+ inches on A/T's...that's awesome! Just need to get my bumper built before winter in case I have to "tap" something...lol.

 

My cousin has BFG AT's and they seemed to work OK.

I have 14" wide swampers and they ROCK in the snow! Although we never get very deep snow. 7-8" at the most.

 

I've got BFG 285/70 R17 T/A KO's on my FJ and the Cascade ice and snow here in Washington was no match for them last winter. I tried cutting loose and I was a little disappointed because of how well they grab and track. Even with all the FJ high tech gadgets turned off it still took a fair amount of coaxing just to get the tires to slide. Donuts in the parking lot, couldn't do it with the all wheel drive. I'd get about 1/4 of the way into it and they'd grab and off I go in a straight line

Maybe I'll have to find a bigger lot next winter and give it a better try

 

My 35" BFG AT's I had on my old 84 seems to do fine when I was stationed at Ft Richardson, Alaska...though on a light weight truck that wide of tire is not the greatest choice for winter roads...you would really only need to air down for some very deep stuff...

 

i run bfg's on my bronco whick i plow with. i have 2 sets...one 12" and one 10.5". the 10.5's do much better in the snow in my opinion. i got caught one time in december when it snowed and i still had my 12's on. they did the job, but it seemed like i had to work the truck a little more. keep in mind this is me pushing snow. driving was ok, but they dont call them floatation tires for no reason.

 

Well i had some on my 92 Runner. They were good, not great. Very well in packed snow and good on ice compared to other tires. I was not so pleased on how fast they packed, and the lack of clearing when the snow became wet, BUT it is an a/t. so no surprise there. Thats pretty much the negative I have, no clearing of the treads. Its funny when you park and look at the truck and all you see for treads is white snow.

 

I had 31x9.5s on my 2gen when I got it that were almost bald and still had no trouble getting around in winter [not what I would recommend doing].
On my 3gen I have the 31x10.5s and they are the same however they will break loose on black ice very easily where as the 9.5s would not... could be other issues affecting this however...

IMO the BFG is an excellent winter tire... like others have said though go out to an empty lot after a snow fall and practice to get used to the feel of your truck... I personally love poping the clutch and 'torqueing' the back end out to make a nice "square turn"...

'zilla is right also the treads don't clear very well FWIWthere are other choices that might be better at this if it is a factor for you...

 

i have 31x10.5 on my 3rd gen ex cab truck and i beat the hell outta these tires all year round. they do awsome everywhere and they havent really let me down yet, not even in snow. last winter i drove 30 miles to work and 30 miles back everyday snowing or not, and there was some pretty bad snow some nights when i went to drive home. i would pass cars and seem like i had total control. just dont gas it too much on the highway tho, as anyone knows yotas have a ▓▓▓▓ ton of power...haha...but they will break loose because of the light weight of the truck, esspecially on that damn black ice. i did almost slide the truck sideways into a bridge goin 50mph, but as soon as i let off the gas the tires grabbed and pulled me back straight. just make sure they are at the right air pressure so you get all of the tread possible on the ground. very good all around tire. they dont say baja champion on them for nothing right?

 

IMHO the BFG ATs are ok in the snow..

But the will not beat a dedicated set of snow (studded even better) snow tires.
I run BFG AT in a 31x10.5 in the summer

In the winter I run a set of studded Nokia Hakkapellittas in a 235/85R16 (33x9.5) ona chevy offset rim (pushed out) so that the overall track width is the same...

With dual tru tracks - its a great snow travel truck

 

one word ,flawless!! they work GREAT in snow i had them just for that ,but watever tire you put make sure you get some weight back there in the bed ,get sand bags at least 4 of hem and your good!!

 

Studded tires are great but not every jurisdiction allows them and they can rip up the road and also injure people if one flys off...

 

captain obvious strikes again

 

So what about the M/T's? I need to get a good set of tires for mud/snow/trails/light crawling... with balls to the wall traction, and I've got BFG Rugged Trails, and about the only rugged trail they handle is a gravel road

 

Living in the snow belt and driving an '01 Tundra with 200# of sand in the bed on a set of BFG 255X85X16 Mt's with the two middle rows siped worked great in fresh snow and was acceptable on hard pack and minor ice stretches. I haven't found any tire so far that performs well on glare ice unless you use chains but the MT's did as well as any other that I've used. I highly recommend that particular tire. I'm currently running BFG's 35X12.5X15 AT's and they come up a little short when compared to the thinner tire. In deep snow (2 foot or less) it's harder to keep my speed up in 4H so I usually run in 4L. That may be the norm for you 4 & 6 bangers, so that's probably a non-issue. The thinner tire turned sharper and stopped shorter, but you should expect that. My biggest problem with the fat tires is highway driving at night and hitting ice patches, because in my experience when the fat tires break loose they do so with gusto - more so than the thin tires. I don't know the reason, that's just been my experience. I need 400#s of sand in the bed to feel comfortable at night, as 200#s acts pretty much like no sand in the box on the thin tires. Prior to going with 400#s of sand I hit the ditch on dirt country roads a couple of times and wound up "quartering" down the freeway a few times but always managed to keep it upright and between the ditches. At 60 miles per hour on the dirt roads and 75 miles per hour on the freeway these maneuvers will increase your heart rate. Slowing down would be the solution but when the road is perfectly clear for miles and miles, well, for those of you living in the snow belt you've been there done that. I would definitely throw in 100 to 300#s of salt in the back of your 4Runner over the winter months to give yourself an edge on slippery surfaces and in the spring just throw the salt into your water softener. Good luck with the 'snowsnakes'.