Snow tires- Lion hunting

Joined
Mar 15, 2020
Messages
44
I don't have a ton of experience in the snow as this is only my second winter in Montana, but Squamch has got you covered.

If you want tires you can use on plowed roads and highways, a good AT or MT tire with four chains is probably your best bet. I've had excellent experience with Cooper AT3's in snow, and they're pretty good on ice considering they're not a dedicated snow tire. I bet their ST3's are even better. Toyo M/T's are great in snow and decent on ice--not siped or a snow tire though. The Baja Bosses from Spoonman look pretty sick.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
567
Location
sw mt
Just to get back to the op question. In the types of snow that you will deal with, If you only plan to run in axle deep snow, any tire and chains will work good for you. If you are set up to air down, you will be able to run in much deeper snow and without the chains, unless the roads are icy down lower. Aired down, we are talking single digits and less the bigger the tire is. An MT tire will work better as long as you dont let yourself dig holes.
 

IH8Cali

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
171
Location
Utah
I’ve had a ton of different tires. I had the Nitto ridge grapplers and they were good for the first 5k but after that they were poor at best. Toyo m/t, bfg, and a couple others I can’t think of were ok. I just put a set of M/T baja boss a/t on my gmc 1500 and so far they are amazing. Very good road handling when wet, quiet, we’re awesome in the snow, and great in mild off road. They are severe snow rated as well. Have 8500 miles on them so far and still loving them.

Any long(er) term updates on these? REALLY liking them, would've bought them already if they were in a 285/75, but willing to do 295/70. Mostly curious about winter conditions, I always carry chains.
 

Spoonman

WKR
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Nov 2, 2018
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785
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Olympic peninsula
Any long(er) term updates on these? REALLY liking them, would've bought them already if they were in a 285/75, but willing to do 295/70. Mostly curious about winter conditions, I always carry chains.
They are still doing awesome! I hunted Montana and Idaho last year and drove from south of Seattle and definitely encountered plenty of wintery conditions and they performed great. They have a pretty aggressive lug pattern but with the sipes they work. I also just recently moved from Washington to Pennsylvania so have probably put in another 8-9k miles for a total of 16-17k miles. They still have plenty of tread and handle really well. I’d buy them again for sure! 2D6BDCA6-38FD-4D58-A5A9-0497201BBD3D.jpeg05A17155-105F-45B0-9991-5426690CF318.jpeg
 

Wrench

WKR
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Aug 23, 2018
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5,596
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WA
I'd look for the tire with the best snow packed / ice performance....because you gotta get to the mountains and add chains to the plan. I have had most of the tires mentioned and slid sideways on off camber roads that had a spring or were packed with all of them.

Air down a tall and wide at if its just fluff, add chains and some air if its been driven on.

Always have chains and be ready to throw them....and buy chains with cams, thank me later for that tip.
 

TheHammer

WKR
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Aug 1, 2022
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juneau wi
I was surprised nobody mentioned the falkens. Very good tire. Long lasting as well. Due to sizing and sidewall options, I run the nitto g2s on my 150, cooper at3 a on my dually and Armstrong desert dogs on my 350. They all do well in snow and ice. Basically any AT with adequate siping and offset shoulder lugs will do the job. If it were just deep snow w/studs, the maxis treps would be my choice.
 

wytx

WKR
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
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2,057
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Wyoming
Goodyear Duratracs here also. Make sure they are the snow rated ones not the Ford OEM tires, they are not the same.
 

CCooper

WKR
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Sep 14, 2017
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985
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Western OR
I'd look for the tire with the best snow packed / ice performance....because you gotta get to the mountains and add chains to the plan. I have had most of the tires mentioned and slid sideways on off camber roads that had a spring or were packed with all of them.

Air down a tall and wide at if its just fluff, add chains and some air if its been driven on.

Always have chains and be ready to throw them....and buy chains with cams, thank me later for that tip.
And make your own wrench for the cams with a longer handle so you can get them nice and tight. I am in the camp that prefers square link chains versus v-bar as well.
 

IH8Cali

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
171
Location
Utah
So for even more fun discussion on "Things I overthink but rarely ever need"; are square link vs. v-bar a scenario based preference (ice/packed snow) or just personal? I've only ever had v-bar and only used them once. I didn't need them, but mostly just wanted to use them because I had them.
 
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