Tire selection for Towing/Off Road/ Snow Ice : New FZJ80 Owner (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

285 KO2s like mentioned above.

For real snow and/or ice you'll need a tire made just for that. Studded/spiked is best. Perhaps skinnier and on steel wheels.

Otherwise KO2 is pretty good in occasional snow.
 
Second vote for 285/75/16 KO2s. They are an all around great tire and are the standard for a reason. I have recently done the 10%underdiver t-case gears and recommend them as a very worthwhile upgrade. They have really made driving the 80 as a DD very easy to use in traffic and commuting. It also helped lower the low range a bit for the off road stuff. For my purposes it was a great upgrade that I wish I had done sooner.
 
I’ve rolled Goodyear MTR’s, BFG KM2’s, BFG KO2’s. Nitto trailgrapplers, and am on a new set of cooper discoverer maxx. personally like the Nittos and Coopers best. Great tread life and cheaper than the bigger names!
 
I've been running 35'' Toyo Open Country AT2 extremes. They are pretty awesome so far. I've taken them on a 3k mile road trip and multiple offroading adventures in the rocks and snow. Fairly "quiet" on the highway, and no issues cruising at 70-80mph.
Almost 4k miles on them now and zero complaints.


Same here. Multiple snow trips and they were awesome.
 
Just traded my 2011 Tacoma for a 1997 Land Cruiser. Trying to figure out tires. I had 255/85/16 KM3' on the Tacoma and found they didn't suite my needs.

I did not like the 255/85/16 KM3 M/T's as they only seemed really useful for rock crawling, which I do not do all the time, I'm on mild dirt roads in Utah most of the time. Felt tippy on the freeway, useless in snow, and not that good in the rain. Didn't feel I could take them on long distance trips where I might run into a lot of different terrain/weather.

I guess I'm having trouble following here. I don't see how a 255 tire would cause any of the issues you list here unless they were improperly inflated. Useless in the snow (at least packed snow/roads) is a symptom you will find with any mud tire.

I think the problem is running an MT when an AT is the right tire for your needs. The size is not the relevant factor. If you like 285's, fine. But I don't think you'll see any appreciable difference in performance between a 285 and 255.

FWIW, I pull a camper on 315s and it does "ok." Not good, but "ok." :eek:

Tires I've been happy with in Colorado: BFG AT, Pro Comp (gasp) AT sport, Hankook Dynapro, Cooper AT3. Pretty much any decent AT tire will do good all around in CO.
 
I went with the BFG AT. MT just wasn't right for me. Got a 285/75/16, haven't done any towing or highway miles yet, but I'm taking the boy up to Powderhorn Ski resort tomorrow, maybe there will be some snow.

I am amazed what tires fit on this truck, the 285/75 doesn't look that big and fits with no issues at all. You have to trim some stuff on the Tacoma to fit 285 tires and the 255's were a bit tight even with the lift I had on it.

Not really seeing a reason to lift the Landcruiser, it seems to have more clearance stock than lifted Tacomas. Just need some rock sliders.
 
my summer tires are 285 75 16s
my studded snows are 265 70 16s

If you really are dealing with serious snow or ice get dedicated studded tires.

Makes all the difference.

I am partial to nokians and drive in nasty conditions with great regularity and don't have any issues but I have dedicated studded tires for all my trucks.
 
@crx7..... 255/85/16 & 285/75/16 are really close in size (Tire Size Calculator), but the former is narrower and would do better in snow. Your 80 looks like it's still the stock height, from the supplied pic. I ran the 255/85/16 with Toyo M55's and had Les Schwab add additional siping. Ran them year round and they did exceptionally well on ice and packed snow, not to mention cutting trail in virgin snow better than wider tires I had. They did great in the rocks and sand - just not great in mud. The M55 is a very sturdy tire - wears like iron - some fleets run them. The stock tires are 31" and the above mentioned tires are 33" so you'll notice a drop in power, especially towing, with larger tires.

M/T tires are not a good choice for an all around tire. So I think that was your biggest problem with the KM3 M/T's 's on your Tacoma. They do well in gnarly terrain and mud, but are a compromise, at best, for the rest of the time. To run them in the winter - they should be siped which weakens the lugs and will shorten their life if you run them much in the rocks. Your idea of a separate set of M/T's is what I've done. Only problem with that is that they'll probably rot before they wear out.:rolleyes: But, I'm done with running M/T's year round.
 
Nokians (my work truck had the W3 suvs) are great in the snow and ice, but won't do you favours offroad. But, for use on the 80 I'll add a vote for the Duratracs. Had them on two trucks now, will probably get them again.
 
If you really are dealing with serious snow or ice get dedicated studded tires.

Makes all the difference.

I had dedicated Blizzaks 265 70 16 on my Tacoma. Yes they are very very nice in snow and ice and I've even taken them up Imogene pass (not safe C load tire), and up to Crested Butte in a snow storm with a camper on the back. I found that I didn't like wearing them down on long trips where I would see snow and ice occasionally and would do some off roading. I would put them on as I knew I'd hit snow, but didn't need them for 95% of the trip. Hit snow and ice at Crater Lake and Nevada Mountain passes, but then I was on the Northern California beaches off road and some mud here and there, along a trip from Colorado to explore Northern California and back. They were pretty worn down after 3 seasons, and I've gone to Canada twice in the last two summers.

I live in Western Colorado, which is essentially desert. If I see snow, it has usually already been plowed and even if it hasn't, it's not that deep. I have snow chains if it gets really deep. I chose the KO2s as they have more tread and siping than the Duratracs which are a better deep snow tire. The KO2s should serve my purposes for getting to the ski resorts which are mostly paved roads with some ice.

I agree dedicated snow tires are much better, but I wanted more of an all around tire this time. With the Tacoma I had ended up with 3 sets of tires, KM3 Mud Terrains for rock crawling, Blizzaks for snow, and a Light Truck tire for long distances which I had trouble choosing between on long trips. Like my last trip, I knew I wanted the 33" KM3's for offroading in California, but I knew I'd hit snow and ice. I don't have that much storage and want to see if a more all around tire will serve my needs better without keeping piles of tires all over the place.
 
Last edited:
how bout the Goodyear Ultra Terrain

DTD exclusive


gdyrl8_ang_xl.jpg
 
I already went with the KO2 285/75/16 on stock suspension, I've always just been a BF Goodrich fan too. I've run their performance tires on sports cars in my previous life, and I've just found them to be good high quality tires.
 

That’s the tire I butchered the name of in my post.

It has a very similar tread to the Nitto’s - and like I mentioned Discount is phasing out Duratracs for these, alot of it had to do with large percentages coming back / unhappy customers.

But that’s all types of trucks, SUVs, etc & all load-range versions.

These were so new they had a single set to show and had only installed 1 set when I was shopping black donuts in prep for the Black Friday sale.

Nitto Exo Grapplers would be a srious contender IMO for my 80 if I needed tires now, and a closer look at these Discount Tire Goodyears.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom