After-market tires for icy conditions, an open discussion.

[RAMAlaska]

So, I am looking into the future, trying to decide on tires. Some things for you to know right off the bat.

• I am not going to lift my truck, maybe a level at the most
• I don't need superswampers, I won't be doing any serious offroading
• I live in Alaska and need good winter tires that perform well on ice
• We don't salt here, only gravel
• I would like to balance out performance with good looks
• I plan on using the stock rims from the 2013 Black Express. These are painted and I worry about rims on and off all the time.

I had some Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1's on my old F**d. They were by far the best winter tire I have ever owned. I left them on all year and they wore pretty well because it never really gets hot up here.

I guess the question comes down to this; would you get two sets of tires or one? And if you choose one set, which tires would you get?

 

[Etroze86]

One set toyo Open Country ATII's been one of the best tires I've had on my vehicles. They had a hellva lot more grip than the BFG's I used to run on my old mazda.

 

[Gymkata]

I have GoodYear All Terrain w/Kevlar tires and love them. They aren't a winter tire, but are probably about as good in winter conditions as you can find in an A/T tire. I was extremely impressed with their snow and rain performance this last winter. I have read good reviews about their ice handling as well, though I haven't experienced too much ice personally with them. IMO they look good, and are a 60,000 mile rated tire that is quiet, smooth, and decent off road. The only downside besides their being a bit pricey, is they have pretty stiff sidewalls being a kevlar lined E load rated tire. This isn't an issue for me because my suspension is much more comfortable than stock, but when I had my stock suspension I noticed a marked difference in the ride between the stock GoodYear SRA sidewalls and the A/T w/Kevlar sidewalls. The difference wasn't huge, but was noticeable.

It's up to your budget, but I think you would be fine keeping A/T w/Kevlar tires on your truck year round.

 

[Buddy]

You answered your own question, get the winter tires for winter - nothing beats a good winter tire in winter conditions - and get a set of tires for when it's not winter. It all kinda equals out in the end anyway. Eg. 50,000 km on a set of all seasons, or 25,000km on a set of winters and summers each. And you pay a bit extra for rims, but then you get that extra bit of control on the awful winter days/nights.

 

[AOFA]

Or you could buy a set of A/T tires... the ones you want and sipe them. Thats what I did with my **** Cepeks. They are wearing very well.

 

[Bigdaddycodes]

I highly recommend the Goodyear wrangler duratrac, they are an a/t but with a mountain snowflake designation for winter conditions, I've had 2 sets now and probably the best tires I've ever had year round, soft rubber and sypes are great on ice, deep tread gets you around in snow and still have option to stud them too. And they are also quiet on highway, I use them year round and get about 80000 out of them


Sent from the rocket in my pocket

 

[predator800]

I highly recommend the Goodyear wrangler duratrac, they are an a/t but with a mountain snowflake designation for winter conditions, I've had 2 sets now and probably the best tires I've ever had year round, soft rubber and sypes are great on ice, deep tread gets you around in snow and still have option to stud them too. And they are also quiet on highway, I use them year round and get about 80000 out of them


Sent from the rocket in my pocket

X2. We use these tires on our fleet. If you use one tire year around, this is a good tire for ice. Not as good as an ice tire but good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Low2HighRise]

Lived up there for 3 years I just drove around on some firestone all terrains got around just fine

 

[WhiteExpress]

The Goodyear DuraTrac is a great winter tire.
It is also stud-able if you can have a dedicated winter tire.

My buddy has a set for his winter tires, and wow, are they amazing.
He's a nut job, because our winters just aren't like that here anymore.

 

[RAMAlaska]

Thanks guys for all the input!

 

[MiRamDriver]

Duratrac, no question. I've run a lot of tires in the snow/ice and Duratrac's out-perform them all.