Toyo M/T's and snow.....thoughts

[scotia]

I will be heading up east for the holidays and wanted to know how well these Toyo OC M/T's run in the white stuff. I am from north of the border so I know all about snow and what tires work well. At least all the tires that I have run in the past. This is my first set of Toyo's and they work great on everything else here in Tejas. Just wanting a heads up.
How hard does the tread get in the cold and what not. Any feedback would be great, other wise I will take the Subaru.

 

[deanf]

They worked really well when I had my Dodge. I went up and down steep hills closed by snow in Seattle during our storm last winter. Never any problems. Of course I don't drive stupidly in the snow: slow and easy.

 

[Ebag333]

If we are talking about dry powder, not too bad.

If we're talking about slick stuff (ice, or slush), horrible.

Even my wife has commented on how bad they are in ice/rain/slush.

 

[scotia]

So what it sounds like is that the tire loads up in the wet snow and traction is lost. Well the jury is not out yet. I will wait and see what all is said. Maybe some folks out there are in the snow this week.

 

[mister]

On the packed roads they are bad. They don't like to stop or go. Get them siped as deep as they will do it. The siping helps a ton.

 

[UCBerzerkeley]

So what it sounds like is that the tire loads up in the wet snow and traction is lost. Well the jury is not out yet. I will wait and see what all is said. Maybe some folks out there are in the snow this week.

i dont think its cuz they load up, i think they just dont get good traction. not a lot of rubber contacting pavement on pretty solid lugs

 

[cody c]

So what it sounds like is that the tire loads up in the wet snow and traction is lost. Well the jury is not out yet. I will wait and see what all is said. Maybe some folks out there are in the snow this week.

Its not because the treads pack up. On a 1 ton cummins crewcab your gonna have like twice the weight, thus some traction on ice.
The Open Country's are a hard tire. Its all about the weight of the vehicle in contrast to the hardness of the rubber/size of contact surface. And in comparison to diesel trucks your cruiser is "light".

Get your tires siped or studded.

BTW, there is more than a couple threads about open country MT's and snow on here already...

 

[deanf]

On a 1 ton cummins crewcab your gonna have like twice the weight

The general consensus here is that the 80 weighs between 5500 and 6300 pounds. The Dodge in the pic weighs around 7900.

Not double. But yes I agree more weight helps.

 

[cody c]

The general consensus here is that the 80 weighs between 5500 and 6300 pounds. The Dodge in the pic weighs around 7900.

Not double. But yes I agree more weight helps.

ya that was obviously a bit of exageration, the point is the ratio of weight to rubber hardness/contact patch.
not considering the extra weight of an arb w/ winch versus a loaded pickup bed or snowmobile in the back...

 

[scotia]

Well i am sporting a bit more weight with all the amour and what not but it sounds to me that the lugs and contact patch are the issue. Granted these are by no means a nokia snow tire. I really need the comfort of this 80 so i am pretty sure the suby will stay at the casa. I will just have to deal with the lack of traction. Hell i do have a fine set of skidder logging chains laying around

 

[Splittilps]

I really like my Toyo Mt's. You need to air them down in the winter. I usually run about 28-30 pounds in the winter and I think they are great. Just last week it was -38C here and I had no problems with them on hard packed Snow/Ice. It also depends on how you drive! There are alot of guys run them around here because they work really well.

Cheers

 

[shocktower]

I have them on my F-350 they are great this is my 4 set, I have been/ live where I get snow and ice they work great, yes get then siped it makes a world of diffrence JMHO

 

[mister]

So what it sounds like is that the tire loads up in the wet snow and traction is lost. Well the jury is not out yet. I will wait and see what all is said. Maybe some folks out there are in the snow this week.

On slick icy roads it is best for the tire to load up with snow. To make it simple, snow sticks to snow rubber doesn't. The reason a tire like the BFG A/t are a good snow tire is because they hold snow in the tread. Look at all winter traction tires they have a tight tread wirth a lot of siping. When your drining around town in the snow look at the tires on the other cars. The ones that look the whitest on the tred are getting the best traction. If you see a truck with big mud tires the tread will much blacker. The siping on any tire specially a mud tire will help hold snow and give the tire more leading edges to get traction. Driving with a mud tire in winter conditions takes some getting use to. I fortunately grew up where we got 30-50 feet of snow a year, so it is second nature. The last year I worked there was January 05 doing snow removal. It was a record Januray getting 25 feet of snow. The short of it is if you want the best traction for on road winter driving get an a/t tire.

Good luck.

 

[Nay]

On slick icy roads it is best for the tire to load up with snow. To make it simple, snow sticks to snow rubber doesn't. The reason a tire like the BFG A/t are a good snow tire is because they hold snow in the tread. Look at all winter traction tires they have a tight tread wirth a lot of siping. When your drining around town in the snow look at the tires on the other cars. The ones that look the whitest on the tred are getting the best traction. If you see a truck with big mud tires the tread will much blacker. The siping on any tire specially a mud tire will help hold snow and give the tire more leading edges to get traction. Driving with a mud tire in winter conditions takes some getting use to. I fortunately grew up where we got 30-50 feet of snow a year, so it is second nature. The last year I worked there was January 05 doing snow removal. It was a record Januray getting 25 feet of snow. The short of it is if you want the best traction for on road winter driving get an a/t tire.

Good luck.

Way too general of a statement on MT's vs. AT's. Siping, compound, tread width are all more important than any AT/MT distinction.

My MT's are so good in the snow my wife prefers to drive the 80 on 37's on icy hardpack over our minivan with dedicated snow tires. Different vehicles, obviously, but is going purely on what feels right to her, and she has had some bad experiences (close calls) in the van, never anything in the 80, and these are in braking situations.

I won't buy AT's, because they struggle to keep up on hardpack and are useless when it gets deep, which depending where you live can happen on the road, as you drive.

But this is Colorado, typically talking powder, with temps that can vary 20 degrees in a hour at night falls. You don't want a tire that freezes up quickly, like BFG AT's, in those conditions, because they can go from performing nicely to frightening in a hurry.

Having said this, newer Toyos are ok. They are nothing like trying to drive an old school BFG MT in winter conditions.

They are a hard tire and are not siped and tend to have a wide contact patch, but I suspect the comment above about intermountain west powder vs. coastal conditions is probably right on.

I'd sipe this tire if I was going to run them over time in winter conditions to let those big lugs flex a bit more as well as carry the basic biting advantage of siping.

I wouldn't take a sube over my 80 just because it was wearing them for sure.

 

[PoorHouse]

The last year I worked there was January 05 doing snow removal. It was a record Januray getting 25 feet of snow.

Where were you that got 300" of snow in January?

 

[mister]

Where were you that got 300" of snow in January?

I had January on my mind I ment average, it will average over 400" I'm up too late.

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. -- A massive April storm in Mammoth pushed the California resort past the all-time snowfall record on Tuesday afternoon. As of Wednesday morning, Mammoth Mountain had recorded 632 inches, or 52 feet of snow since October. The previous record of 617 inches was set in the 1992/93 season. The enormous 20-foot-deep snow pack prompted officials to extend the ski season to the Fourth of July.
That was 05


Nay:
Way too general of a statement on MT's vs. AT's. Siping, compound, tread width are all more important than any AT/MT distinction.

I know I was just trying to keep it simple. My Iroks did great in the snow and ice. So did my siped MTR's. I didn't want to get into rubber compound and all. There are way to many variables, car, truck, weight, width, suspension, compound, and on and on. For example, I had a set of BFG km2's on a 05 Tacoma. They were siped and terrable on that truck. I hated them. I went off the road twice out hunting that year in areas that other tires had never failed. But a friend has them on a Dodge diesel and says they are great.

 

[Nay]

Nay:
Way too general of a statement on MT's vs. AT's. Siping, compound, tread width are all more important than any AT/MT distinction.

I know I was just trying to keep it simple. My Iroks did great in the snow and ice. So did my siped MTR's. I didn't want to get into rubber compound and all. There are way to many variables, car, truck, weight, width, suspension, compound, and on and on. For example, I had a set of BFG km2's on a 05 Tacoma. They were siped and terrable on that truck. I hated them. I went off the road twice out hunting that year in areas that other tires had never failed. But a friend has them on a Dodge diesel and says they are great.

Well said.

 

[lacruiser]

I live in LA, so snow is not the norm here.

I had to drive to Reno last week, so I was a bit concerned about the drive through the mountains. I did the search and found that the Toyo's were't really well-regarded in the snow.

I hit a couple patches of ice on road into Reno, and they did slip a bit, but overall, not bad.

Then when we were there, it had about a foot of snow on the ground. They were pretty good in the slush, I drove around many stuck cars with no problem. However, my snow experience is limited.

I called Toyo to ask them their suggestions about tire pressure, they wouldn't make any recommendations due to liability issues. They did say that tire is not a good snow and ice tire.