How are all terrain tires in the snow?

[PeteTheFarmer]

Borrowed a friend's 2WD truck yesterday to move some furniture. As luck would have it, the rain we'd been having all day had turned to a thick wet snow covering the streets by the return trip.

Had a lot of problems getting going, climbing hills and with the ABS kicking in with even light pedal pressure.

Looked things over this morning. The tires are LeMans A/T, which evidently is a Bridgestone/Firestone make. Tread depth is good, not visibly underinflated. Knowing him, he likely bought these tires because they were the cheapest he could find, but would that alone explain the problems I had?

 

[IndyIan]

From what I've seen, the more serious an off road tire is, the worse they are in wet snow. No siping and I'm guessing a rubber compound that hardens up in the cold.

 

[gofastman]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
From what I've seen, the more serious an off road tire is, the worse they are in wet snow. No siping and I'm guessing a rubber compound that hardens up in the cold.

this is a good generalization.
the BFGoodrich A/T tires are actually rated for severe snow service, but they suck in every thing else.
The problem is snow and mud have very different properties. Snow is very cohesive (sticks to itself) if your tire balls up with snow its more or less a good thing, if it does that in mud you are going nowhere really fast.

Many, many people will tell you their tires have good snow traction. BULL!
Anything short of spiked rally tires are gonna be pretty [censored] on snow/ice compared to dry pavement, its just the way the world works. snow tires have significantly better traction, but you arnt gonna be taking hairpins at 90mph

 

[kkreit01]

Most decent AT tires are excellent in the snow. I had Destination ATs on a 2wd, and they were great. Yeah -- your buddy bought the cheapest tires he could find. Most mainstrean models: Revos, LTX, BFGAT, etc. are all good.

I've heard MTs aren't?

 

[MrHorspwer]

Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor are two more severe snow rated all-terrain tires.

Quote:
but would that alone explain the problems I had?


The tires alone cause your problem? No. The fact that you were driving on greasy, wet snow in a 2WD truck might have contributed

 

[gofastman]

Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor are two more severe snow rated all-terrain tires.

Quote:
but would that alone explain the problems I had?


The tires alone cause your problem? No. The fact that you were driving on greasy, wet snow in a 2WD truck might have contributed

Thats a good point, 2wd pickups are some of the worst vehicles to drive in low traction conditions.

 

[mpvue]

all snow is not created (can you say created on this site?) equal, nor are tires or drivers. I've managed in some messy stuff that got alot of SUVs in the ditch, and other stuff slipped me up that I thought I could handle.
point being, there are a lot of factors here besides the tires.

 

[Keith Z]

I have bf goodrich a/t on my jeep wrangler and I don't have any complaints, stock size by the way.

 

[Jim 5]

I have run BFG A/T's in a severe snow climate for many years. I think they are the best non-blizzak tire for snow you can get.

 

[PeteTheFarmer]

I drove my brothers F-250 several times in the snow when he had it, and I don't remember it ever being as bad as this vehicle was. 2WD with highway tire.

 

[defektes]

Originally Posted By: gofastman
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor are two more severe snow rated all-terrain tires.

Quote:
but would that alone explain the problems I had?


The tires alone cause your problem? No. The fact that you were driving on greasy, wet snow in a 2WD truck might have contributed

Thats a good point, 2wd pickups are some of the worst vehicles to drive in low traction conditions.


if they have a manual transmission you can get away with it, otherwise yes it sucks lol.

 

[JHZR2]

My bfg at tires are snow rated and have done real well going up steep inclines unplowed.

 

[RWEST]

If the tire actually IS one of the aggressive "AT" tires, not an "all season" (which actually is 'no season' IMO) they'll do fairly well in snow.

We get snow, LOTS of snow:

here in SW PA, and, while I prefer a full, studded winter tread setup on my vehicles, I can say that we've also had success with aggressive AT type tires, too. Main problems with AT's are noise on dry roads, and pretty quick wear. Normally, we'll run studded winters or aggressive AT's from Nov. to April, then regular summers the rest of the time.

 

[Corvette Owner]

Here how tires stack up for snow use:

Summer Tires = VERY bad in snow, lose 30% traction at 40 F due to compound hardening and useless in any snow.

A/S (all season tires) = have the M&S designation on sidewalls, a compromise tire, good for light snow

Snow Tires (have the twin snow peaks logo on sidewalls) = best tire for snow

Studded Snow tires = banned in most states (do real damage to roads), best on ice

I am not an off-road guy, so I can't address your main questions, but these are how car/SUV tires stack up for snow use.

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
Here how tires stack up for snow use:

Summer Tires = VERY bad in snow, lose 30% traction at 40 F due to compound hardening and useless in any snow.

A/S (all season tires) = have the M&S designation on sidewalls, a compromise tire, good for light snow

Snow Tires (have the twin snow peaks logo on sidewalls) = best tire for snow

Studded Snow tires = banned in most states (do real damage to roads), best on ice

I am not an off-road guy, so I can't address your main questions, but these are how car/SUV tires stack up for snow use.


I would agree with this and would put Light Truck agressive all terrain tires like the BFG A/T's in between "All season" tires and "Snow tires" on your list. The A/T light truck tires are dramatically better than passenger car all season tires.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: gofastman
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor are two more severe snow rated all-terrain tires.

Quote:
but would that alone explain the problems I had?


The tires alone cause your problem? No. The fact that you were driving on greasy, wet snow in a 2WD truck might have contributed

Thats a good point, 2wd pickups are some of the worst vehicles to drive in low traction conditions.


YUP. 2WD was the culprit. You could have tank tracks on there in a 2WD, without weight in the bed, and you would slip.

 

[kkreit01]

Not all ATs are noisy. You can't tell the difference between the Destination LE or AT in noise.

 

[RageOfFury]

I have a set of Firestone Destination A/T tires on my 4x4 Liberty and they are awesome in the snow. They are so-so on ice though.

 

[dime]

Originally Posted By: defektes
Originally Posted By: gofastman
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Dunlop Radial Rover RVXT and Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor are two more severe snow rated all-terrain tires.

Quote:
but would that alone explain the problems I had?


The tires alone cause your problem? No. The fact that you were driving on greasy, wet snow in a 2WD truck might have contributed

Thats a good point, 2wd pickups are some of the worst vehicles to drive in low traction conditions.


if they have a manual transmission you can get away with it, otherwise yes it sucks lol.


agreed i have a 2wd manual and never have troubles but i laso run a good snow rated tire in the rear and no weight.

 

[dgee]

Toyo Open Country A/T's and BFG A/T's are both superb in snow.
I love how quiet the Toyo's are on the freeway yet very capable on any terrain.