I'm looking to put some new shoes on my truck that will handle our winters and still be good summer tires. I don't do any offroading with only the occasional dirt road mixed in. After doing a review a few years back I had settled on a set of Bridgestone Dueller Revo AT II's but they absolutely sucked in the snow and they wore down pretty quickly. Having run the BF Goodrich AT KO's, they wore down to quick for my liking and reduced my gas mileage at the same time so those are off my list as well. So what are you gents running other than snow tires in the winter?
I don't run a rifle when I duck hunt...
Bf KOs .....suck ! I swap for studed coppers m&s.....when I didn't my truck wore copper atr sipped
And I don't carry a shotgun when I bowhunt but that's neither here nor there. Either offer something up or don't respond, but you just can't seem to help yourself.
Have run AT's for many years in the winter on a couple of different trucks, as mentioned they suck as snow tires.
If you don't want to get a separate set of rims to run dedicated snow tires, what I've done is run studless snow tires and live with the fact that they wear out a little bit faster when run year round considering the savings of not having a second set of rims.
Depending on how many miles you drive a year, and assuming you don't drive like a teenager, I find I'd get 2-3 winters out of the studless winter tires run year round (30-40k). Note the softer grippier compound wears out before you hit the wear indicators on the tires. Ideally if you put them on at the start of winter you get two winters of good traction, and the third they start falling off. I haven't had any issues running the winter tires in the summer.
I had great use out od BFG Rugged Trail tires on my truck. They did well in snow and mud.
Just replaced them a week ago with something cheap[truck is 24 years old so...]
But they may not be aggressive enough for your uses.
Got 68,000 K on a set of Firestone Destination A/T's They were on an F-150 and were more than adequate in the snow.
And I don't carry a shotgun when I bowhunt but that's neither here nor there. Either offer something up or don't respond, but you just can't seem to help yourself.
Shoulda known you would not understand...
If you are willing to assume the risk of running second rate gripping tires that wear out quickly and are inferior to studs or even siping, have at it. Anchorages ice is bad but wrecks are worse.
Get hard tires for summer driving and grippy winter tires. The amount of driving I do in winter hardly justifies a second set of tires, but the summer driving wears tires out so much faster I would not get two good years out of A/Ts.
The math is not hard. I have very good tires on my Excursion and have 125k on the two tire sets I am running.
I've been pretty happy with my Michelin defender LTX M/S ...
Nothing but the Michelin LTX/MS for me. I know it sounds nuts but I got 140k on my first set on my Tacoma. The truck is on its 2nd set now.
When I lived in snow country, I ran two sets of tires and wheels, winter wheels/tires for about 5.5 months and summer wheels/tires for about 6.5 months.
I leave a Lincoln Aviator in Breckenridge, CO, and run a set of Blizzaks during the winter months and a set of Michelin LTXs during the summer months. The Aviator is nearly helpless in deep snow with most all-season tires, but the Blizzaks turn it into a go almost anywhere vehicle if the snow isn't more than 18" deep. If you can only afford or justify buying one set of tires, I'd buy the Michelin LTXs.
And I don't carry a shotgun when I bowhunt but that's neither here nor there. Either offer something up or don't respond, but you just can't seem to help yourself.
If you are willing to assume the risk of running second rate gripping tires that wear out quickly and are inferior to studs or even siping, have at it. Anchorages ice is bad but wrecks are worse.
Get hard tires for summer driving and grippy winter tires. The amount of driving I do in winter hardly justifies a second set of tires, but the summer driving wears tires out so much faster I would not get two good years out of A/Ts.
The math is not hard. I have very good tires on my Excursion and have 125k on the two tire sets I am running.
Oh I understand you quite clearly. Your answer had nothing to do with what I asked but I'm not all that surprised by it. If I wanted to know what snow tires to run I wouldn't even had to ask that question because I already know the answer. Lastly I don't need you to explain tire compounds and sipping to me, I'm well aware of how that affect longevity and grip on the road.
As for those replying with an actual answer, it's much appreciated.
I have not found a good combo tire , a good winter snow tread is soft and does not last long.
I cant get into a accident for less than 1K, so I run Cooper studded in winter and Cooper std in summer.
Spendy but figure I have saved money in the long run.
Running snow plows in winter showed me there is no substitute for studded tires in certain conditions.
kk I agree ime.
the other part that saves money is I've always rotated momma's tires, in olden days I used studded snow tires for her vehicles. Last 4-5 years (heck maybe longer) I put Blizzaks on whatever she drives. Just put a piece of duct tape on them denoting where that tire was and as season changes and I switch them out rotate per directions.
It adds a lot of tire life ime. If I wasn't so damned lazy I'd do it on my vehicles too, but her, she's who I really care about and I'm just too damn lazy to do it on all of our vehicles. I keep chains in mine if things get dicey. Not much help at intersections, but in my old age I've become a more safe driver instead of being in such a damned hurry all the time.
finding a good all season tire is kinda like finding rainwear that holds up to a downpour but still breathes really well. An elusive sob ime
I'm in the right tool for the right job camp. Studded Hakkapelitta's in the winter for me. Still on the factory all season Conti's in summer (2008 F-350).
Jeff
I'm in the right tool for the right job camp. Studded Hakkapelitta's in the winter for me. Still on the factory all season Conti's in summer (2008 F-350).
Jeff
That's almost depressing.
I'm in the right tool for the right job camp. Studded Hakkapelitta's in the winter for me. Still on the factory all season Conti's in summer (2008 F-350).
Jeff
That's almost depressing.
Huh?
And I don't carry a shotgun when I bowhunt but that's neither here nor there. Either offer something up or don't respond, but you just can't seem to help yourself.
If you are willing to assume the risk of running second rate gripping tires that wear out quickly and are inferior to studs or even siping, have at it. Anchorages ice is bad but wrecks are worse.
Get hard tires for summer driving and grippy winter tires. The amount of driving I do in winter hardly justifies a second set of tires, but the summer driving wears tires out so much faster I would not get two good years out of A/Ts.
The math is not hard. I have very good tires on my Excursion and have 125k on the two tire sets I am running.
Oh I understand you quite clearly. Your answer had nothing to do with what I asked but I'm not all that surprised by it. If I wanted to know what snow tires to run I wouldn't even had to ask that question because I already know the answer. Lastly I don't need you to explain tire compounds and sipping to me, I'm well aware of how that affect longevity and grip on the road.
As for those replying with an actual answer, it's much appreciated.
Funny, lots of folks "got it" when I said there is too much difference between winter and summer to run the same tires here. Anchorage ice is far more common than just about anywhere and it is treacherous... running second-rate tires on it does not pencil out. Make them soft enough to grip and they die in a year or two.
Choose between buying tires or paying all the other costs associated with a simple accident... and then factor in the cost of literally buying that second rate set of tires over and over again...
DOT does not want you to run studs though they are absolutely without peer for stopping on ice.
The probability of having an accident in Anchorage in the winter as a driver new-to-ice is very high...
If you had a clue what siping was you might even spell it correctly...
I like sipping a couple of these before I drive on snow ...
Flat Tire Cocktail Recipe
Categories / Shots / Flat Tire ◄►
Ingredients : Flat Tire
- 2 parts tequila
- 1 part sambuca
Use a "Shaker" for Flat Tire drink recipe
Shake tequila and sambuca over ice. Strain into shot glass.
Serve in "Shot Glass" Garnish: No
Woo Hoo !!!
Nothing but the Michelin LTX/MS for me. I know it sounds nuts but I got 140k on my first set on my Tacoma. The truck is on its 2nd set now.
When fall hunting season comes around I change out my tires when they hit 65k miles no matter how much tread is left and with the Michelin LTX/MS there is always plenty of tread remaining.
Hunting season is too important to try and get more miles on a old set of tires. I have ran 4 sets of these on my 4x4 and every set still had legal tread but got replaced at 65k.
Back home my old hunting buddies back in northern PA say they get over 70k or their Suburbans with the LTX/MS's.
Have a new 2018 ordered and by next year the crappy Goodyear tires Chevy puts on the ZR2 will be replaced with Michelin LTX's.
I'm in the right tool for the right job camp. Studded Hakkapelitta's in the winter for me. Still on the factory all season Conti's in summer (2008 F-350).
Jeff
That's almost depressing.
Huh?
Your summers are so short, that in nine years you haven't worn out the original tires on your 08 F-350.
I'm in the right tool for the right job camp. Studded Hakkapelitta's in the winter for me. Still on the factory all season Conti's in summer (2008 F-350).
Jeff
That's almost depressing.
Huh?
Your summers are so short, that in nine years you haven't worn out the original tires on your 08 F-350.
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Also have never found a combo that does both well and that's down here in the tropics.
But being a cheap bastid and driving a Yota, I use two sets of the Hankook AT's--one winter, one summer. After a couple winters from new, they rotate from winter to summer tread. I don't check mileage anymore, just try to stay on the straight and narrow.
Nothing but the Michelin LTX/MS for me. I know it sounds nuts but I got 140k on my first set on my Tacoma. The truck is on its 2nd set now.
Wondering how much joy you would have driving those around here after the first week of glare ice...
I know I don't live in Alaska anymore, but I put Duratracs on my truck and was really impressed with the snow traction. I don't know how they would hold up on a full sized truck as I drive a newer tacoma and looks like I can expect 40-50K of useful tread out of them. Which is fine by me and I plan on replacing them with the same when the time comes.
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Clearly you're not hauling horses in the summer!
That's when my Ford gets it's most mileage!
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Clearly you're not hauling horses in the summer!
That's when my Ford gets it's most mileage!
Jeff has been on some of those memes you see... he is the one with his horse draped across his shoulders...
Gonna piss some of these, I have the perfect tire folk.
Every single dam characteristic of tires is a tradeoff.
There is no high traction asphalt snow mud ice, wear forever, high load rating,
smooth riding, quiet tire. Either you compromise or you speacilize.
If I lived in Alaska, I would speacilize, two sets of tires.
But, I would probably compromise by using an all terrain type in summer.
For one tire, it would be tough to beat the Michelin LTX MS.
But that will never equal a set of Blizzaks (or similar) in the winter, especially if you stud them.
An accident, if you survive, costs a lot of money!
Gonna piss some of these, I have the perfect tire folk.
Every single dam characteristic of tires is a tradeoff.
There is no high traction asphalt snow mud ice, wear forever, high load rating,
smooth riding, quiet tire. Either you compromise or you speacilize.
If I lived in Alaska, I would speacilize, two sets of tires.
But, I would probably compromise by using an all terrain type in summer.
AT summer tires make a lot of sense simply because we sometimes bump into winter in summer... and especially at each end of summer.
In my experience they sure aren't the white letter BFG All Terrain T/A tires. They looked nice being wide like that, but on ice they had a mind of their own. I remember needing to buy a new set of tail lights for one of the cars in the parking lot when I turned, but the truck didn't. The guys who plow snow like the taller thin tires for penetration. When I did a lot of traveingl around the Midwest slippery stuff, the two most frequently seen vehicles in the ditches were the little light weight cars and the tall high center of gravity 4x4's. Around here the 4x4 guys drive like they have a tank on rubber tires. Get 6,000 pounds on high, hard tires moving and they don't stop very well.
Coopers are the only brand thats come apart on me. But they paid for body damage and all...
The michelin LTX is the best set I've had so far on my F350. DOn't drive in snow, yet, but can comment that they are a long lived tire with good tread so far.
I'm sure thinking that once we get here, 2 sets of tires might be the safest and cheapest in the long run. But since we are completely stupid to snow and mostly ice, i reserve the right to change my mind.
I'll say as I sign out... I've never been unhappy with any of the michelin offerings over our life and my parents life, though pricey.
There's nothing like turning off from a perfectly good road surface, even for "I'm a -a-cheapskate" universal tires, into a left turn lane which glides like grease (on a red light) to make one realize that tires are certainly no place for being a miserly cheap-ass. The sounds emitted by any other passengers alone should be enough to prove that point.
There's nothing like turning off from a perfectly good road surface, even for "I'm a -a-cheapskate" universal tires, into a left turn lane which glides like grease (on a red light) to make one realize that tires are certainly no place for being a miserly cheap-ass. The sounds emitted by any other passengers alone should be enough to prove that point.
Is it just me or do others have the sensation of accelerating in that situation?
General Grabber AT2's are pretty good in the snow. Thay are studdable and carry the snowflake winter rating from the manufacturer. Only AT tire I could find that was winter rated. I got back and forth to work with them all winter last year and we had lots of snow. All in all I'd have to say they are better "winter tires" than the Firestone Winterforce they replaced but not as good as some of the other winter tires I've run in the past. Not all winter/snow tires are created equal.
Gonna piss some of these, I have the perfect tire folk.
Every single dam characteristic of tires is a tradeoff.
There is no high traction asphalt snow mud ice, wear forever, high load rating,
smooth riding, quiet tire. Either you compromise or you speacilize.
If I lived in Alaska, I would speacilize, two sets of tires.
But, I would probably compromise by using an all terrain type in summer.
AT summer tires make a lot of sense simply because we sometimes bump into winter in summer... and especially at each end of summer.
Got to agree on early/late winter on the shoulders. Also, good tread is important when pulling a trailer through mud to get to a trail head.
I run studded M&S tires in the winter and an 'AT type tire' in the summer.
A lot of the time I will pull studs from the winter tires when i'm no longer comfortable driving on them for tread depth or stud length, and run those as summer tires.
I bought new ATs last month prior to driving through Canada as the studless M&S 'probably' would have been fine, but I wanted a higher confidence level of a problem-free trip.
There's nothing like turning off from a perfectly good road surface, even for "I'm a -a-cheapskate" universal tires, into a left turn lane which glides like grease (on a red light) to make one realize that tires are certainly no place for being a miserly cheap-ass. The sounds emitted by any other passengers alone should be enough to prove that point.
Is it just me or do others have the sensation of accelerating in that situation?
Only when the brakes (or breaks) are applied.
Tires with the cords showing are the best well from my resume days they were
General has worn the best for me so far and is good in snow. My only complaint with them is road noise on dry pavement is louder.
Cooper Discovere AT/w Snowflake rated all terrain, my buddy is a tire dealer, he's got 60k on his set and they got another 4-5K left on them, this is on a 2011 2500 chevy that has at least 1,000lbs of tires in the back of it most days.
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Clearly you're not hauling horses in the summer!
That's when my Ford gets it's most mileage!
Nope. My only horses, are iron horses!
Jeff
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Clearly you're not hauling horses in the summer!
That's when my Ford gets it's most mileage!
Jeff has been on some of those memes you see... he is the one with his horse draped across his shoulders...
That has some potential for seriously disturbing images!
Jeff
Living elsewhere, would likely depress me! I primarily just drive my truck in the winter. Summers, I am riding one of my motorcycles. Not unusual to only put 1000-2000 miles on my truck between May-Sept. Sometimes less.
Jeff
Clearly you're not hauling horses in the summer!
That's when my Ford gets it's most mileage!
Jeff has been on some of those memes you see... he is the one with his horse draped across his shoulders...
That has some potential for seriously disturbing images!
Jeff
Only if your horse is drunk and saying NO!
Coopers are the only brand thats come apart on me. But they paid for body damage and all...
The michelin LTX is the best set I've had so far on my F350. DOn't drive in snow, yet, but can comment that they are a long lived tire with good tread so far.
I'm sure thinking that once we get here, 2 sets of tires might be the safest and cheapest in the long run. But since we are completely stupid to snow and mostly ice, i reserve the right to change my mind.
I'll say as I sign out... I've never been unhappy with any of the michelin offerings over our life and my parents life, though pricey.
Because you will be in the interior you will see less ice and less nasty ice than coastal Anchorage.
Coopers are the only brand thats come apart on me. But they paid for body damage and all...
The michelin LTX is the best set I've had so far on my F350. DOn't drive in snow, yet, but can comment that they are a long lived tire with good tread so far.
I'm sure thinking that once we get here, 2 sets of tires might be the safest and cheapest in the long run. But since we are completely stupid to snow and mostly ice, i reserve the right to change my mind.
I'll say as I sign out... I've never been unhappy with any of the michelin offerings over our life and my parents life, though pricey.
Because you will be in the interior you will see less ice and less nasty ice than coastal Anchorage.
And fewer Anchorage drivers too!
(Which isn't too say that drivers will be vastly better, but they will be vastly better than certain of the dregs that have washed up down thataway.)
General Grabber AT2's are pretty good in the snow. Thay are studdable and carry the snowflake winter rating from the manufacturer. Only AT tire I could find that was winter rated. I got back and forth to work with them all winter last year and we had lots of snow. All in all I'd have to say they are better "winter tires" than the Firestone Winterforce they replaced but not as good as some of the other winter tires I've run in the past. Not all winter/snow tires are created equal.
General has worn the best for me so far and is good in snow. My only complaint with them is road noise on dry pavement is louder.
General A/T2's are the best A/T tires I've ever run to date. One tough tire too. Recently trashed one wheel in a rocky side ditch. Front rim was more than just bent. If it hadn't torn out about a half inch of the tire bead I could have still used it. Rear rim was tweaked out of round but the tire is fine. As far as road noise IMHO I think their very quiet. A lot more quite than our new Geolander A/T G015's which are an above average tire for performance.
There are always exceptions on either end of the curve, but for me I don't care about brand. It's all about tread--do you have enough for that particular piece of drama?
IMHO, expensive high mileage ATs are too hard,...unless all the truck time is roadie and the plow trucks not being out yet is the day's biggest hurdle...:)
When a guy's truck miraculously churns of being impossibly dug in, the tire brand gets the credit. (that, and posi rears...)) For my money, it ain't the brand, but how much tread you got...and a fresh set is a different animal than a set with a winter on it.
I don't at all understand, well not much of it anyway, the issue of rough when having tires on a truck. I run 80 psi in our F350. Its not smooth. But its a truck and it does its work.
If I wanted smooth I'd have to get in moms old floater Lincoln Town Car.
What about sipping your AT tires? I did that with my Toyos AT.
BUT, I will not run those again. they wear out too fast on my 3/4 ton.
IMHO, expensive high mileage ATs are too hard,...unless all the truck time is roadie and the plow trucks not being out yet is the day's biggest hurdle...:)
The plow trucks not being out yet is my biggest hurdle constantly. I leave for work at 4:30 AM every day in the winter and frequently have to drive through 4-6" of snow with drifts two to three times as deep on the roads. My commute is 35 miles, much of it on hilly, winding, country back roads and if I can make it every day with the Grabbers then most anybody aught to be ok with them.