Well after some more research I was 100% incorrect. Sorry about the confusion. With that being said now I have another tire to look at, I had ruled them out thinking they were directional.

 

They are asymmetrical, meaning they must be mounted with the outside of the rim on the proper side.

 

I have TG - Trail Grapplers and love them... have nearly 50k miles on them with still decent tread left.

I like the old style MTR as well... wish they would make both the old and new...

 

I realize the tire has to be mounted with one side out, but the tread pattern seems to swoop down like you see on x-terrains, Baja claws and geolander mt's, all of which are directional. Anyhow, which of my 3 choices (Goodyear MTR/K, Hankook Dynapro MT, or Nitto Trail Grapplers)would be best in snowy/icy road conditions? I know that all 3 will perform perfectly for any other conditions I see where I live in Massachusetts, but the winter pavement driving we see out here is important especially when my wife and daughter are using the Jeep.

 

Just got back from a little ride into town with my MT/R's and some pretty snowy/icy conditions.

They definitely suck. No questions asked, they are a MT tire so they aren't exactly designed to be good in snow and it shows. 4wd is a necessity to keep the back end from wanting to kick out. If there's any snow at all I have a difficult time getting up my driveway if it's not in 4wd.

However I like the tire enough I doubt I'll buy a second set and I'll run these till they are bald. I don't feel I'm endangering anyone as long as I use 4wd when required by the road conditions.

 

I'm sorry to break this to you, but it's not the MTR/K's that suck, it's your winter driving skills that do. Sure, on ice they aren't all that (but then which tire is?), but in snow they are great. I've been in deep snow, in shallow snow, and they work really well. Put it in 4wd, and you're pretty much unstoppable. 99% of the vehicles out there won't be able to compete with you anyway.

 

We had a great time up in the mountains with the



The sidewalls are C not E like the Nitto's, so the C's
gripped the ice better. Is this the tire for this thread

 

The Jeep's traction control system makes it just about impossible to "suck" at winter driving. I've been driving in the snow all of my life and I've yet to slide off a road or even get stuck while driving somewhere in winter conditions. I've driven FWD, AWD, RWD and 4WD vehicles in the snow, some with snow tires but most without. I can assure you I don't suck, but if I had to choose between stock Wrangler (non-rubicon) tires and the MT/Rs I have on now, the obvious decision is the stock tires. The MT/R are amazing in deep snow, but the shallow slush or icy stuff just isn't their cup of tea. Let's be honest, more often than not you are driving in the shallower snow if you're on a road. 12.5" of width doesn't exactly help either. To answer your question, any tire with studs is good on ice. I'm basing my opinion on the MT/R's ability to drive on an icy/snow covered road on my past experiences. My studded snows on my AWD Subaru Forester were quite the opposite of unstoppable, it stopped great. On the road I'd take just about any AWD over my Jeep. However some situations like today (6"+ of snow on roads) the Jeep was awesome.

 

MTR/K is not directional according to Goodyear!

 

I think that riddle got solved a few days ago.