Hey All,
New to the board!

We have a 2003 with deep tread tires - good for putting on miles but crap in the snow. And I mean crap to the point that the 4 wheel drive doesn't do anything for grip. They are yokohama Geolandar's. Again, great for tire life but not for snow at all.

Anybody have recommendations for a good quality tire that does well in the snow of Pennsylvania?

I would try either a goodyear wrangler duratrac or general grabbed at, both have the snowflake rating, i have the duratracs and love them, haven't used them in snow yet though

I have had BFG A/T's forever and all u have to do is get them siped. Its about 12bucks/tire. Tire Siping (sp?) is when they remove part of your tread with a hot "knife-like" tool that is mounted to a machine similar to a tire balancer. Its rolls your tire over the knife. This is a good option because you can get A/t tires rather than have two sets. If i were to get actual "snow" tires, i would look at Hankook or Blizzak. Both of those have a REALLY soft tire compound and i think that blizzak uses walnut shell or something similar in the rubber to help with traction without having to get studded tires. Studded tires are the BEST way to go about getting around in the snow but bear in mind that I live at 8000ft. and get about 350-450 inches annually.

Hey All,
New to the board!

We have a 2003 with deep tread tires - good for putting on miles but crap in the snow. And I mean crap to the point that the 4 wheel drive doesn't do anything for grip. They are yokohama Geolandar's. Again, great for tire life but not for snow at all.

Anybody have recommendations for a good quality tire that does well in the snow of Pennsylvania?


I am not sure what Yokohama Geolander you have specifically, but I have the Geolander ATS and they are quite good in the snow. Havent had a problem and used 4wd once last year on my 100 mile-a-day commute from central Mass to Boston.

If you are looking for something else, maybe try a BFG AT KO as someone listed above, or a Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 2.

For a Dedicated snow tire, the Blizzaks are unbeatable for grip on hard pack/ice.

As the snow gets softer/deeper, tires like the BFG AT ko, the GY Duratrac and the Bridgestone AT REVO2, the General Grabber AT2, etc, do very well.

When its soft enough and deep enough for paddle wheel type lugs to work, the Interco LTB and itss ilk start to work best.


As a rule of thumb, the softer the snow, the more aggressive the tread is needed, and the harder the snow, the less aggressive.


This is because the aggressive lugs need to be able to sink into the snow for bite, and, the harder the snow, the "Sharper" those contact points need to be to dig in.

(Like soccer cleats work on wet grass, but would suck to play basketball on a hard court with....)



The dedicated snow tires were out fast during warm weather, as the rubber is compounded to be softer at freezing temperatures, and they also have many more sipes, and, in the case of the Blizzak, it has a multicell rubber construction that essentially has microscopic bubbles in the rubber....

...and as the rubber wears, on a microscopic basis, the scrobiculate surface has many many microscopic biting edges....which are amazing on ice compared to a conventional compound....similar to studs in performance.



:wink-big:

Wow, this is a lot of excellent feedback, thanks everyone!!! I'm going to investigate these options and make my decision soon as it is certainly getting colder here. Happy Thanksgiving !!!!

Great info, was about to post a similar question, so hopefully this reply doesn't go too far off base and :

We've recently relocated to the Seattle area (from SoCal) and are working to get accustomed to the changing conditions up here - yet we love it so far! But in the Seattle area, it looks as if we do get some occasional days of snow and/or ice instead of just rain. We both have 4x4's (my Pathy and her Xterra). I'm running Nexan Roadian HT tires, hers are BFG Rugged Trail T/A's.

During the last snow just before Thanksgiving we seemed to get around OK. There was plenty of ice under the snow too - the rain from the day before that froze). There was a little slipping here and there. But for the most part no issues thanks to 4x4 and all. But with the expected extra weather this winter, we're thinking of getting more "traction". What do you use or suggest? Traction/studded tires? Chains? Cables? And/or different tires? If chains/cables, with running 4x4, do you only use 2 on wheels? Front or rear?

We're leaning towards cables, mostly because they seem easier than chains to put on. And since it's probably going to be only a few days here and there, that traction/studded tires seem overkill. Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.
_________________

Yep, with westside WA weather I personally don't think it's worth it to get snow tires. I carry chains for all 4 tires but haven't had to use them yet. It snows pretty infrequently here, although this year may be (and already is a little) different.

I wouldn't get cables, they are not going to be much easier to put on than truck chains, and probably harder to put on than Les Schwab's quick-fit, which are much beefier than cables. If it were me, I would spring for 2 sets of the quick fit chains and practice putting them on in your driveway before you need them.

Awesome, thanks xtacular!! Exactly the type of advice I was hoping to get!! Will look at those chains. The video on Schwab's site makes it look VERY easy!

No problem, glad I could help. They are very easy to put on, once you know how! I put them on several times last winter on a different vehicle and understood fine, and went to put them on two other vehicles this winter, and couldn't recall how right away (And I'm not a complete idiot). They come with a plastic instruction sheet luckily! But taking a few minutes at the beginning of each winter to refresh yourself on it while you are dry is all you need to do to avoid that.

Also: the diamond pattern on those chains offers more contact with the snow than traditional chains, cable or not, which gives you better traction AND a smoother ride

We've had alot of snow here in W.Virginia before Christmas this year and I added a set of Nitto Terra Grappler ATs to my X and I've been very pleased with the snow and ice traction. One dry roads on the interstate they sing alittle but not like some MTs.

We've had alot of snow here in W.Virginia before Christmas this year and I added a set of Nitto Terra Grappler ATs to my X and I've been very pleased with the snow and ice traction. One dry roads on the interstate they sing alittle but not like some MTs.

WV? where at in WV?

I live in the Charleston area. My wife works near the Capitol building down in town and I work at the airport. The top of Greenbrier Hill is a known dividing line for temps and snow fall, the Charleston side is warmer of course and has less snow by 1-2" compared to the Big Chimney side.

I have the BFG TA/ko and they stick like glue in snow and they offroad great too. Believe me i live where there is snow 4 months a year and theres more miles of dirt roads then there are paved ones.

Its the responses and open feed back like this that make this Forum better than those others.....





Let the Haters be Your Motivaters

I say go with an AT unless you go off road a bunch. I have had BFG AT's and Toyo Open Country AT's. I now have BFG MT2's and they are great but not as good at the AT's in the snow and it is noticeable.. Unless I start going off road more, I'll go back to BFG AT's when these wear out since they meet my needs better for daily use and snow.

recently purchased the dura tracs, love them so far in the snow

I have a set of the treadwrite guard dogs with Kedge. I like em', they are solid on snow/ice. Drove from southern indiana up to Minneapolis MN with em, hit snow and ice in MN, no problems, good grip. About $100-105 each shipped.

http://www.treadwright.com/p-40-265-70-r16-guard-dog-m-t-d.aspx

I live in the Charleston area. My wife works near the Capitol building down in town and I work at the airport. The top of Greenbrier Hill is a known dividing line for temps and snow fall, the Charleston side is warmer of course and has less snow by 1-2" compared to the Big Chimney side.

HOLY HELL!!!!!!!
im from Crosslanes

im in ft bliss TX (el paso) rigt now but i should be home mid feb at the very latest

I know this is an old thread, but I'm shocked that someone out there doesn't like the Geolanders in the snow, like mentioned, maybe they need to be siped, We've run Yokohama tires on everything we owned (4x4s to race cars to DDs) since the 80's and absolutely love them. My wife has the Geolanders H/T's (siped) on here escape, and it's like driving a snowmobile in the winter they work so good. A couple years a go, we got over 100" inches of snow, and not one single problem all winter.

100"s of snow and no problems?! Damn, the X can conquer snow 8.3 feet high! Sweet! (ok yes, I know what you ment :-] )

Lol. Yep, it snowed like this almost every day for a month. (yes, that's' my X under there in the back, lol, and my MR2 in front)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn2/BrainDead13/P1080584Small.jpg

We had to drag our neighbors all the time, to the plowed roads, so they could get to work.

Lol. Yep, it snowed like this almost every day for a month. (yes, that's' my X under there in the back, lol, and my MR2 in front)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn2/BrainDead13/P1080584Small.jpg

We had to drag our neighbors all the time, to the plowed roads, so they could get to work.

ahh, the year i moved here. glad this winter isn't that bad.

Hahaha, I love it either way.