Here’s my take on winter tires. Up until I got my BJ-70, I used the BFG AT's year round on all the Tacoma's I had till I got the BJ-70. They worked great as a year round tire here in AK, of course always drive appropriately for conditions. When we got the BJ-70 we were living in Fairbanks, AK. I think the -70 had BFG AT's on it when I bought them so I didn't think much about how the -70 would do in the winter. After the first snow for the season, which usually isn't a good snow for a good base on the road, I drove to work and twice I did a 360, even driving 35mph. So, I ended up buying a set of BFG MT in the 255/85/16 and had them studded. What a beast, even in 2wd. Of course I slowed down when appropriate but definitely drove faster than others thought prudent. The only time they hardly worked was on sheer ice on the road, but in 4wd and slow driving I was still able to make it through the one section of sheer ice. The only thing that I think would make this tire better would be if they came in a softer compound and had sippes. I used these tires in the winter on my ute here in Anchorage. Last winter I had new studs installed and also had the tires sipped. So to me the best winter tire is a sipped and studded skinny mud tire. The main reason I prefer a skinny mud tire is because they will dig down a lot better than any other tire when you have any snow depth on the road or side of the road. It's the weird snow that accumulates on the sides and center of the lanes when you get fresh snow fall, especially if it is over say 3 or 4 inches. Your normal dedicated snow tire will float so easily in these conditions. I did run a set of Cooper STMaxx on a frontier I had, also in the 255/85/16 size and studded. These would float also on the weird snow conditions I described above a lot more than the MT's did, but probably did do a little better than a dedicated snow tire. Maybe if the opportunity presents itself I would love to try the BFG MT competition (?) that has a softer compound and have it siped and studded, but for snow I really like the tread pattern of the original BFG MT's vs the new pattern. Sorry for the essay, my high school english teacher would be proud 
