A key thing to look for: The "snowflake in mountain" symbol.

TripCheck - Road Cams, Road & Weather Conditions in Oregon - ODOT

Tires that meet this winter or severe snow standard are TESTED and proved to be significantly better than the norm in cold icy conditions.
Contrast that with an "M&S" designation which is nothing but marketing BS.

The Blizzaks are one of the most well known tires to carry this. They are amazing on ice.
I have been running Firestone Winterhawks on my RWD BMW in the winter, and I can say they are superb in our type of snow. I live down in Chico and drive over Donner and Siskiyou on a regular basis. Driving around spinning 4WD SUV's with traditional A/T M&S tires!

It's hard to find many tire dealers down here who know about this type of tire and the technology behind them. VERY popular in Scandinavian countries and Canada, it that is any indicator.

These tires use special rubber compounds to remain more flexible in the cold, have LOTS and LOTS of sipes to provide LOTS of gripping edges, and usually have abrasive or suctiony additives to adhere better to ice.

Trust me, once you try them, you will NEVER settle for anything less.

 

And if you read the info on that Oregon DOT website, yes, you are reading correct. Oregon considers unchained traction tires comparable to chained A/T or M&S tires!

As I recall, Cooper offers a traction tire for trucks...

Yep, here it is:
http://www.coopertires.com/html/prod...=discoverer_ms

I'm thinking the LT275/70R18 may be just the ticket for you if it will fit your wheels. Close to a 33x11 tire with 3640 lb load rating.

 

For snow, I always look for the snowflake/mountain logo. BFG AT in certain sizes (typically white sidewalls) and BFG Commerical Traction both carry that logo and do well in snow.

 

Yep MWS, I absolutely swear by Blizzaks. I got a set on my C2500 after I slid down a hill with the nose pointing up the hill... in Drive! (still don't know how properly handle that situation. Which way do you try to steer??) I eventually got up the hill, misty rain on ice stinks, especially in a 2wd Chevy.

When I got my 95 F-250 (4x4 this time) I got the set in the picture above. They are well worth the investment, around $150 each for LT 235/85 16's. One way of looking at it is, 'what would you pay not to be in the ditch right now?' Or an accident or just the confidence to not have a death grip on the wheel.

I had the advantage of steel wheels already on the truck (they were rusty then too), so I got a set of factory aluminum rims for the rest of the year. Same thing with the new Super Duty.

They do 'sing' a bit on the highway, but have given better wear than I expected.... probably about 25K on them. They have two 'layers' and two wear bars. You can see that I am close to running out of the first one, which is 50% of the tread. I think my friend is still using the ones off my Chevy.


TireRack and Sears sell them. Or any Firestone (owned by Bridgestone) dealer can get them too.

 

Looks like BFG is coming out with a new snow and ice tire, the Winter Slalom KSI (Key Snow Ice). Unfortunately it isn't available in an E rating, but it's promising to see a new tire from BFG for pick ups that will be more of a winter tire. I've been emailing them routinely giving them h*ll for not having a decent dedicated winter tire for trucks. Hopefully this means they'll offer it in larger sizes soon.

 

Here are the LR-E's available from TireRack:
Currently Available Prices and Sizes

 

I just traded 2 sets of goodyear silent armor tires for 2 new sets of goodyear duratracs on a f 250 and a gmc 1500. Way quieter then the gy mtrs and they are the best allaround mud and snow tire goodyear makes. I had a set of mtr s about 3 years ago and they are very noisy. The duratracs are a little noisier then the silent armors but have a lot more traction. And the dealer tells me its the only studable tire goodyear makes at this time. I also have a 08 f 350 king ranch with the ats m+s and they are very noisy and the worst tire of the lot. If you want a good quiet tire with very good traction go with the new goodyear duratrac and u will be estatic.

 

You know I'm in the same situation right now my 2010 F350 came with continental garbage they don't even go in the rain, my last truck had the silent armor Pro grade load range D. on my F150 I'm in upstate New York and we get one hell of a winter, I'm thinking about buying a set of four aggressive snow tires I'm just curious if anyone has experience with the Cooper Discover M+s tires. Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of the silent armor they ran for two years with really no complaint got about 70,000 miles they handle deep snow really well what I didn't like was driving along at about 50 mph and come across some road with a little bit of snow and ice and they feel squirmy until they would settle down and grab some traction more or less due to the fact that the ambient temperature outside 15°, most snow tires being a softer compound are more predictable on ice and snow the Cooper looks really aggressive and tread pattern looks like it will evacuate the contact patch on the road really well just curious anyone's first-hand experience with these tires on heavy trucks most the time I'm hauling about 1500 pounds of tile or ceramics thanks again

 

That Cooper isn't an E load range, hardly a D. I wouldn't put it on a Super Duty, it's too light.

Coopers other tire brands, Mastercraft, etc. offer a true winter tire that is up to task. You should check them out.

 

Something to keep in mind: Mud terrain (M/T) tires with big lugs tend to be the worst "winter" tires. They look cool and aggressive, but.....

Yes, they do very well with deep snow. Great for that.

But for most of us, we encounter rain, ice, slush, and packed snow much more than deep powder.

For wet roads, or icy roads, icy with a layer of water or slush, or hard packed snow, what you want is:
- A compound that remains soft at low temps. Most serious off road mud terrain tires have very hard compounds to reduce risk of tearing off lugs. Exactly opposite of what you need.)
- As many tread edges as possible. It's simple: Each edge gets a little grip. The more edges, the more grip. On mud tires, you have just the edge of each lug, and there are very few. On and A/T tire, you have more lugs, so more grip. On a severe winter tire, each and every one of those little sipes gives you a gripping edge. And there are hundreds or even thousands!
- As much rubber on the ice on possible. Big lugs = big voids = less traction. What you want is lots and lots of little lugs with minimal voids. But enough to "clear" powder snow. A very difficult ideal to achieve, to say the least. Some of the Blizzaks for cars look like ribbed highway tires but with thousands of sipes. Awesome for ice, not so good for deeper snow.
Most current winter tires for trucks seem to be striking a nice balance.

If you don't believe me, try to find a single M/T tire that gets the snowflake. You won't.

Siping the heck out of an M/T tire will help, but tends to make them squirmy as the big lugs start moving around.

 

According to tirerack they do!

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=Econoline E350&autoModClar=

 

The Cooper Discover M+S tires (and BlizzakW965) are "winter only". You will need a second set of wheels for them but you can keep the Conticraps until they wear out or you get sick of them if you only have them on for three seasons each year. I have used both the Cooper Discover M+S and W965 for plowing and preferred the Coopers by a slight margin. Both are a little better than Silent Armors in snow but both are MUCH better on ice. If you drive in a lot of icy conditions the Coopers can be studded but you won't be able to sneak up on anyone as they are rather loud.
Whatever dedicated snow tire you decide on, get the narrowist size that will fit the wheels. Wide tires will ride up over snow (the snowshoe effect) and reduce your traction.
BTW I will be buying a new set of the Cooper Discover M+S tires (LT235/80/17E) for my F350 for the upcoming plow season next month.

 

Hey thanks for the quick response I was just out checking on prices stupid me I should've been looking in August when I could've got a better deal right now every little soccer mom is looking for snow tires ;-). There is no doubt that i will do dedicated snow tires and keep the continental garbage for the summertime I have four extra steel rims so I'm all set the Cooper look like they're going to be the best they are 10 ply, one other quick question has anyone ever tried the destination S/T they're a little more aggressive and usually meant for off-road but a buddy of my brothers says they go great on the road and plows with them any ideas? my usual experience with off-road tires they're not great in slushy conditions or ice he claims their excellent just curious if anybody can verify this I'm not really concerned if they wear out I'm only going to run them about four months thanks again

 

Wow, I was looking at the Cooper M&S under SUV and they don't list any of the "E" tires under SUV. I checked under light truck and they list all the larger E tires. I'm glad you guys are posting about them, because I thought I'd seen everything Cooper had to say about them but your posts made me go back to their site and check again. Whew!!!

 

I agree the silent armors are pretty good in the snow. I also liked my Bridgestone Revo's for winter conditions.

99 F-250 V10 - MN