Best AT tires for everyday use and snow?

[Jeepwalker]

OP

....e-rated tires usually get less economy too, if that matters to you. Check the weight of the tires before you buy. A heavy tire is great if you're hauling heavy loads or off-roading, but not necessarily required for a DD for many/most drivers.

 

[ThorsRams]

Well time to go pricing sounds like the bfg gets some dam good reviews along with both cooper and falken… I’ll have to price them out being they just messaged me and fixed my other wheel bearing so two new wheel bearings up front and some new tires I should be all set

 

[ThorsRams]

OP

....e-rated tires usually get less economy too, if that matters to you. Check the weight of the tires before you buy. A heavy tire is great if you're hauling heavy loads or off-roading, but not necessarily required for a DD for many/most drivers.

Yea that’s why I took a look at the cooper at3 xlt bc it’s a lil lighter and better on dry pavement well from what I read lol.. seems like the falkens are great in snow and the bfg is a beast off-road so ima have to check prices and figure what I mostly do to fit my style of life

 

[RamDiver]

I share that sentiment. We run studdless snow tires on both of our Audi's in winter and summer performance tires the rest of the year. The truck doesn't see much use in winter though so we go with the 3PMSF rated AT tires I mentioned in my last post.

But it seems our definitions of dedicated winter tires might be different. KO2's aren't snow tires, and not within my definition of dedicated winter tires. But it could be that you only run them in winter, which would make them your dedicated winter tires. Either way I've used KO2's and in my opinion they work great in the snow and slush we get here. You can't really go wrong with them for year round driving. My reason for going with another tire was the price. The Open Range tires I use are about the same price as the Falken's. And I don't see any difference in how well they work for my uses and conditions seen when driving the truck.

Yes, I agree. BFGs are not a true winter tire, just my preference due to circumstances that may only apply to me and a few other individuals.

My criteria are as follows;

1 Fantastic for unplowed roads or deep snow. FUN in deep snow, on or offroad.
2 Fantastic for offroad, mud, snow or water crossing, not that I do too much anymore.
3 Never a second thought about warm temperature wear when driving 21 hours to North Florida for 2 weeks during the winter months. And the return trip will be successful after a Northern blizzard.
4 I am able to perform a seasonal tire change at my convenience and not worry about excessive tire wear if I overlap into warmer weather.

I've become a bit lazy since I bought the new Ram truck. It requires warranty checks about 2 times per year, and it's just too convenient to have the next season's wheels installed at the same time.

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[Jeepwalker]

The catch when watching reviews is there are different types of *real-world* snow and winter road conditions. Wet snow, dry snow, hard-packed snow. How good is a certain tire when they're 2 years old and the edges get worn down and sipes are 1/2 what they were when new? How good are they in slush? Are they still quiet, or did they get real noisy?

Snow tire reviews are a good thumbnail overview, and still worth watching, but bear in mind its difficult to capture all the different snow conditions very well, esp when they wear. I haven't seen real world tire tests when tires get to 1/3 or 1/4 tread and some tires appear bald between the tread blocks, and others still have tread blocks left.

That's what bugs me about tire tests. They test brand new tires. Well, heck, Ive munched through snow & slush just fine with brand new all-weather car tires.

 

[ThorsRams]

The catch when watching reviews is there are different types of *real-world* snow and winter road conditions. Wet snow, dry snow, hard-packed snow. How good is a certain tire when they're 2 years old and the edges get worn down and sipes are 1/2 what they were when new? How good are they in slush? Are they still quiet, or did they get real noisy?

Snow tire reviews are a good thumbnail overview, and still worth watching, but bear in mind its difficult to capture all the different snow conditions very well, esp when they wear. I haven't seen real world tire tests when tires get to 1/3 or 1/4 tread and some tires appear bald between the tread blocks, and others still have tread blocks left.

That's what bugs me about tire tests. They test brand new tires. Well, heck, Ive munched through snow & slush just fine with brand new all-weather car tires.

Yes that’s the dam truth, the one review was 10k miles put on but that’s nothing… they should definitely do more reviews with the wear of the tires I agree.

 

[RamDiver]

The first set of BFGs I used, KO1s, became a bit harder after 3-5 years, IIRC. This impacted wet weather performance negatively and didn't do too much for extremely cold dry pavement either but...
who cares about the past tire's performance?


The BFG KO2s seemed to use a softer compound than the KO1s and that held up after many years of use. They still don't have the best sipe action for true wet weather traction that some of the true winter tires might have.

The compound of a true winter tire is softer and likely has a better grip on dry cold pavement when the temperature takes a deep dive.

I tried a set of Hankook winter tires for about 2 weeks before I replaced them with another set of KO2s. LOL, sold them at a heavy loss but was much happier with the performance of KO2s.

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[Jeepwalker]

Good to hear on the Hankook Winter tires.

(note, the Hankooks I suggested are A/T tires...)

 

[RamDiver]

Good to hear on the Hankook Winter tires.

(note, the Hankooks I suggested are A/T tires...)

The Hankook winter tires just felt too soft and mushy and gave a feeling of somewhat uncertainty to steering and stopping.

They also seemed to clog up too much with poor traction in deep snow.

When I switched to KO2s after a couple of weeks, they felt razor sharp, very definite, and capable.

.

 

[ThorsRams]

Good to hear on the Hankook Winter tires.

(note, the Hankooks I suggested are A/T tires...)

I see some good things on those hankook Dynanapro at2

 

[ThorsRams]

The Hankook winter tires just felt too soft and mushy and gave a feeling of somewhat uncertainty to steering and stopping.

They also seemed to clog up too much with poor traction in deep snow.

When I switched to KO2s after a couple of weeks, they felt razor sharp, very definite, and capable.

.

Man idk y’all got me really looking at bfgs now haha

 

[RamDiver]

Man idk y’all got me really looking at bfgs now haha

The BFGs work well for me but because of all the reasons I previously listed.

If none of those features are important to you, a true winter tire may have other desirable benefits for your needs.

Make a list of the strengths & weaknesses and how they relate to your use of the BFGs & winter tires and see which one stands out, in theory.

.

 

[Rado]

I run COOPER AT3 4S on my 2015 year round ! So far good on wet , dry and snowy roads !
I DO NOT off road so did not need a 10 ply type tire

 

[ThorsRams]

I run COOPER AT3 4S on my 2015 year round ! So far good on wet , dry and snowy roads !
I DO NOT off road so did not need a 10 ply type tire

That’s good to know I was looking at the at3 xlt but they don’t come in my size I’d have to go up to 285x70x17 and idk if I want to do that so I might go with the at3 4s … kinda between the falken at3w..cooper at3 4s and the bfg k02 right now I do like the general grabber atx as well but seems to have less likes

 

[PolarisCobra]

I have the Cooper AT3's. They work great for me, pulling my snowmobile trailer through a snowstorm is not the white knuckle experience that the OEM Goodyears were.

"Real" snow tires are surely better, but I get fine performance from my Coopers, for my needs.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Ha ha ...you'll go crazy looking for the "perfect" tire. There are so many options. All of the ones listed will generally work ok.

I'm curious if anyone has noticed if the BFG's with their tread matrix lower fuel economy at all?

 

[06 Dodge]

The best winter tire I ever had was a set of Copper SST M&S had the center of the tire sipped mounted on extra set of rims, that set held up through 6 Iowa winters and when I took them off when I moved to the west coast and they still had 5/32 of tread...

 

[Hemi395]

Well its been said many times in this thread but I'll throw my vote in for BFG KO2s. Best tire I've had on my truck. Previously I had the factory GY SRAs, Cooper AT3s, and Michelin Defenders. The GYs were absolute garbage. I do mean GARBAGE. Coopers were a good tire but didn't wear well towing. Michelins were a good tire but also didn't wear well towing. All those were P rated.

The KO2s are C rated. They're not loud on the highway but great in the snow. They also tow well too. Can't say much about wear yet but they seem to be holding up really well. Either way I will be getting them again. Next time I'll go with E rated since my truck isn't my daily anymore and has been relegated to towing my camper/truck stuff.

 

[RamDiver]

Ha ha ...you'll go crazy looking for the "perfect" tire. There are so many options. All of the ones listed will generally work ok.

I'm curious if anyone has noticed if the BFG's with their tread matrix lower fuel economy at all?

AFAIR, my mileage is always a bit less with BFG KO2s (245/75/17) and they make a bit more noise.

The Defenders (265/65/20), my summer tires, are a softer tire than my E-rated KO2s but because they're a lower profile on 20" rims, don't handle bumps & potholes as well.

And, the Defenders definitely don't have a 10- ply sidewall.

.

 

[Ironhead3]

i upgraded from the **** hole stock Goodyears a year or two ago. I went with the nitto ridge grapplers, and not much to complain about. I’ve been looking to replace two of mine that a wheel bearing, and alignment have worn out the outside. Im starting to think that maybe falken wildpeak at3w, general grabber atx, or maybe the cooper at3 4s maybe a better option overall. I don’t tow much if at all, only off-road I do is back roads for camping and fishing so basically just dirt roads and rock. The one thing I do want is good traction in the snow. I live in the Adirondacks and we can get up to 32” in a snow storm. I don’t know if it’s worth switching over 4 all new tires or just saying ehh and grab two new ridge grapplers for the two that are worn down on the outside.

Absolutely try the General Grabber ATX - I always ran BFG All Terrains, or Mud Terrains, but I bought a set of LT275/70R18 General Grabber ATX for a 2014 F150 4X4 I owned, and they were way better than any All Terrains I ever had, in mud and especially in snow - I live in New Brunswick, Canada, so we get lots of snow, slush, freezing rain, etc. I got just under 60,000 miles (96,000kms) on them, and could have ran them another summer. They are way quieter than the BFG All Terrain, and even though I faithfully rotate them every oil change - 4-6,000 kms, the BFG were always scalloped a little by then, and I could run two oil changes on the General's and still no sign of scalloping. I WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMMEND THE GENERALS. I never had Nitto's or Falkens, so I can't give an honest opinion, but we have ran the Coopers on some work trucks and I didn't find them near what the Generals are, in fact they were way below a BFG All Terrain in my opinion.