Tire Recommendations for wide temperature ranges

[Lucky j]

I will also pitch in.

From up here in quebec. So when winter begin in december, usually only goes away in mid april. So for us, dedicated snow tires are mandatory. But amond those, you have a couple of AT tires. I am cheap for tires, on my DD, I will get what to others throw away before the next winter, and might even do two more winter with them. My DD is Front wheel drive / Awd or 4wd by manual selection. Never studded.

But for all around, I have once tried bf at with the mountain logo, and they were pretty good for two winter including 3 summer. After that, the coumpound became to hard. They where still good on dirt and snow removal duty on my TJ in my yard and other summer travel duty.

I did use a set of good year territory ( similar, but cheaper that duraguard) that were winter rated. They were ok. Did not last long on black top. Many here now run duratrac all year round and like them. I don't. But thet is just me.

I am heading for a set on BF at again for my TJ for a bit of winter ( only used it on snow duty) and adventure travel.

You can get by with all kind of tire for winter, just have to drive accordingly.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'd probably be running LTX if my proportion of dirt and rocks was lower. There is no perfect tire that can do everything so you have to prioritize.

If I was to generalize I've found the "all terrain" is the best overall type of tire for how I use my truck. I've tried MT, too biased towards off highway at the expense of being too white knuckle on snow packed roads. Less aggressive street tires don't hold up on trails well enough for me. So I go with heavier AT that you might fairly say are just equally mediocre at everything.

My daily commuter is an old Jetta that she replaced with a Forester last year. On the VW we ran all seasons year-round and 96.2% of the time they worked fine, but we have a pair of tire cables for the real gnarly days or times we might get surprised in the mountains. Haven't needed them yet in the year we've had the Subaru of course. I've only once in town sort of needed something better than the Pirelli P7 somethings I have on it now, which was on very densely packed snow that only stud, chains or dedicated winter tires would have excelled anyway.

Personally I think the need for studs has been reduced since they now coat everything with salt and plow like mad. Back in the day they'd spread some cinders and say have at it. I think we get too Denver-centric sometimes in our thinking. The mountain dwellers might very well have an icy road all winter where studs make sense.

 

[sargeek]

My comments were for the front range of Colorado. If I lived in Leadville or some other high mountain area I would consider studs, or if I commuted up Lefthand or some of the other canyons on a daily basis. Studs are an old technology and tire compounds have gotten much better.

I just think people don't realize that studs decrease the handling characteristics of a vehicle, especially during dry and wet weather, which is 90% of the driving conditions.

 

[kroney]

Thanks everyone for the input. Based on the frequent the Michelin Defender LTX M/S which is the latest iteration of this tire sounds like the winner

Tire Siping sounds like it could be beneficial and I'll contact Les Schwalb to see if it can be done without voiding the warranty on the tire.

I'm new to Colorado and I probably shouldn't have purchased Blizzak tires, the season that it's reliably cold is way too short. However on i70 during a snow storm I feel very confident with my winter tires and that's priceless.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Blizzaks are a great tire. It's not unusual to swap winter tires. It does make sense if you take your car up skiing a lot to run a dedicated winter tire. Even the LTX isn't ideal for actual winter conditions. M+S or a snowflake or 4WD are the minimum requirements under the traction law but nothing wrong with having better. On packed snow and ice the snowflake and M+S are nothing like a Blizzak.

I wouldn't bother with siping unless you're running a mud tire. Any street tire worth a darn will have a pattern of sipes that exceeds anything Lew Schwalb can cut into them. It will void your warranty, pretty sure. It definitely caused a set of BFG MTs I had Discount do about 14 years ago (they stopped doing it not long after) throw chunks of rubber like crazy.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Don't sipe the Michelins.

 

[Chorky]

Many here now run duratrac all year round and like them. I don't. But thet is just me.

I'm curious to hear why you don't like them.

 

[REDONE]

I'm curious to hear why you don't like them.

I can't speak for Lucky, but I lived in WA when the duratrac was introduced. It was pushed really hard by Les Schwab and a lot of fleet vehicles that ran Toyo M55s switched to the Duratrac because is has a similar tread profile and was brought to market cheap. In commercial use, the Toyo M55 is a 5 year/ 50,000 mile tire, while the Duratrac is closer to a 1.5 year/12,000 mile tire.

Don't get me wrong, the Duratrac is popular for a lot of very good reasons, but it's really expensive for how long it lasts. It's a soft, squishy goo-ball that sticks to anything until it's a drag slick, which happens really quick compared to both ATs and even most mudders.

 

[Chorky]

Ahh good to know. Thanks for the input redone! I live in WA too and have been considering them for my truck for a while now. Always hear people say "yeah they're good" but never expand haha. Any thoughts on sidewall toughness as compered to others? For me anyway that's priority #1, then a good all around ice/snow/mud tire is second.

Back to the OP - As you can see by my own question here, I think its going to be hard to find just what your looking for. I've been looking for something similar (as you can see with my question above) for a while now, and still haven't found an answer. Likely, youll have to take just one or two aspects that mean the most to you and concentrate on those, and be willing to compromise on other aspects.

 

[Lucky j]

I'm curious to hear why you don't like them.

Like Redone as mentionned in his post, to me, they just give me the impression that they were a cheap type of mud tire of the brand, like the MTR would be the higher quality brand.

But they made them in dedicated snow type. But, I never used them, so again, it is more a feeling. To me, a good winter tire (including very cold temperature -30 f) can only be good in winter and will melt in summer on black top. And no stud. I have never seen an emergency vehicule with studded tire, ambulance, police cars nore firetruck. And I drive an ambulance for a living in snow country.

Anything else is compromise, but I know that some situation require compromises. But to me, not the diratrac, but I have been knowne to change my mind when proven wrong.

 

[karlmagnum]

Duratrac is one of the best all-around tires I've run. It offers great traction in mud, dirt and snow.

 

[yfarm]

I am on my second set of BFG KO now 2 on my Raptor, great wet and dry performance as well as snow. Have Michelin LTX MS on my reg cab 4x4 taco, wear is great, traction in snow and wet outstanding, have howl at 45-65 that drives me crazy goes away at 70-75 so interstate driving is tolerable. Thinking about switching to BFG due to howl,have 35k miles on tires with little appreciable wear from new. Got 70k out of my first set of kos on my Raptor, almost all highway miles.