It was an FN Christmas

[RaginTxn84]

So Christmas was good to me - got some stuff for my bike, LEDs for the interior, brakes, and fog lights for the the 4R, and finally a new set of Konig Countersteer X's.

So now the dilemma I face is what shoes to put on the new wheels - SO, right now I'm heavily leaning towards the nitto trail grapplers m/t. My biggest question is whether anyone has had experience with these tires in snow AND ice (up in Anchorage, AK). Right now I have 267/70-17 LTX M/S2s - I'm looking to go with 285/70-17s on whatever tire I end up getting. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. My 4R is my DD in the winter months, and my weekend warrior rig in the summer while I ride the shadow for everything else.

Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[bimrunner]

Great wheels. No exp with the nitto M/T or Alaska. I'd assume it is similar to Canada so ask them boyz! [MENTION=66300]Intruder[/MENTION]

 

[crashman]

I would love to have these if they had my size

they would do awesome for you I think

Green Diamond Tire

 

[meRockboost]

I liked the trail grapplers, had a set on my 04' dodge diesel. Did good the one year I spent in the snow with them. They don't have a lot of siping though and they definitely get louder as they wear. But I was on track to get 40k miles out of a set.

 

[crashman]

or how about Dura trac's everyone seems to like them

 

[KidVermicious]

Any MT will suck in the snow. If you need an off-road tire that will perform well on icy streets, look for the snowflake symbol.

 

[Raven]

Agreed! - negative on those MT's
For snow, and especially ice, I'd go for maximum siping, and the mountain snowflake.
I know the macho crowd will disagree, but in snow country I would also stay far away from 285's. Better grip with a 245/255, in my opinion.

 

[sandcrawler]

So Christmas was good to me - got some stuff for my bike, LEDs for the interior, brakes, and fog lights for the the 4R, and finally a new set of Konig Countersteer X's.

So now the dilemma I face is what shoes to put on the new wheels - SO, right now I'm heavily leaning towards the nitto trail grapplers m/t. My biggest question is whether anyone has had experience with these tires in snow AND ice (up in Anchorage, AK). Right now I have 267/70-17 LTX M/S2s - I'm looking to go with 285/70-17s on whatever tire I end up getting. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. My 4R is my DD in the winter months, and my weekend warrior rig in the summer while I ride the shadow for everything else.

Thanks again for your feedback!

if you can find a tire shop that doesn't look at you like a looney when you ask them to sipe them for you, i'd give the 255/80-17 BFG KM2 a go: narrower contact patch better for snow; siping will boost traction (at some expense to longevity).

i just put on a set of 285/70-17 Mickey Thompson Baja MTZs but they haven't seen any real snow yet. been fine in the wet and slush so far, which i hope is a good sign.

with its huge flat blocks, the KM2 gets pretty bad feedback even in the rain, but i've heard they can be pretty decent if you sipe them. and you'll get the MT profile you want.

 

[cbielat]

You want to look for a tire that has good siping. I've been through two sets of Duratracs. Like what has been said, look for a snowflake symbol as well. The Duratracs are an all terrain tire. I've had nothing but good experiences with them in all conditions and terrain thus far.

 

[KidVermicious]

if you can find a tire shop that doesn't look at you like a looney when you ask them to sipe them for you, i'd give the 255/80-17 BFG KM2 a go: narrower contact patch better for snow; siping will boost traction (at some expense to longevity).

i just put on a set of 285/70-17 Mickey Thompson Baja MTZs but they haven't seen any real snow yet. been fine in the wet and slush so far, which i hope is a good sign.

with its huge flat blocks, the KM2 gets pretty bad feedback even in the rain, but i've heard they can be pretty decent if you sipe them. and you'll get the MT profile you want.

I wouldn't recommend a KM2. I run a set of siped 255s on the first gen, and they're barely adequate for a Salt Lake winter. The OP is in Alaska.

 

[bimrunner]

I wouldn't recommend a KM2. I run a set of siped 255s on the first gen, and they're barely adequate for a Salt Lake winter. The OP is in Alaska.

Totally agree. I have km2 on my runner and duratracs on my 80. The km2 is not a good snow tire and really slippery in the ice. The duratracs do really well in comparison. I live in the valley but when I go snow wheeling the 80 tires are so much better than my M/Ts.

 

[3wbdriver]

So disappointed. I saw FN and was thinking Browning...... :hunter:

 

[sandcrawler]

I wouldn't recommend a KM2. I run a set of siped 255s on the first gen, and they're barely adequate for a Salt Lake winter. The OP is in Alaska.

Totally agree. I have km2 on my runner and duratracs on my 80. The km2 is not a good snow tire and really slippery in the ice. The duratracs do really well in comparison. I live in the valley but when I go snow wheeling the 80 tires are so much better than my M/Ts.

ha! well, so much for hearsay.

fwiw: i liked my (265) Duratracs a lot their first winter, but their winter performance seemed to fade pretty fast, in my experience.

 

[Intruder]

I run 285/70/17 Nokian Rotiivas in the winter and they work fine. Guess I must be macho... :noidea: For ice, siping and the softer rubber compound matter more than anything else and the Nokians have both. They aren't the most aggressive-looking tires out there but they work for my daily commute. I just switch to the MT tires in the spring.

 

[RaginTxn84]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and shared experiences. I was hoping to avoid the need for two sets of tires; however, it seems that everyone here as pretty much confirmed what I thinking in the back of my mind: MT = no go for snow :smow:

Right now my LTXs are doing well enough in the white "mud" - but when it comes to the ice part - the tire compound just doesn't cut it (although there is plenty of siping).

if you can find a tire shop that doesn't look at you like a looney when you ask them to sipe them for you, i'd give the 255/80-17 BFG KM2 a go: narrower contact patch better for snow; siping will boost traction (at some expense to longevity)...

I had this done on a set of all seasons on my outback when I lived in Idaho - not only did the winter driving improve drastically, so did ALL driving and longevity. I wish more places would do this for you, instead of looking at you like you swore at them in a foreign language, or something.

Agreed! - negative on those MT's
For snow, and especially ice, I'd go for maximum siping, and the mountain snowflake.

You want to look for a tire that has good siping. I've been through two sets of Duratracs. Like what has been said, look for a snowflake symbol as well. The Duratracs are an all terrain tire. I've had nothing but good experiences with them in all conditions and terrain thus far.

... The duratracs do really well in comparison. I live in the valley but when I go snow wheeling the 80 tires are so much better than my M/Ts.

I was about to go with Duratracs as my all around tire (for on and off road), but just saw too many posts across different forums about sidewall failure, that it had me look to other options. Although, they might be a decent replacement for the LTXs in a 255/75-17 P for a dedicated winter setup (I'll be keeping the OE wheels just in case - primarily for this purpose). Sorry sandcrawler that your experience on winter roads with the DTs wasn't as positive as the others.

I run 285/70/17 Nokian Rotiivas in the winter and they work fine. Guess I must be macho... :noidea: For ice, siping and the softer rubber compound matter more than anything else and the Nokians have both. They aren't the most aggressive-looking tires out there but they work for my daily commute. I just switch to the MT tires in the spring.

Thanks for the "non-standard" brand option - I kinda forget about Nokian. I have seen those around pretty frequently here in AK - I might have to look into those. But as you stated - sounds like I might be waiting to outfit my konigs until march/april time with my MTs :moping:

Thanks again everyone for the feedback - it's greatly appreciated - helps keep my on the right track

 

[Raven]

Intruder: - apologies for the "macho" comment.
Might I respectfully suggest that your tires perform so well because they are Nokians, not because they are 285's?

 

[Swarty]

I run 285/70/17 Nokian Rotiivas in the winter and they work fine. Guess I must be macho... :noidea: For ice, siping and the softer rubber compound matter more than anything else and the Nokians have both. They aren't the most aggressive-looking tires out there but they work for my daily commute. I just switch to the MT tires in the spring.

I run blizzaks in a tall narrow size for winter (not for performance. They were cheaper) and MTs in the warmer months.

 

[Intruder]

it seems that everyone here as pretty much confirmed what I thinking in the back of my mind: MT = no go for snow

Actually, MTs are good for deep snow for the same reason they're good in mud - the larger tread voids self clean well and they act as paddles. It's only ice, slush, and thin layers of snow on pavement that they aren't so good on. If someone could make an MT that was also good on ice all I'd have to say is

Intruder: - apologies for the "macho" comment.
Might I respectfully suggest that your tires perform so well because they are Nokians, not because they are 285's?

Yeah, that's why I said the siping and rubber compound matter more than the tire size. A 285 winter tire will always do better than a pizza cutter all season, AT, or MT.

 

[camerontopa]

When I get my lift and tires done ill be looking at the Nitto Exo Grapplers AWT's. They look to be halfway between an A/T and M/T, and have the snowflake symbol on them. Decently priced too

 

[dwm2112]

I would recommend DuraTracs. I run them on the wife's 4Runner and my FJ. They perform really well in snow. I rarely even put my FJ in 4WD with them in the snow.