Winter use of BFG T/A KO tires vs studless winter tires

[ryanh1006]

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of performance? They come with the snow flake and mountain symbol, but can it compete with studless winter tires? I live in Kyrgyzstan and run a small fleet here. Right now I use winter tires (maxxis, hankook, triangle, etc) then run A/T or M/T tires in the summer. We have a decent selection of tires here, but not great. I can get the BFGs for most of my 4x4s, and if that let me stop using two sets of tires for each vehicle it would be great on reducing fleet costs and storage headaches (27 tires just at my house right now). Can anyone comment? Ice performance too. Lots of ski base runs in winter.

 

[thethePete]

No comparison. They are not even in the same league as a real winter tire. Some guys claim adequate performance with additional siping, but I can't see them performing the same. The composition of the rubber is different in a winter tire allowing it to perform in colder temperatures.

 

[IdaSHO]

Agreed.

A true winter tire is no comparison.



If you have to run the BFG A/T in a 4x4 pickup, make darn sure you have plenty of weight in the bed.

 

[oldblue]

In fresh snow the BFGs are fine. Packed snow they are not great. On ice they are pretty bad.

All-terrain style tires cannot compete with real winter tires in winter conditions.

The bar to achieve the "snowflake" rating is pretty low so unfortunately it doesn't mean as much as one might expect.

 

[thethePete]

Now that I'm not on my phone: The biggest difference as has been mentioned above, will come in hardpack and ice. ATs have enough tread to dig through softer snow and when paired with chains can perform adequately, but the silica content is too low, so the rubber doesn't maintain enough pliability at low temperatures. Basically below 7C they turn into hockey pucks and don't grip anymore. Winter tires are rated to much lower temperatures, in addition to the changes they make in tread patterns like increased siping and provisions for studs.

As far as winter tires, depending on the load you'll be carrying, my recommendations are as follows:
Bridgestone Winterforce W80 (I think that's what they're up to, may be W90 now)
Hankook iPike RW11
Hercules Avalanche Extreme (honestly, the best bang for the buck winter tire I've come across, and I've tried many)
BFG Winter Slalom

I know the first 3 are available in LT sizes for load carrying capacities required on trucks, and IIRC the BFG is as well.
I have extensive experience on all of those tires and I would say the Hankook is the best of the bunch, but you pay dearly for it. Avalanche Extremes are the tire of choice in my area as they're fairly inexpensive, wear amazingly (I know people who run these year round on fullsized trucks with great success), and they have good traction in both the deep snow and on ice, which we see lots of.

In areas with more hardpack/ice I would shift my recommendation and include the following for a non LT application:
Michelin x-Ice
Nokkan Hakkapelita (probably spelled it wrong)

Both of those are tops for hardpack/ice, but I don't believe they come in load rated applications, and they don't perform as strongly as the previous suggestions in deeper snow.

I am a tire geek, and career mechanic, I also spent the early part of my career building tires in a retreading plant. It's kinda my thing and those are my suggestions.

Edit: All of the tires I suggested are capable of being studded with the exception of the Nokkans, and all perform adequately without studs, but if you see a lot of ice, I would recommend studding if it's allowed in your area.

 

[keezer37]

It's been my experience that ATs are okay in the winter if they're brand new, first year. Second year, forget it. I'm running Blizzak DM-V1 for the first time this winter. It's one of those "Where have you been all my life?" moments. And if you're people are used to winter tires and you surprise them with ATs, it could get ugly.

 

[marathonracer]

X2 on the studding if you are going to run a dedicated set of winter tires nothing will do better (except chains) on pure ice or high moisture content packed snow. Between my work trucks and my personal rig I've run all kinds of tire combos I really can only afford the one set for my personal truck and right now the bfgs at is the choice but after running duratracs on my work rig they may get the nod as the better aggressive AT.

Right now I have studded duratracs which have done great in most conditions. It seems to balance the packed icy stuff with the bumper deep, don't know if I'm going to make it! Stuff really well. Around here they really shine in spring conditions when we still have snow and ice but its getting soft.

On my wife's SUV we run dedicated winter tires and would put that up against my personal pickup with bfg ats any day for on road or typical snow driving.

 

[Dake21]

In snow they are good, on ice terrible. In deep snow they will be better than winter tires because of the deeper thread, most winter tire are made for the street, hard pack and ice covered street. I run on a different AT tire, the Cooper AT3 and find them good in snow but terrible on ice. On hardpack snow they are doing ok, I feel confident with them. Studded tire would be the absolute best for ice traction, if this is whay you see the most.

If you only want one set of tire all year round why not taking the duratrac? They are considered winter tire in a province that makes einter tire mandatory while the goodrich are not. I see some fleet vehicle equiped with them. You can stud them too, but stud arent good in summer.

 

[kojackJKU]

I run the herc' or comparable tread design. I have dean on my avalanche and they are great. I am after wearing out 3 sets of herc winter tires. I keep going back to that design as it works so well and studable.

 

[AA1PR]

I'm currently running the BFG AT KO's that you're inquiring about

I'm not totally impressed with them in the snow, yes they work & traction is great for the most part

my only complaint is not enough siping to clear the snow, they tend to fill up & then slippage occurs (in heavy deep snow that is)

I think I had better luck with the Cooper AT3's, but these TA KO's wear like nails

incredible sidewall & rim protection that the others I've used cant touch

so everything is a tradeoff

you need to decide the pro's & cons

OH if you do add ice studs to any tire(s) only stud every other hole, or otherwise on ice you have just created an ice skate & you will slide, you need the rubber in between to help with traction, most don't know this

 

[kojackJKU]

I had a yoko studded tire that was loaded with many many studs and the worked great. Stopped on a dime on ice. I have great luck with all stud holes done.the stud still only creates some bite but the rubber is still on the road.

 

[briscoelab]

This is my first winter on "real" winter tires. Blizzak DM-V1, in 255/75r17

It's like night and day compared to any AT and MT tread I've ran in the past. If you get snow and ice, Don't go to a middle ground tire. Remember also that although initial investment in two sets of tires for your vehicles is costly, you're splitting the wear between tires.

 

[p nut]

My experience with running Blizzak, Hankook (iPike), and BFG KO (original version).

Fresh or packed snow, performance was similar. I would wholeheartedly endorse KO's as a good winter tire. The caveat is, only for the first 1/4 or 1/2 of the tread. Past that, the things have as much grip as a hockey puck. Good thing is, plenty of people want 1/2 worn KO's, so resale value is good, and I put it towards the next set of tires.

For me, I see no reason to run snow specific tires on the truck.

BTW, on ice, all tires suck. You need to go studded.

 

[ryanh1006]

Wow! Lot's of replies. Evidently I didn't manage to turn on notifications, so just thought I'd check in and see if I missed anything, turns out a lot

So I probably should have put in a little more context, but I posted from my phone while travelling, so I didn't write it out. I run a car rental and adventure tour company in Kyrgyzstan, so we go through a lot of tires. The idea of not changing between summer and winter would be awesome, but sounds like it's still a pipe dream. I was reading that the Snowflake and Mountain BFG T/A tires used a compound that stayed soft, so was hoping it might work.

Basically right now for winter I run either Triangle 777 or Triangle 787 on Jeep WJs, with various others on cars. They get everywhere we need to go without any problems. Gravel track ski base roads, and unimproved canyon roads are no problem with them. We have limited access to various types of tires, so I pick and choose what I can get at reasonable prices. For summer time we've been running a lot of Maxxis products, and I'll probably switch one of the Jeeps to Maxxis 980s (slightly more aggressive than BFG T/A but doesn't last as long I'm told) and see how they do.

Many of the tires y'all listed are simply not available here. Others are 3 times the price of the Maxxis or Triangle variants, so even if they last longer, it's not cost effective (and clients like to slash sidewalls, so tires frequently don't make it to retirement age!). Anyway, thanks for all the fantastic feedback!

 

[takesiteasy]

I live in Minnesota so no stranger to ice and snow. My Tacoma has D-rated BFG-ATs with about 30,000 miles on them. I haven't done any rigorous testing but I have been happy with them in the winter. I was able to tow a friend's stuck and helpless 2WD Ranger through 12" of fresh, heavy, wet snow without a problem (using 4WD). I have never experienced what I considered to be a concerning lack of traction and my truck is usually empty (light) in the winter. YMMV.