Has anyone run siped MT's in the winter?

[96discoXD]

I'm looking at tire options for my JKU and I am leaning toward an MT even though this is my daily driver here in the land of ice and snow. My tire options are as follows:

285/70R17 Hankook Dynapro ATM - Great tires, but potentially vulnerable sidewall when aired down

285/70R17 BF Goodrich A/T KO - The perenial favorite in the AT class, but they command a premium price.

285/70R17 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac - Supposedly great for winter weather, but the sipes are really shallow from what I've seen and would wear out quickly. That and I've never had a good experience with Goodyears on any of my vehicles.

255/80R17 BF Goodrich M/T KM2 - Load range E so the ride will suffer a bit and a narrower tread width which could slightly impact the on-pavement handling. I've got these on my YJ and love them on and off road. My local discount tire will sipe them for $10 per tire and the price for the tires isn't bad. I also wouldn't need $200 worth of spidertrax spacers to run these on my JKU and they should fit the stock tire carrier without any issue.

I would really appreciate any feedback from someone with experience running siped mud terrains in packed snow and ice conditions. I know that no mud tire will be good on ice (neither are most AT's) so my primary concern is packed snow.

 

[Lumberjack]

I had siped 33x10.50R15 BFG MT's on my 05 unlimited, I thought they worked great, wet roads, ice covered, and snow - better than the gsa's they replaced. I now have all my tires siped if the tread warrants it.

Of course using the thing between the ears I feel has as much to do in driving in bad weather as the tire, since your from midwest that probably isn't a problem. Since moving to Reno I have seen more stupid stuff than I care too... Throttle control, what's that - you mean I can't mash the peddle to the floor when the light turns green and oh, why does my car slide when I slam on the brakes among other things, although it can be fun to watch if don't have to be out their with them:elkgrin:

As far as load range E tires are concerned, take the time to find the correct air pressure for them. The tire guys will over-inflate them. I have E's on my heep now and they put 40lbs in them at the tire shop. I chalked across the tread, drove around and let air out until chalk disappeared across entire tread pattern. Made a world of difference in ride and handling. Now at 29 front, 28 rear.

Of course take all this with a grain of salt, I have been known to use the ditches to get where I want to go if the weather is really nasty:smiley_drive:

Oh, if I ever get out this financial predicament I'm in, an UJK Rubi with 255's will be the vehicle of choice...

 

[Lumberjack]

Here is a couple of photo's after a major storm back in IL...

Notice the glove to the right in the first photo:sombrero: Went through there the previous day, snow was coming over the hood so fast I could only see out a 2" opening at the top of the windshield, knew if I stopped I was done so I kept my foot into it using the telephone poles as markers... yee haw:wings: Jeep felt like it was floating on a cloud, wish I had her back

 

[96discoXD]

Dennis, I've been there before on an interstate driving behind a semi and my plan was to veer the opposite direction if he tipped over into a ditch! Thanks for the input, I am actually considering the "old" KMs if I decide to just stick with a 255/75R17, so it's good to hear that they worked for you as well.

 

[oonimog]

I run 255/85-16 BFG MT KM's (previous generation) on my 110 and before they were siped, they were pretty useless in the snow. A friend cut 1/4" spaced sipes into them using his tire groover with the blade turned upside-down. Now the tires work great in the snow, the difference was amazing. I think you need to consider more than just the siping though. Like for any terrain, the tire size for a given vehicle weight is also very important. Big tires will allow you to get on top of the snow if it's dense enough but will often give no traction. I've managed to drive right up trails without any difficulty where lighter trucks with bigger tires couldn't get anywhere.

 

[96discoXD]

I definitely agree on the width of the tire. I'm not looking to go much wider than stock especially since I won't be doing much if any sand.

 

[Redline]

Sipes make all the difference, whether factory or added later. My current all-time favorite winter LT tire is the ******** Cepek F-C II, the sipes are plentiful, shaped well, and very deep.

I've read before that the DuraTrac sipes are shallow... Does anyone know how shallow, or have any specific measurements or data? I'm monitoring a set on a friends '96 Tacoma, but it will a while before they wear.

I have run a few sets of mud-terrain tires that I've had siped. They have worked well on and off road, with the only negative being increased wear from cuts and chips, particularly if it's a soft M/T.

 

[Hawk Thor]

I ran 33x12.5R15 Goodyear Wrangler MT/Rs on my old Hilux. They were siped in the middle lugs and the outer lugs were untouched.

They worked great like that. I later siped halfway through the outer lugs and put studs in the other half of the lug.

Then they were awesome.

Now I´m running 38.15.5R15 Ground Hawgs on my Cruiser, they are siped all the way across the tread and they work fine in every condition but the wettest of ice.

 

[4Rocker]

In the past I had run BFG ATs on my old 4Runner and the FJ in MN winters and had been very happy with their performance on snowy roads. This winter is the first with the 255/85 KM2s on the FJ and the first snow was an eye opener. The KM2s liked to engage the ABS much sooner than the ATs that I am used to and seemed to slide more. I did a bit of research on siping and used a specially ground utility knife to manually sipe the center treads of the KM2s (took almost an hour/tire) and it has made a very noticeable improvement in braking and handling on slick snowy roads. I feel that the siped KM2s still dont perform quite as well as the ATs, but the siping goes a long way to making up the difference. I havent ran them siped tires very long, so I dont have any first hand experience with long term durability. Overall, I would certainly recommend the siping process for these tires if you see snowy road conditions.

 

[96discoXD]

I ended up just ordering a set of 255/75R17 Hankook Dynapro ATM's for now. There weren't many in stock in the US and I really want to get the Goodyear SRA's off in the worst way. I've had great luck with the Hankooks in the past on my wife's WK GC so I'm going to run them for now. The plan is to wait a couple years and then install an AEV 3.5 inch lift, regear and upgrade to 35's at which point I will almost certainly run KM2's with sipes. Thanks for all the input guys!