Tire suggestions -- snow coming

[sport97]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned BFG A/T KO's? I've run them in 31's, and now 33's. Just take a look at them and you're gonna be scratching your head at all the other tires.

I live in Alaska and I can point these tires out on 60+% of the trucks here, I love them in the snow.

I would have mentioned them, because I do have a set in 31's but I have no snow experience with them. They get great reviews from everyone and are a great all around tire, and look badass as well.

 

[safn1949]

We had 11" of wet snow the other day in Minnesota and the girl drove 25 miles each way in it with the 2000 AWD and these tires http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fi...true&cf=false&rd=15&sw=false&rc=MNKINT&cs=235

No problem,the roads were not plowed.

 

[storlied]

I just can't bring myself to buy a tire without some meat on it, for the street.. sure.. but off-road... in the mud, in gravel, dirt, sand, snow..ect.. It has to be aggressive, BFG A/T, BFG M/T, Cooper STT.. all very aggressive, tough, and thick tires. Although, I'd stick with an A/T vs an M/T for icy situations but you should get my point.

 

[2TimingTom]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned BFG A/T KO's?

Because I just found this thread.

And I have no actual snow experience with them- yet.

But they have the snow flake symbol on them and I know PLENTY of people here in Colorado with them that run them year round. And after they've worn them out after 60-75,000 miles, they buy a new set.

 

[sport97]

I just can't bring myself to buy a tire without some meat on it, for the street.. sure.. but off-road... in the mud, in gravel, dirt, sand, snow..ect.. It has to be aggressive, BFG A/T, BFG M/T, Cooper STT.. all very aggressive, tough, and thick tires. Although, I'd stick with an A/T vs an M/T for icy situations but you should get my point.

I agree.

To the original poster... Unless you want get a spare set of wheels for snow tires, you will have to pay each fall/spring to take on/take off the snow tires off your rims and put on your regular tires. Its for this reason I would just get a set of tires that would be good all year round. You have AWD, with a good AT, you should be just fine.

Examples of those would be the 1) BF Goodrich AT as Storlied said. 2) The firestone destination AT, which is a little more mild of an AT, but a good all around tire. 3) General Grabber AT2....I have never ran them, but have heard good things and they look so similar to the BFG, but cheaper.

 

[windsors03cobra]

I have these on my Y2K 5.0 AWD and IMO the vehicle is unstoppable as far as snow goes. I've had them for 3 winters and have never gotten stuck.
I have 50k on them right now and am getting ready to buy another set.
I gave about $600 3 years ago and they are up to $700 now. A bit noisy on the road and diminished MPG.
When I first demonstrated them to a friend he remarked how the Exploder "takes off as fast in deep snow as good as it does on dry pavement".
Dead hookers in the snow and great tire wear make them a wonderful combination IMO.

General Grabber AT2

 

[windsors03cobra]

No post.

 

[watt9386]

my vote goes for BFG A/T's. very good year round. excellent in snow. last winter in a 30"+ blizzard, my dads cheby 3500 went around plow trucks with em.

 

[blueoval177]

BFG A/T's are great for snow, after a couple thousand miles they are not very good on ice. If you deal with icy roads get different tires, something softer with ice sipes. For snow covered roads, drifts, etc. they are awesome, on ice they are not that good, if you 20,000 miles on them it's like slicks on ice. From personal experience.

 

[storlied]

IMO, ice is bad no matter what. They do grip, but don't expect it to be like dry pavement. I work at Hill Top [For any of you who watch Ice Road Truckers] You know how that highway can be, it's very accident prone. I drive there every day, and on weekend nights when the ice is at it's worst. There's a nice lil S turn on the way and I can take it comfortably and it's Very icy.

So say you get a tire that's Excellent on ice, what happens when you drive a few miles into a couple inches of snow.. is it going to be just as good? For ice, you should drive cautiously no matter what. Go with BFG A/T.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

For an all around tire I vote BFG A/T's. On my second set of them on the Explorer. For a winter tire I would highly recommend a second set of wheels so you can swap them out yourself. I recently installed a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks on my other SUV but no snow yet. The price was a little higher than the mentioned Firestones. I went with them due to all the "hype, ratings, and advertisement". I was able to get a real good price on a set of 17's and figured if they are better they are worth a few more dollars. I have heard great things about "Hakkapelita-spelling?" tires but they were about $250 and not readily available. For that price they need to shovel the snow in front of me....

 

[NHarris]

I purchased a set of goodyear wrangler armor tracs for my 05, my 98 got a set of goodyear wranglers A/T. The snow that we've had in utah so far, these Armor Trac tires have been great! They ride nice, are quiet, and good traction in all weather.

The Armor Tracs are only availible at Sam's Club (unfortunately).

 

[MNgopher]

I went the dedicated snow tire route and don't regret it. I put together a set of junkyard alloy rims for $100 (gotta love how common these things are) and mounted a set of Hankook Winter I-Pikes (got them last year for just over $70 a tire including shipping from discount tire direct). Now I can swap tires by the season and the explorer drives like its on rails in the winter snow and ice.

I was always a believer in using all terrain tires year around, I've been converted - the snow tires are that noticeable. I've usually run Bridgestone Dueler REVO's and BFG AT KO's.

 

[2TimingTom]

I've run the iPikes on my Mazda Protege (the car I sold prior to buying my Explorer). They do work well. As they wear though, they will drone horribly on dry pavement- especially on concrete. The Explorer has more insulation than the Protege, so it might not be so bad. It got to the point where I almost got some ear muffs (the type that look like headphones) to wear while driving. On a road trip from CO to IA one winter, I had to stop in NE to get some foam ear plugs.

My wife's car (Saturn VUE) runs some Yokohama Geolander HT/S tires in the non-winter months and a set of Michelin X-Ice tires during the winter. This will be their last winter most likely.

And my parents used to have a house in Lakeville, MN.

 

[MNgopher]

The drone can't be any worse than the drone I get from the Firestone Destination LE's in the non-winter months. Just can't make myself get new tires when the tires are still serviceable, just noisy as heck. The I-Pikes are quiet in comparison!

 

[specialized7]

I just got a new set of Goodyear Dura Tracs in 33x12.50, they are an all terrain with the snowflake symbol very good on ice and in snow

 

[celly]

I've been digging the Michelin Latitude™ X-Ice™ for several years now. I originally got them for my '00 Sport, but they lasted on that truck for only a few weeks because I traded in on my current ride ('99 EB w/ AWD). The day I had the Michelins put on, it snowed so I've used them on both the shorter, sketchier Sport with 4WD and the longer, more sure footed four door EB. These tires kick butt.

I bought them from a place in town that offers free tire changeovers if you have them on your own rims. I scored some el cheapo Explorer "Limited" rims a la junkyard. The tires are mounted on those and stored in the summer months in my garage.

I just got them swapped back on this past Friday. We'd had a pretty mild autumn so far with little in the way of snow, but Mother Nature fought back yesterday in a big way. It started with some rain on Monday night followed by about 6" of snow yesterday and a few more inches last night.

With the AWD and the dedicated "ice radials", I never have an issue in winter. I live in a city that has short changed us on snow removal for years and relies on mother nature to clear up side streets and is pretty slow to remove snow on the main streets. We have a lot of thaw/freeze cycles, so our roads are always icy. Right now is no exception.

The Michelins handle anything I can throw at them. The guy who sold me my tires made an important point 5 years ago when I bought them. Winter tires are less about "traction" in winter (albeit important) and more about BRAKING in winter. I can stop faster on any surface on the ice tires than I can with my Michelin LTX M/S "all seasons" (which were pretty good in winter as well).

I looked at Blizzak, but they were pricey (and don't last as long as the Michelins). I have several more years left in these tires and swear by them.

 

[ThePhoenix]

I still do not understand this ting you call "snow"

now blazing HOT I understand


I am just kidding, I am from Pennsylvania

 

[2TimingTom]

The drone can't be any worse than the drone I get from the Firestone Destination LE's in the non-winter months. Just can't make myself get new tires when the tires are still serviceable, just noisy as heck. The I-Pikes are quiet in comparison!

When the iPikes are new, they are quiet. Toward the end of their 3rd winter, they were starting to drone. I was going to replace them with the Generals that look identical to the iPikes- which look identical to the super hyped Nokian Hippatlioutjasohasdhau tires, but for a fraction of the price.