Winter tyres

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 22, 2023

I live in a rural part of North Scotland, about 57.5°N, not huge elevation, my house is about 250m.

Our roads don’t get cleared of snow, the nearest town is 10 miles away. We generally have snow for 2-3 months of the year, often up to a metre of actual snowfall but it drifts obviously, one year my van got buried completely. Record low here, on my weather station with a Stevenson screen, is -23C (-10F), it’s very common to have -10C to -13C.

My Grenadier comes with the BFG AT’s, I’ve had these before on a couple of vehicles and I’ve not actually been that impressed in the snow and on frosty or icy roads. In fact, I have two sets of wheels and tyres for my Mitsubishi pickup, AT’s for summer and a set of continental wintercontacts which have been great.

I just watched this video

View: https://youtu.be/tVSHMnkf0gY?si=_wph12jb5C88j3t5

Which was quite interesting. Has anybody found another all terrain tyre that can cope well with snow and ice?

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 22, 2023

p.s. I did do a search and although there are a few comments about snow chains I couldn’t find any threads solely about snow tyres or winter tyres, apologies if I've missed them!

ECrider · Nov 30, 2023

Baron von Teuchter said:
p.s. I did do a search and although there are a few comments about snow chains I couldn’t find any threads solely about snow tyres or winter tyres, apologies if I've missed them!

Snow Driving

Curious for those of us that live in aggressive winter climates what the winter tire selection would be. I’m thinking the A/T’s will be my summer tires and then studded Hakkapeliitta for winter driving. Debating getting a second set of rims to make the changeover easier as well. Is anyone...

www.theineosforum.com

RoyalWulff · Nov 30, 2023

Here in Colorado I use studded Hakkapeliitta.

JonSutton · Nov 30, 2023

Goodyear G90 is very good on ice, snow and in mud but it is very noisy on road. Use them on a Wolf 110, much better off highway and in very cold weather than BFG AT’s but pretty loose on highway.

Tom109 · Nov 30, 2023

Chains are extreme and I have only used them offroad.

For my Gren I went with the standard Bridgestones (designed for the Grenadier?) which appear to be a good option short of a dedicated snow tire. Hopefully I’ll be driving it by January!

Rubicon Maybe · Nov 30, 2023

I have limited experience and can only share what has worked for me on my Rubicon. But the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac has been really good on snow, ice, and mud. The downside is that the sidewalls are not perhaps as strong and they grow louder over time as the tread wears away. But I have been able to take my Jeep places where others with the BFGs have just spun their tires in both snow and mud.

Tinerfeño · Nov 30, 2023

Baron von Teuchter said:
Has anybody found (another) all terrain tyre that can cope well with snow and ice?

Answer to this is: No. There is no AT tyre that is really good on wet ice, which is the worst possible condition. In snow they are somewhat better, depending on the snow type (hard packed snow can be close to ice). If you need proper winter tyre choose ones with symbol:

Old M+S does not guarantee traction, it's just tyre manufacturer's own opinion of the use.

There are plenty of manufacturers and different tyre patterns but most probably just a few actually available at your tyre size or near it. If possible, choose same or larger diameter and narrower tyre. Keep in mind the possible need for spare tyre. Constant 4WD can usually cope with +/-10 mm difference in tyre diemeter in long term use. Slightly more on short distances. Aggressive traction control/ABS possibly not.

But if you need comprpmise tyres you can live with nearly all AT tyres when they are new. After couple of years the rubber gets harder and the grip disappears so that at age of 6-10 years they become dangerous.

ECrider · Nov 30, 2023

Tinerfeño said:
Answer to this is: No. There is no AT tyre that is really good on wet ice, which is the worst possible condition. In snow they are somewhat better, depending on the snow type (hard packed snow can be close to ice). If you need proper winter tyre choose ones with symbol:

Old M+S does not guarantee traction, it's just tyre manufacturer's own opinion of the use.

There are plenty of manufacturers and different tyre patterns but most probably just a few actually available at your tyre size or near it. If possible, choose same or larger diameter and narrower tyre. Keep in mind the possible need for spare tyre. Constant 4WD can usually cope with +/-10 mm difference in tyre diemeter in long term use. Slightly more on short distances. Aggressive traction control/ABS possibly not.

But if you need comprpmise tyres you can live with nearly all AT tyres when they are new. After couple of years the rubber gets harder and the grip disappears so that at age of 6-10 years they become dangerous.

My Bfg K02's have the 3PMSF symbol as you mentioned above but they are not a winter tyre in my opinion so have to choose carefully right tool for right job. In UK not much snow but do regularly get below 7degrees when proper winter compound tyres work much better.

Tom D · Nov 30, 2023

We always put full snow tyres on our car in the winter, I always have AT’s on my truck. The full winter tyres are really brilliant in snow. Our drive way is 200m up hill, its enough to stop most vehicles on regular tyres. The AT’s are ok, but I can’t afford to have a separate set for when we get snow, and snow tyres are a bit crap in the mud..

Zach4X4Foothills · Nov 30, 2023

Here in Canada, I also use Nokian Hakkapeliitta. Bridgestone Blizzak are also good .

Tinerfeño · Nov 30, 2023

Tom D said:
snow tyres are a bit crap in the mud..

I fully agree. I have solved this with a tyre cutter. Combined snow/mud tyre

Tinerfeño · Nov 30, 2023

ECrider said:
My Bfg K02's have the 3PMSF symbol as you mentioned above but they are not a winter tyre in my opinion

Quite strange how BFG have got it?

ECrider · Nov 30, 2023

Tinerfeño said:
Quite strange how BFG have got it?

indeed

Scotsitalian · Dec 1, 2023

Evening BVT,
I also live in Aberdeenshire so know the score.
I like BFG AT2 but my Gren came with the Bridgestones ( long story after N1/M1 fiasco), totally useless in snow or deep mud so I’m ditching them and going with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 255/70R18, £113/corner fitted and filled with N2 from Costco in Westhill, I will get BFG when it gets a bit more sensible but my dealer was quoting £358+vat for one! I’ve been trying to get Costco to supply BFG since they are owned by Michelin but not interested!

Boston Boy · Dec 1, 2023

Zach4X4Foothills said:
Nokian Hakkapeliitta

Agreed Nokian Hakkapeliitta, great tires. a bit noisy, but..... we got them for the snow

Eric · Dec 1, 2023

Scotsitalian said:
Evening BVT,
I also live in Aberdeenshire so know the score.
I like BFG AT2 but my Gren came with the Bridgestones ( long story after N1/M1 fiasco), totally useless in snow or deep mud so I’m ditching them and going with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 255/70R18, £113/corner fitted and filled with N2 from Costco in Westhill, I will get BFG when it gets a bit more sensible but my dealer was quoting £358+vat for one! I’ve been trying to get Costco to supply BFG since they are owned by Michelin but not interested!

I was thinking of Duratrac in the future, have you used them before on another vehicle? My concern was road manners and road noise.

Tom D · Dec 1, 2023

We had a couple of inches last night, the car made the turn on the drive way and up the hill without any wheel spin, I didn’t use any lockers and I didn’t feel the TC kick in either. On the way back from the school run I took a different route to see what the BFG tyres would do on a steeper hill. They are actually really good. The hill in the video is about 20% 1:5, there was only a little over an inch or so of snow there and some icy bits where meltwater had frozen overnight. It was the same thing, no wheel spin and no TC. Braking feels secure too. Confidence inspiring.

Although I had the same tyres on my old 110, I feel like the grenadier puts the power down better, in the defender on that hill I think I would have had some front wheel spin, and possibly needed the centre diff lock.

View: https://vimeo.com/890221033

CountyV8 · Dec 1, 2023

Tom D said:
We had a couple of inches last night, the car made the turn on the drive way and up the hill without any wheel spin, I didn’t use any lockers and I didn’t feel the TC kick in either. On the way back from the school run I took a different route to see what the BFG tyres would do on a steeper hill. They are actually really good. The hill in the video is about 20% 1:5, there was only a little over an inch or so of snow there and some icy bits where meltwater had frozen overnight. It was the same thing, no wheel spin and no TC. Braking feels secure too. Confidence inspiring.

Although I had the same tyres on my old 110, I feel like the grenadier puts the power down better, in the defender on that hill I think I would have had some front wheel spin, and possibly needed the centre diff lock.

View: https://vimeo.com/890221033

That girl needs a coat on.

rovie · Dec 1, 2023

Tom D said:
We had a couple of inches last night, the car made the turn on the drive way and up the hill without any wheel spin, I didn’t use any lockers and I didn’t feel the TC kick in either. On the way back from the school run I took a different route to see what the BFG tyres would do on a steeper hill. They are actually really good. The hill in the video is about 20% 1:5, there was only a little over an inch or so of snow there and some icy bits where meltwater had frozen overnight. It was the same thing, no wheel spin and no TC. Braking feels secure too. Confidence inspiring.

Although I had the same tyres on my old 110, I feel like the grenadier puts the power down better, in the defender on that hill I think I would have had some front wheel spin, and possibly needed the centre diff lock.

View: https://vimeo.com/890221033

Nice location!

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Winter tyres

Baron von Teuchter

Baron von Teuchter

ECrider

Snow Driving

RoyalWulff

JonSutton

Tom109

Rubicon Maybe

Tinerfeño

ECrider

Tom D

Zach4X4Foothills

Tinerfeño

Tinerfeño

ECrider

Scotsitalian

Boston Boy

Eric

Tom D

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CountyV8

rovie

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