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Snow/ice/mud tires

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velocitiii

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I know, I know, we've covered tires a million times here, but I've searched and didn't find threads dealing with this situation recently. 88 1 ton chevy, 50/50 on and off road use. I don't go wheelin much but mostly farm use and haulling. I need a tire that will hold good on snow and ICE and still get me through the mud fields. Most of the mudder tires i've seen don't have any siping for ice, and I don't want that. Anyone have any personal experience with tires that will or won't do my job?
 
The elevator I work it has Goodyear Workhorses and Firestone Steelexs on all their pickups. I run workhorse and like them, Ive had good luck with them in snow and mud, havent had a set on ice yet though. Steelexs look like they would have more siping for ice.
 
I have 31x10.5 Dunlop Mud tires, they seem to do well on road and off. They did good on ice that we had the other week and I like the aggresive look.
 
A good ice and snow tire is the BFG AT. It is not that good in the mud though so for what you describe I would get a set of BFG MT's. They are pretty good in the mud and last a long time. You can have them siped at tire stores if the ice and snow traction is a little lacking.

I personally run Goodyear MTR's and I think that they are an all around better tire except they won't last as long as BFG's. They are a softer compound then BFG which will probably offer them a little more traction in most conditions. When I lived in Colorado I saw alot of MTR's on trucks and jeeps. They must do ok in the nasty stuff to be popular. They are not an extreme mud tire but as long as you keep them spinning ok they clean themselves. They won't really clean very well if they are not spinning though.

I know Discount Tire will sipe tires for $10-12 each. I had a set of siped BFG MT's and they did pretty good on traction. I never got to use them in the snow or ice before I moved back to Arizona from Colorado.

Harley
 
Good snow/ice tires arent usually the best in mud. Kind of a trade off.

But, I suppose the better of the middle road would be a 'mud' tire from whatever manufacturer you can get the best deal on, then get it siped.

But, a good AT is about as good as you can get in the snow/ice.

True MUD tires arent really any good on ice, even siped.

My opinion. :grin:
 
Steeltex tires suck....They are not worth the rubber built into them....Only good for dry on road conditions....
 
I was slightly disappointed in my BFG AT's this year hunting.

Coming down a steep grade on a logging road, compact snow/ice, 4 low, granny low, the back end of the truck let loose and swung around on me going about 2MPH, and there was nothing I could do but gas it for the bank before the end went off the cliff. Ended up sideways in the road luckily, with the front tires in fresh snow, and a bit of snow/ice built up on the downhill side of the rear tires from where they were sliding sideways.

If this was just a fluke, the only other truck out of 4 that ended up sideways in the EXACT same spot was driving a newer Dodge fullsize with BFG AT's on it as well. Only difference is that his were 12.5" width, mine are 10.5". Mine aren't siped, his aren't either I'm sure.

In about 4-6" of fresh snow, and a moderate grade uphill, my cousins 2004(?) F150 with stock tires (look like street tires of some type) easily went up, while mine would just stop in spots and start hopping as it found bits and pieces of traction. Never could get to where his truck was. Perhaps the Ford has traction control, but I doubt it. This same truck made it down between both of us with the BFG's that spun out on the other road. The shorter wheelbase probably made a difference, but a newer Toyota made it down before all of us no problems either, with non-aggressive tires.

I'm sure there are studies all over the place, but I suspect that on very slippery stuff like compact snow/ice (I couldn't even stand up where both of us spun out) the increased tread contact of the "street" tires is a plus.
 
Could be a contact pressure issue with the BFG AT's. Most street tires offer more lateral stability also with there tread patterns. The hopping sounds like an axle wrap problem. I get it on loose surfaces because of the 2" block in my suspension and the torque of the TPI. It could be lots of things though, but BFG AT's did earn the Extreme Winter Weather conditions seal though.

I was told by a friend of mine that getting that approval is pretty hard to do.

Do you have a locker or LS in the back of your K5? Did your friend in the Dodge? If you do and the others didn't that could be part of the problem too.

Harley
 
I vote for the bfg ats as well, I have a set and I have been in snow up to the bumper with no problems and have never had issues on ice either As long as I keep it sensable. I just got a beater 96 baby jimmy and was going to put bfgs on it as well but instead got some true snow tires, Im going to to do a comparison when we get some snow and ice here.
 
Hossbaby50 said:
Could be a contact pressure issue with the BFG AT's. Most street tires offer more lateral stability also with there tread patterns. The hopping sounds like an axle wrap problem. I get it on loose surfaces because of the 2" block in my suspension and the torque of the TPI. It could be lots of things though, but BFG AT's did earn the Extreme Winter Weather conditions seal though.

I was told by a friend of mine that getting that approval is pretty hard to do.

Do you have a locker or LS in the back of your K5? Did your friend in the Dodge? If you do and the others didn't that could be part of the problem too.

Harley
Click to expand...


I've got a gov-lock, no idea on any of the other 4 trucks. I suspect not. At least not if they didn't come from the factory that way. But with no torque in (compression braking) and extremely slow tire speed that really shouldn't matter in my case.

Hopping I'm sure was axle wrap, but if the tires don't bite at all, it wouldn't be an issue. Obviously they could neither grip the snow good enough, or dig down far enough to hit hard surface, and it stalled the vehicles forward progress, which is the tradeoff you make with AT's IMO.

They are awesome on the street wet or dry, and really no complaints for pretty steep angles on somewhat solid dirt. In the little bit of mud I hit this year on the messed up roads, there was still some lack of traction. Some of this COULD be my lack of desire to bring wheel speed up in that situation as well.
 
Here is my $0.02.

I used to run a set of 32" BFG MT's when I had 1/2 ton axles. They sucked on ice and in snow less than 2". They did pretty good in the mud and wore like iron on the street.

About the time I swapped in the 3/4 tons, I slapped on a set of 35" MT/R's. They are far superior to the BFG MT's in the snow, whether it is deep or just a dusting. I was thoroughly impressed with how much traction I had with the MT/R's. I don't DD my Burb anymore so it will be difficult to tell how they will wear on the street compared to the BFG's.

I'd say go with:
wrangmtr.jpg
 
Truxus Interco's seem to pride themselves on their Snow/Ice traction...almost more so than the mud..so there may be a slight trade off on mud performance vice the great Snow/Ice performance...I'm lookin at gettin a set of 33x12.50x15's for my K5 because of the water, snow and Ice traction since it's my DD...All the write ups on them seem good as well...and 117 a piece mounted and balanced is much better than the 180'sh for BFG's...wish i could tell ya from experience...right now, i'm just passin this on off the research i've done...
 
I've had good luck with Dunlop Mud Rover's, just bought another set for my DD $408 m&b for 31's. Just my .02
 
studs are illegal in IL and such

AT's seem to do the best in snow from my experiences

31 x 10.50

good luck
 
dyeager535 said:
increased tread contact of the "street" tires is a plus.
Click to expand...
Actually you're kinda right but it's that snow will stick to snow better then it will stick to rubber. Try sticking two snowballs together, then try sticking them to the side of your tire. A tire with lots of smaller (siped) spaces will allow snow to accumulate and give the tires more grip (snow to snow). This works for snow but not ice. For ice you need studded tires. Unfortunately there's no one tire that does it all but like the others say, an all terrain will work best in snow and icy conditions with a compromise in the mud. I use BFG mudders and carry chains.
 
I was very supprised how well my Goodyear MTR's worked in the snow and ice last year. Haven't tried much mud yet. Even in deep snow they worked well. Usually wide tires like that just float around on top. MTR's got my vote.
 
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