Absolute Best Winter Tire For The 80

[steveVA]

I could be mistaken, but the Duratracs werent available when this thread had its last post in '08.
Every weekend in the winter I drive 170 miles to West Virginia to snowboard. I've tried the Silent Armors (285's), and the Duretracs (315's), both severe weather rated, and while they both "worked" just fine, they both tended to plane easily in slush and were not predictible enough to make driving that far in crappy conditions every weekend any fun at all. I decided to give a the Yokohama Geolander IT (315) a try. That was 2 seasons ago, and Im getting ready to switch wheels out for my 3rd winter on them. I am extremely happy with them. It is amazing how well they work, "extremely predictable" is how I would describe them, if/when you enter a corner a little "hot" they give you warning before they let go, they start with just a hint of slide allowing you to slow down and correct, unlike the most others that will just let go without warning. Its sort of the difference between a dimmer switch and a plain old on/off switch on a ceiling light. They work so well they make "playing" in the snow a bit harder since it is impossible to spin the tires from a stand still on hard pack, and the stop on hard pack almost as well as the duratracs do in the rain. They don't have any issues dealing with deep slush at speed which cause some wider tires issues, and I have never had a better rain tire. For the type of winter driving I do, from dry highway to snow/ice/slush poorly maintained mountain roads, the cost of an extra set of dedicated snows is worth it me.
If anyone has ever thought that a MT/AT tire (except a studded tire or the IROCS?) can touch a dedicated snow/ice tire they are fooling themselves. It really is a night and day difference between the 2.

 

[MountNGoat]

Thanks, Steve. I've looked at the Geolander IT and it seems to be all that and more. Where I live I can't really justify a second set of winter tires because I have to go out of my way to find winter. The Duratrac's seemed like maybe a year round compromise. My 60 has the old style Goodyear MTR's and they will soon need a replacement. Like everyone, I'd like to have my cake and eat it, too.

 

[chapel gate]

"If anyone has ever thought that a MT/AT tire (except a studded tire or the IROCS?) can touch a dedicated snow/ice tire they are fooling themselves. It really is a night and day difference between the 2."

I completely agree, after discovering winter tyres over 15 years ago whilst living and working in Germany I was converted.

my father goes for old school "knobbles" on his surf, good in deep snow, murder in the wet and slush.

my winter tyres are on there 5th and last year. for a lower end tyre I think they have performed very well.

best example I can think of was last winter. me and a mate were logging some oak in the woods, a couple of hours before we wrapped up it started to snow. we had a 12' x 6' tipping trailer on the back of the cruiser, these weigh a metric tonne unloaded and it was spilling over with split oak.

back on the main road there is a very steep twisting long hill, there was about 3" of untouched snow, my mate said we have no chance, I said we have no choice and switched the centre diff on, the tyres dragged the whole rig up without a wheel spin.

he was amazed and I was relieved, sliding down a hill backwards with a trailer is no fun.

next year I will be getting the yokos.

 

[MountNGoat]

If there's one thing I've taken away from this thread, it's that a specialized winter tire is the ticket for winter conditions, not AT's or MT's. I believe it and I get it. But my reality is that I can't justify having a dedicated winter tire. So in a bit of a twist for this thread, I find myself looking for a "second place" winter tire. One that's as good as it gets for not being a specialized winter tire, decent manners on pavement, and sufficiently good off road in mud/rocks.

 

[Dirt Ferguson]

Here to revive this thread, as I am in the same boat as the last contributor. I am interested in hearing people's thoughts about the best winter tire that can also be used for non-winter conditions. This is particularly useful for those of us in places like California where we go to the mountains in Winter and want good snow performance, but then return home and need a good non-snow general use AT tire for both dry and wet roads.

 

[ZackR]

Here to revive this thread, as I am in the same boat as the last contributor. I am interested in hearing people's thoughts about the best winter tire that can also be used for non-winter conditions. This is particularly useful for those of us in places like California where we go to the mountains in Winter and want good snow performance, but then return home and need a good non-snow general use AT tire for both dry and wet roads.

BFG AT KO2 are a solid choice when it comes to a snow capable tire that can be used year round. Up here that's what I run since we get a lot of snow in the winter.

 

[sxp]

Here to revive this thread, as I am in the same boat as the last contributor. I am interested in hearing people's thoughts about the best winter tire that can also be used for non-winter conditions. This is particularly useful for those of us in places like California where we go to the mountains in Winter and want good snow performance, but then return home and need a good non-snow general use AT tire for both dry and wet roads.

I currently run Geolandar I/T's in the winter, but these are no longer available in large sizes. When I need to replace them, I'm going to try the new Firestone MT2's. I've heard good things about their snow performance, and they are studdable, if needed.