Favorite Snow Bashing Tires?

[gclauson]

I need to buy some more street-friendly tires, but don't want to give up much on the rocks or deep snow, compared to the awesome IROCs that I now run. This is not a daily driver, but it often takes 50-200 miles of road driving to get to a 20 mile trail run.

I'm pretty much down to the Goodyear MTR with Kevlar or the BFG Mud Terrain KM2 in the 35" size (don't want any larger), but am open to other suggestions. I know these are both good in the rock, but what about 12 to 18" of soft snow or wet snow?

What have you guys had good luck with?

 

[Bronco Junkie]

Dunlop Mud Rover works great for me.

 

[turbotim2]

Anything wider than 10.5" really suck in the snow regardless of tread pattern. BFG AT's in any size are not really good in the snow either.

 

[surfer-b]

I like these but they are offered in only 2 sizes that I see. I would say these would be a good snow /off-road tire, not as good a mud terrain in some situations but decent.
http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/detail/y742s



the toyo m55 looks pretty good and gets decent reviews, also comes in a lot more sizes

 

[gclauson]

Thanks so far for the inputs!

Does anyone else have other opinions?

 

[needabronco]

A guy at work had those M55's on his F350 and they weren't very good in mud and snow....

I would also take a look at Goodyear Dura-trac's, I have them on my tow rig and they are awesome in wet and snowy roads, decent in mud too. I'm not super sure how they'd be in the rocks but I assume they'd be pretty good?

 

[Apogee]

Pizza cutters or high-floatation tires, each has their place depending on whether you're trying to dig down to traction or stay on top. Get a nice set of four cleated chains and suddenly what you're running for tires won't matter so much.

 

[rastiss]

Pizza cutters or high-floatation tires, each has their place depending on whether you're trying to dig down to traction or stay on top. Get a nice set of four cleated chains and suddenly what you're running for tires won't matter so much.

this^^^^^

i buy tires more based on what my driving intentions are. if i drove in snow 80% of the time i'd gear toward that tre wise but even then chains would a must have. chains make any tire a hero in the snow.

 

[Apogee]

You'd be amazed at what snow chains will do in the mud too.

 

[bmc69]

I've become a big fan of Cepek Mud Country tires. Of all the aggressive tread patterns I've run on the street over the years (Dunlop, Interco, Parnelli Jones, etc) these have turned out to be the best overall.

http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/dick-cepek/mud-country/p/tv126000131?cid=sce_google&CAWELAID=463644390&catargetid=1394762974&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CMfT3YeL3LUCFdGd4AodgBwAXA

 

[asinor]

I've become a big fan of Cepek Mud Country tires. Of all the aggressive tread patterns I've run on the street over the years (Dunlop, Interco, Parnelli Jones, etc) these have turned out to be the best overall.

http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/dick-cepek/mud-country/p/tv126000131?cid=sce_google&CAWELAID=463644390&catargetid=1394762974&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CMfT3YeL3LUCFdGd4AodgBwAXA

That does look like it would be a nice all around tire. Nice siping for the water/snow and deep tread with ejectors and aggressive sidewall for trail and mud.

 

[gclauson]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the inputs and ideas!
I took the easy route and got some MTRs this afternoon; we will see how they work. If I find anything interesting, I will report back to this thread.

 

[burntfish]

MTR's and IROC"s are the best for what you want. We run both of them in Ouray for our snow wheeling. You should be happy with your purchase.

 

[ugly74]

V-bar chains! They do rock in the mud, too

 

[bmc69]

That does look like it would be a nice all around tire. Nice siping for the water/snow and deep tread with ejectors and aggressive sidewall for trail and mud.

Yup. But what I like most about them, compared to the others, is how incredibly quiet they are and how evenly they wear from pavement pounding. I've had all-terrain tires that wore worse and made more noise!

 

[asinor]

BMC69, how hard/soft of a compound is it?

 

[bmc69]

BMC69, how hard/soft of a compound is it?

It's hard enough a compound that the wear is as good as a typical AT street tire, but they still work great on the rocks and greasy trails we typically venture on, aired down to about 10 psi on rims with no bead locks.

The set of 35s that is on Filly's '79 fullsize Bronc has a lot of highway miles on 'em (well over 15K I would guess..) and look only slightly more worn than the set of 35s on my son's '76 EB that might have 5K miles on 'em.

 

[inthmtns]

42-13.5-16 Boggers

By far the best 'snow only' tire I have used to date is the new 42-13.5 Bogger.

I'm not talking about just 12 inches of loose stuff or late spring "Hero" snow that is so soggy and packed down a 2wd F350 can float on it either. Even in deep snow with a 6 inch crust over 35" of granulated stuff these either plowed through or floated over.

Up here in Montana we have run the gamut of different tires from BFG KM2's (sucked) to grooved 42" MTR's (awesome) to 38-11.5 Boggers (great) to 40" and 42" IROKS (also awesome!).
The new 42 Boggers were hands down the best performer, aired down to 3-5 psi on beadlocked rims they splayed out lengthwise like snowmobile tracks.

I'm running them on '78 F150 Shortbox, 514 CI/C6... it takes a LOT of power or gear to run these things... And a built set of axles. I'll run the same tire on my late model Bronco for playing in the snow.. they don't fit under the '77!%)

 

[darkmagus]

I prefer tall skinny tires for snow. My tacoma has 255/85-16s (~34x9.5") and they do great in the snow. I wasn't expecting mud terrains to perform as good as they do.