+1 plus you want a tire that will cut through the snow and clean itself out as it rotates so that the next revolution of the tire it's tread is clear to again cut down through the snow, else it will pack up and be like having no tread at all. Just put some Cooper Discover M+S on one truck while the other has actual snow tires on back. Both trucks are 2wd with LS diff and though this is the first winter for one, the other has worked well that way for the 10 years I've owned it.

 

As smlford stated, and this is dependent on any situation, rock, sand, snow, mud, you want your contact patch (the amount of tread on ground) to be relative to the conditions.

A wide tire can be better in powder because it can throw the snow out of the tread. That can be better in sand and mud as well, as long as the tire can float on top as much as possible and clean itself.

However, very often in a snow condition you want a smaller contact patch because then there is more pounds per square inch (or however you want to measure it), force, etc. being applied to the road surface, or in this case the snow. If you have a smaller tire, narrower, you apply more pressure against the snow. If you have tires with biting edges, sipes, studs, it bites into the snow better and you get better traction. This can be the case with mud as well, if you have a tire tall enough to reach the bottom you get more bite.

Snow conditions change quite a lot, especially if you like going off the road at all. In many places a wide tire will float on top of powder and clean well but once that trail gets used a few times the wider tire will spin more and not bite enough. I've been offroading with groups in the snow and had wider Swampers doing a great job as the lead vehicle, then someone else takes the lead and the guy that was busting trail sits and spins if he's four or five vehicles back. I've loved tires offroad in snow and spun out on the way home (literally done that) due to the condition of the snow.

Usually, narrower tires do a better job in snow because you're not likely to be cutting trail most of the time. You're likely to be on a roadway without fresh deep powder. A narrower tire is more likely to bite down and provide better traction due to the psi of the tire to ground.

To the original poster. Look at tires, but don't buy if you're not sure what you're looking for. Also, are you buying dedicated snow tires for your truck, or buying tires that have to do well in the snow AND you have to run year round?

 

I'm disagreeing a little with a previous poster, but in many cases you do want the tires to "pack up" with snow and ice. The sipes of a tire often pack up with ice, while the tread has many biting edges. Reason being is because rubber doesn't stick to snow, however when you compact the snow it become more like ice and ice/snow sticks to ice/snow. So, you want the tread to have biting edges to break into compacted snow, or throw out loose snow and you want the sipes ice up and stick to the compacted snow. You'll often see sipes packed up with icy snow and that's their design, not to clear out. The biting edges will be biting into the snow.

 

Thanks everyone. I def know now that for the kind of snow I get my MT's are not the way to go. I think I will be looking for a better suited AT perhaps.

 

Or for the ultimate solution, get some true winter tires on a set of JY steelies and run those all winter, and then your Toyo's in the summer!

I mean, you probably don't wear the same shoes for all conditions, why should your truck?

 

Spot on, skinnies for the snow. In addition I'm a big fan of 300-500 lbs of weight right over the rear axle.With a decent tire you won't even need 4x4 most of the time.
A view from my front door when I lived in NH, I miss those days.

 

Ace

I think we're saying basically the same thing but in different ways. I don't know about sips icing but most of my winter snow driving is in-town (should have mentioned that). You want the tires to bite down through/into the compacted snow/slush to gain traction. By the same token, as the tire rotates you want the snow to clear so as that portion of tread comes around, it's not full of snow, rather it's clear so it can again cut through the upper layer of snow and gain traction. If I take my T-Bird out with all season tires, they are shortly filled in so there's a layer of snow surrounding the tires resulting in a loss of traction. I run a set of winter tires and rims on my trucks (storing the summer tires away). They're a softer composition tire, wider/deeper gaps in the tread and close to oem width so there's more concentrated weight on any given spot where the tires hit the snow, hopefully digging in deaper. If I was driving in the country or off-roading it might be different but for city driving in my trucks, this is the best combination I've come up with. On a side note, years back I had to drive my Bird a couple of winters, I got some real snow tires for it and it made a world of difference in traction and control.

I think overall, we basically agree on type of tires I just can't speak to the sips.

On Rugby's comment on weight, it can't hurt but one thing to consider: what happens in an accident. I've seen once a car that was hit straight on and had a 80 pound bag of sand come through the back seat from the trunk (I think the back seat might have been a fold-down). If you do add weight, a policeman once said to wire it so if it comes forward fast, the wire can rip the bag. Just insure it can't come visit you at an inopportune moment, be safe.

 

You need an all terrain tire. Look at a Goodyear Wrangler AT/S, Yokohama Geolandar AT/S, BFG All Terrain TA KO, Toyo Open Country A/T, and Pro Comp All Terrain. All of these tires will do an especially great job in snow. I run the Geolandars myself, but have seen other vehicles with the Toyo ATs, and they all do just great.

 

Ah Yes I remember the goos ol' days as well. I grew up in NH and graduated from UNH.

Shoveling the snow was fun when I was younger. Now I'm glad I live in Virginny!

 

I owned four Jeep Grand cherokees in my lifetime. I remember looking at comparisons. Jeeps four wheel drive set up is a true 4 wheel drive. This was before the hybrid vehicles. I can remember going in 2 foot of snow in PA without trouble. I would not consider taking my F-350 where I had the Cherokee.

 

so what are you saying wolver should buy a jeep instead LOL

 

wups sorry moss didnt read wolver quote carefully
he brought the jeep thing into post

 

ummm... has any one ever heard of letting air out of your tire to get a bigger foot print in the snow(wider is better in snow)? and skinny is better in the mud!, grew up and wheeled in MO. mud and in the ice and snow! i know what i'm talking about. you want to get down to the dry dirt in mud so you'ld use a skinny tire to cut it. you don't want to get deep in snow because the resistance of the snow combined with the slickness of the ice will stop you no matter what tire you have.. natgeo did a thing in the antarctic with these giant tires and they were 15" wide and inflated to less than 10psi for traction! and as far as toyo's go i'ld just assume put a set of wal-mart cheapies on than those unreliable peices of junk they attempt to call a tire!

 

Superdutyduck, I began writing a long post about the difference between a purpose built off road vehicle in the snow and a pickup or car on the roadway; however, it boils down to different conditions allow different tires to shine.

I'm glad you had a good experience with wide tires in the snow. After building a purpose built 4x4 and driving for a number of years in snowy conditions, my experience has been very different from yours. I much prefer narrower tires in almost all conditions. Narrower tires have outperformed wider tires for me in almost all conditions, although there is more to a tire to consider than just it's width.

 

answer me this.. In most instances when people lose traction with their skinny tires why are they told to air them down? ans. is to get a WIDER footprint. thus saying wider is better in snow. firestone spent alot of money to send me to tire school and that was a very important lesson.