I took one glance at those and noticed the "quieting" features. I had a set of aggressive tires that were crazy-quiet. I looked at them closely and noticed the treads were... well... pyramid-ish - it's the only way I can get it across. I noticed the tread with sharp leading edge and a large space between treads makes big noise. Take the sharp edge off and leave the big space, and you have a good snow/mud tire that's quiet. Not ideal in Alaska - it's not about quiet, it's about not dying on ice (or falling off of it to be more precise).


Compact snow and ice for a long time. If you can afford to have studded for the "dark" season and an all-season tire for the "light" season, that may be your safest choice. Studs stop you on ice, not so much with the frozen rubber.

 

I have heard great things about Nokians, I personally don't have a lot of info but they're probably worth looking into.

 

I tow this trailer once or twice a month to make a living. I'm looking for THE BEST dedicated winter tires on the market.

Driving 1k+ miles a month towing heavy in the mountains on ice and snow, tires will not be an area I try to save a penny on.

 

i think a guy on here named AKEX will probably now he buys new tires. i just get used studded ones and restudd them.

 

I had Goodyear fierce attitude's on my f350 they were super quiet, Great for towing and fairly good in the snow. The biggest downside's they had were that the E-load tires are way stiff to the point I didn't like to drive my truck and that they don't do any better than an A/T tire in mud despite their looks. The fierce attitude's aren't a bad tire, good towing, good in snow and good wear but they were so stiff the Nitto trail grappler M/T's felt like I had air ride. I don't have any snow experience with the trail grappler's yet, if I did I'd recommend them, excellent with a 30,000# gooseneck on muddy roads.

 

I use Cooper M+S studded on my Excursion all winter (october-april) and i'm very happy with them, real steel studs BTW from TDS-GCR Tire in Anchorage.

 

listen to this guy he does 100 mph all winter long on pure ice and hasent crash yet!

 

While I don't run studs on my trucks, I have run studs on my Subaru (before I blew it up....story for another time) in the October -April winters of northern VT and as SKIP1970 mentioned there is a large difference with running in snow during a storm in mainland USA where the tires dig INTO the snow and the packed snow/ice roads 24/7 where your tires ride ON the snow/ice pack. Only studs will do for real traction on that hard pack.

So for what you are doing, I would buy the best damn tires I could find and get them steel studded and grab some chains to throw in the bed for good measure.

 

Now... about that trailer. What about tires for braking?

 

This Hercules Trail Digger M/T (they come with molded-in stud holes, but you have to request your dealer to stud them) has been my vehicle as opposed to trailer dedicated studded snow tire for the last 15 years. They are soft, so don't expect great mileage. But they hold like a tractor because they are open treaded and don't pack in but shed snow and I always have mine studded.


http://www.herculestire.com/tire-gal...k/light-truck/
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Hercules Trail Digger MT.jpg [ 41.51 KiB | Viewed 86 times ]

But the best advice I can give you is to talk to the tow truck drivers (or the tow truck company owner) who tow in the snow. They consistently drive the tallest, narrowest, studded tire they can find.

That is how I learned about V-bar 5-camlock snow chains. (Only go with camlock!) And I have bought at least three pair of them over the past 20 years from tirechain.com in VT. Put chains on that trailer and it won't be going sideways.





"Cooper Tire manufactures the Hercules brand in addition to Cooper and other associate and private label brands."

 

Studded, the only way to make sure on hard pack / Ice. (chains just suck)

 

youll need chains here depending on where you are going its a requirement.

 

Yeah... that happens on the passes too - even if you have 4X4 (in some cases).

 

Wow.... All this talk about tires for driving in snow and not one person has said anything about a dedicated set of snow tires.
I have run a stupid amount of tires in the snow and the hands down best was a set of SNOW tires, there's no substitute. I ran Yokohama geolander I/Ts...... Yes i/Ts. Yokohama Geolandar I-T G072 Tire Reviews (43 Reviews) when the weather warms up I'll admit that they do feel a bit spongy which is why they were my dedicated winter tires.
If you say the funds are not there for a dedicated set of tires then you obviously don't care about your own safety and the people riding with you or around you.... It's a world of difference between A/T tires or any other type of tires mentioned so far.

 

Actually, that's exactly what i mentioned in my post. I used Cooper M+S studded snow tires half the year. I also run Blizzaks on two of my other trucks and have run firestone winterforce studded also before.