Prices for 17" and 18" tires are more so make sure you specify which tires you are buying when you post a price.
Some reading from 4 Wheel and Off Road about winter tires:
"{They used to be called "snow tires," but over the past couple of years that name has been dropped by most tire manufacturers in favor of the "winter tire" designation, since dedicated winter tires are designed to handle more than just snow. These are the tires that most truck and SUV owners will switch to during the winter months, as they offer improved traction over the mix of road surfaces that people typically encounter in the winter, including snow-packed and icy roads. The most hard-core of this bunch are the "severe snow condition" tires. According to the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), these tires feature "tread patterns, construction elements, and materials that provide superior snow performance" over other types of tires, even those the RMA used to classify as snow tires. The RMA has developed a severe snow tire icon--a graphic of a snowflake on a mountain--that appears on the tire's sidewall near the more traditional M+S (mud and snow) designation. The tires that carry that icon have scored a traction index of 110 or higher while undergoing the American Society for Testing and Materials traction tests on packed snow. Bill VandeWater, the consumer products manager in sales-engineering for Bridgestone/Firestone, told us there are two major components that make for a good winter tire: tread compound and biting edges. A dedicated winter tire will have a tread compound that is designed to stay pliable even when the weather dips below freezing. A flexible tread will grip the road surface--be it snow, ice or wet pavement--better than one that is rock hard.
"Our Bridgestone Mud Dueler, for example, is designed with a tread compound that will grip in temperatures of 40 or 50 degrees [Fahrenheit] and above," he explained, "but in cold weather that compound gets so hard that it just bridges over road surface irregularities and doesn't grip." Bridgestone's Winter Dueler, which has earned the RMA's severe snow rating, is made with a tread compound that will remain flexible at temperatures down to 0 degrees F, so it will be able to grab and grip whatever the road surface offers.
The second component--biting edges--typically come in the form of small, razor-like sipes, or cuts, in the winter tire's tread pattern. VandeWater said, "All these sipes present biting edges that grab into the snow. The Winter Dueler is heavily siped. The Mud Dueler isn't, as all those sipes would tear on rocks and be counter to the longevity of the tire."
Speaking of longevity, VandeWater admitted that a winter tire's soft compound and heavy siping contribute to a tread that would wear more quickly than a non-winter tire if used on pavement when the weather gets warm. It would probably provide excellent grip, but only for a few thousand miles. If the Winter Duelers are used only during winter-weather conditions, which means over a typical mix of snow-covered and bare pavement roads during cold-weather months, they should be good "for at least three to four winters," VandeWater estimated, "maybe five or six if they're used only in the snow."
Other truck and SUV tires that have earned the RMA's severe snow rating include the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/AKO, the Goodyear Wrangler Ultra Grip Ice, and the Michelin 4x4 Alpin. Off-Road Tires in the Snow Except for the BFG All-Terrain mentioned above, most of the tire manufacturers we spoke to were hesitant about recommending a "typical" all-terrain or max-traction tire for winter use, since most of these tires don't feature a soft compound or heavily siped tread pattern engineered specifically for cold-weather traction. Yet they agreed that, under certain conditions, a maximum-traction tire would perform better than a so-called winter tire.
Those Conditions: Virgin Snow
If you do a lot of trail busting, or driving over snow that hasn't been packed down by other vehicles or plows, you're going to find that your mud tires will work great. That's because this kind of snow condition is a lot like driving in the mud. Your tires are going to need to claw for all the traction they can get, while not getting packed up with snow caught between the tread blocks. Plus, depending on the snow's depth, you may find that your tires will claw down through the pack and hit rock, stumps, or logs, and you're going to need your mud tire's cleats to track over those obstacles.
Speaking of digging down, there's a fair amount of disagreement over whether digging or floating is the best way to get traction in the snow. Some say you need to dig, with fairly narrow tires inflated to recommended street pressures, in order to find grip on the ground below the snow. Others take an approach more like running in the sand, and air down their tires so they'll act like snowshoes and float over the drifts. Like everything else, your approach will depend on a lot of factors. Are you driving a fullsize pickup or SUV that's too heavy to float? Are you traveling over snow that's so deep there's no ground to reach? As we've said before, tailor your approach to the conditions you're in.
Know, too, that the tire manufacturers take a dim view of underinflating tires, under any conditions, and will warn against the practice because of potential damage to the tire. But we've seen 'wheelers, here and in Iceland, who have great success floating over snowpack and even glaciers with their mud tires aired down to single-digit psi levels.
Whichever approach you take, make sure you go into the winter months armed with four good-quality tires that have plenty of tread left on them. If you're going to use dedicated winter tires, especially those with the severe snow condition rating, make sure all four corners have the same type of tire, so one end of your rig doesn't get a lot more traction than the other, which could make handling a nightmare. And don't get overconfident in your truck's traction abilities just because it's a 4x4. Your truck still contacts the ground through its tires' contact patches, not the transfer case and axles.}"
