Best A/T for snow

T

TinBucket

New member
I've been searching and viewing old threads, but I'd thought conversation is good and maybe there's some newer tires worth consideration.

So I need new tires regardless, and basically my rig gets about 1/2 it's miles getting me too/from the ski-hill. 70 miles round trip, pretty usual to be either: chains required on 2wd/all-season on 4wd and see a lot of 4wd/awd slipping on ice from the traffic packing down the snow.
The other 1/2 is camping trips/FS roads and a little bit of around town.

Let's start by stating the obvious, not all snow is the same. Coastal/lake effect snow is wet/heavy/sticky and slick. Dry powder is a different prospect.
Add in occasional freezing rain as a risk(not often enough to go full winters).


The Duratracs come up a lot as having the Severe Snow rating and well reviewed

KO2s a lot of people claim do well, but other's hate. Seems like they're not that great in the ice.

General Grabbers A/T? They make the list, but reviews(specifically in snow) are harder to find.

Wrangler Adventure?
Trailrunner AT?


265/75/16 if that matters. I like C range, but I accept there are limited options.
 
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TinBucket said:
I've been searching and viewing old threads, but I'd thought conversation is good and maybe there's some newer tires worth consideration.

So I need new tires regardless, and basically my rig gets about 1/2 it's miles getting me too/from the ski-hill. 70 miles round trip, pretty usual to be either: chains required on 2wd/all-season on 4wd and see a lot of 4wd/awd slipping on ice from the traffic packing down the snow.
The other 1/2 is camping trips/FS roads and a little bit of around town.

Let's start by stating the obvious, not all snow is the same. Coastal/lake effect snow is wet/heavy/sticky and slick. Dry powder is a different prospect.
Add in occasional freezing rain as a risk(not often enough to go full winters).


The Duratracs come up a lot as having the Severe Snow rating and well reviewed

KO2s a lot of people claim do well, but other's hate. Seems like they're not that great in the ice.

General Grabbers A/T? They make the list, but reviews(specifically in snow) are harder to find.

Wrangler Adventure?
Trailrunner AT?


265/75/16 if that matters. I like C range, but I accept there are limited options.
Click to expand...
anything that's severe snow service rated (has the mountain with the snowflake symbol) will perform well. not as good as a designated winter tire, but far better than a bog standard m+s all terrain.

off the top of my head, the new geolandar g015 and kumho at51 both have that certification and are far cheaper than ko2s and duratracs. worth taking a look at.

depending on how many miles a year you put on them in the summer, it may even be worth going with a designated snow. winterforces and altimaxxes are CHEAP (like $99 a tire for 265/75 P rated) and won't hurt anything by running in the summer, just will wear faster.
 
Falken wildpeak at3's have that rating and speaking from experience they kick ass in snow. They also are significantly less than ko2s. I havent heard good things about the ko2s in snow.
 
I also heard the Falken wildpeak AT3's are supposed to be great in the snow and in general, an all around great AT for a lot less than other tires.

I'll be getting the wild peaks or Kuhmo AT51's next...
 
Duratracs kick some serious snow ass, as well as mud, and most important they look awesome. The original BFG TKO's were rated for snow, but I read a lot of mixed reviews and their mud performance was poor due to clogging...not sure about the KO2's...

Dueler Revo II's also had the severe rating but were awful in Northern MI...nice road manners, but really no significant traction.
 
Duratracs are great in the snow. Fresh snow. Not so great on hardpack snow and ice though. Especially once they start to wear.

My duratracs are currently at about 50% but I'm getting dedicated snows for this winter as they didn't perform anywhere near as well last winter, to the point of losing confidence in them. Particularly on ice.
 
Having had both types (A/T's and winter tires), I can confidently say I would much rather go off-roading with winter tires, than snow/ice driving with A/T tires.

There is absolutely no match for a set of dedicated snow tires. I'm partial to the General Arctic Altimax, which is just a rebranded German snow tire.
 
I have a set of the KO2's on my 4R and I love the tires. I just bought another set for our 2000 sport with a new set of rims.These will be summer tires and the General Grabbers will be the winter tires. this will be the second winter with the Grabbers and the wife said she has no problems.so these Buffalo winters are very derivable for us.
 
thegipper said:
I also heard the Falken wildpeak AT3's are supposed to be great in the snow and in general, an all around great AT for a lot less than other tires.

I'll be getting the wild peaks or Kuhmo AT51's next...
Click to expand...

Ive put almost 10,000 miles on my wildpeaks in the past 4 months with about 300 of that being pretty rocky offroad stuff and a good deal of gravel roads and have only use about 3/32nds of tread so they wear great along with the great traction everywhere.

IMO they are superior to the duratracs because they dont howl on the highway at all while still providing the same traction and the sidewalls lugs look much beefier. Highly recommend the wildpeaks
 
absalom said:
Having had both types (A/T's and winter tires), I can confidently say I would much rather go off-roading with winter tires, than snow/ice driving with A/T tires.

There is absolutely no match for a set of dedicated snow tires. I'm partial to the General Arctic Altimax, which is just a rebranded German snow tire.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, nothing compares to dedicated winter tires. I had winter tires on my grand prix and it was safer to drive in the winter than my Jeep with AT's and 4WD.

The General snow tires are amazing!
 
I've had dedicated studded Cooper snow tires and that type of tire makes you feel bullet proof. Which gets you in trouble in a 7000 lbs truck. If you get stuck in 4wd your done. It don't matter how deep the snow is. I also enjoyed the Cooper AT3's. It will be a good test. My 97 came with ATMs.


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I'll chip in. I've been driving on General Grabber AT2s for 4 Canadian winters now and they have held up just fine. I can get away in 2wd except for deep snow days. Just make sure it has the snowflake on the sidewall of the tire and you should be good.
 
absalom said:
I'm partial to the General Arctic Altimax, which is just a rebranded German snow tire.
Click to expand...

One of the best value-minded winter tires out there. Ran these on my Matrix and they lasted me 5 winters (although that last one was a stretch).

Now I'm running the new Continental WinterContact SI on the car, but only got those over the Generals because of timing/sale. I got a wicked deal on the Conties and it's one of my top 3 brands when looking at tires.
 
I love my BFGs.

Drive back and forth over the Cascades to PDX a bunch also had to drive over the Siskiyous twice a month for two years. Have had the Falkens, Duratracs, and some Toyo ATs. For a variety of different snow/ice combinations in my experience the tires with larger outside lugs don't seem to work as well.

On the ice I air down my BFGs to 22-24
 
absalom said:
Having had both types (A/T's and winter tires), I can confidently say I would much rather go off-roading with winter tires, than snow/ice driving with A/T tires.

There is absolutely no match for a set of dedicated snow tires. I'm partial to the General Arctic Altimax, which is just a rebranded German snow tire.
Click to expand...

I know dedicated snows are amazing, I have them on the subaru my wife dailies in the winter.

My concern is my experience is winters really wear fast on hot roads. Given I don't drive much I may still heed this advice.
 
TinBucket said:
I know dedicated snows are amazing, I have them on the subaru my wife dailies in the winter.

My concern is my experience is winters really wear fast on hot roads. Given I don't drive much I may still heed this advice.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely correct. I recommend two sets of tires. I got a nearly brand new set of snows for $170 last winter. It's easy to do.
 
TinBucket said:
I know dedicated snows are amazing, I have them on the subaru my wife dailies in the winter.



My concern is my experience is winters really wear fast on hot roads. Given I don't drive much I may still heed this advice.
Click to expand...



Like mentioned a separate set of snows. And I only put them on at the first threat of snow. And took then off by the end of March. My coopers would leave black marks on the road just from braking hard.


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