Considering a overland purchase that's on MPT 81s, but the tires give me pause. Have driven van based campers in the past, and exchanged out the AT tires for true winters. Looking at the tread pattern, the lack of siping concerns me in hardpack snow conditions. I'm sure they'd do just fine in deep snow given the weight of a vehicle like this. Anyone have experience good / bad / indifferent, driving with these bad boys in a snowy climate? Putting chains on and off would be a huge pia. Am I crazy to purchase something like this for Colorado, hoping a few people could chime in.
Continental MPT 81 in Winter
- Thread starter Matty5oz
- Start date
DirtWhiskey
Western Dirt Rat
I haven't used mine extensively in snow but I have the same concerns. One of the big drawbacks to these tires is lack of siping. One could have them siped but I'm not sure how well it will work and it might be tough to find someone to do it.
So I took my truck snowboarding 5 times last season. Two of the trips we had really bad weather with what I would consider critical snow conditions. Once in Big Cottonwood which has some really sketch sections and once heading to Snowbasin on Trappers Loop. Both whiteout with multiple slideoffs. At the recommendation of some other folks I aired down to 35psi and did great. I was lightly loaded and didn't have the camper mounted. Mostly hard pack and a bunch of slush, sections of ice, not black ice.
Love the truck and am mostly happy with the MPTs. It's just a bummer that the bead profile for these is different than LT tires or Inwould have a winter set of rubber. Alas 5 new super singles rims are not in the budget. Anybody know if LT tires can reliably be installed and trusted on an MPT rim?
I hate chains, I'd rather not be in a blizzard fitting huge chains on these huge tires for 20 minutes then repeating in reverse when I head home when most of the roads have been cleared, and I've seen this soft rubber get chunked really bad by chains on other trucks. I consider chains to be a form of extraction, a last resort in hyper critical conditions.
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Appreciate the response. I've driven those areas in UT before. The camper I'm looking at is permanently mounted to a F550, can't get the weight down that much. Average about 40-60days on snow a year with 7-10k avg miles in those conditions, driving into them intentionally. Will likely look for something that can run LT tires for winter. Some of the mountain passes here in Colorado can be tricky.
DirtWhiskey
Western Dirt Rat
If it's permanently mounted it will help. I usually take the camper off for winter as I camp less and work more in winter. All that weight in the back helps tremendously.
As @rruff stated, Stazworks, DBL and Wehring offer these bolt pattern rims with the LT bead profile but you will lose a lot of weight capacity. Also hold on to your wallet!
I would get to a scale and weight the truck, both axles, fully loaded and see what you need. Plenty of people are using the MPTs in snow and have good results with airing down a bit!
Perhaps some other folks with MPTs can chime in.