I'm also enjoying this. Having put my vote in for wider tires, I'd like to clarify that I'm referring mostly to dirt/rocks, and even deep and somewhat non-slushy snow. I just watched a ZJ with 33x12.50/15 come into the parking lot at work. I'm not sure what his psi was, but those MT/Rs were really holding on to the cement. You could really hear them scuff as they pivoted during the turns. In this situation, I believe a narrower 33 would be better for in-town maneuvering (and gas mileage). I'm still looking at the 285s, maybe 295s because I expect to do less rock crawling, and more icy road driving. If I were still in SoCal (Land o' rocks and sand), I would probably go for the 12.50s.

Now, I'm going to reveal an experience I had a couple of years ago on Gold Mountain in Big Bear. I was in my CJ-7 with the 35x15.50/15s TSLsx's. There were several other Jeeps with us. One was a flat fender with 37/12.50 (13.50?)/16 Pro Comp XTs (directional) tires, and Dean with his very clean but near bone stock CJ-7 on 31/10.50x15 BFG AT KOs. We were on a graded trail with about 2 inches of hard packed snow over ice. My Jeep and the flatty could do NOTHING but go sideways!!! Ok, Detroits were partly to blame. So, Dean ended up pulling my mean and rock-ready CJ up the darn mountain! I was thoroughly embarrassed and he was thoroughly delighted. If you know Dean Kako, you know he snickered at me... In this situation, I believe the narrowness of his ATs didn't matter at much as the kerfing and more complex tread. My swampers were great at 'keying' on rocks, but could only rely on adhesion (which basically didn't exist) on the ice.

After we got down the hill to Baldwin Dry Lake, we saw a 200' long drift of wet snow that was three to four feet deep. I couldn't help but try to redeem myself and throttled through (and over) in TWO WHEEL DRIVE! My wide Swampers kicked booty (another technical term) through the deep stuff. I didn't even need to engane the front axle.

Again, since I drive over 15 miles of icy roads that may have as much as a foot of new snow, I'm drawn to a 285 all terrain. I'm just concerned that when summer comes the all terrains will gets burried in mud up in the Rockies.

 

This is fun, so nice to have a civil discussion about this rather than, DUDE YOU'RE WRONG AND A DUMB@$$ FOR THINKING THAT......

mizedog, that's a very interesting experience, and good observations. Having been doing almost nothing but snow driving this week (I live in MinnSNOWta, and we're finally getting a near normal amount of it) I have been trying to pay extra close attention to snow conditions and how my stock tires handled. I must say I'm surprised that they have done as well as they have, but I can't wait to upgrade. The best snow/ice ride I've ever driven was my '76 FJ-40 with a pair of AT's on it that were about a 32x10. (can't remember the exact tires) That thing had the snow/ice traction of a rabid mountain goat. Wide enough to float over some of the drifts, but not so wide that I would just get snow balled in the tires and spin on top. The CJ-5 had 33x12.5 and couldn't handle near the amount of snow/ice, but kicked arse in the mud.

I don't do a lot of mud driving, and I have to deal with ice/snow for more than half the year. I still really lean toward something about 9-10 inches wide, with a good AT tread pattern. With the longer wheelbase on my Unlimited, I just really want to get up to about a 34-35 inch tire. But, as we've established thus far in this thread, tires that size are few and far between.

 

Not to hijack the thread but there have been several comments about narrower tires getting better gas mileage. So what would be better a 33" wide tire or a 35ish narrow tire?

 

Installed my new Swamper 34" LTB's yesterday, although their not really 34", prolly 33"s.

How do I get pics to show for the post without a link?

 

The LTB 34" tires are either 33.6 or 33.8" in Diameter, so, they ARE 34's....pretty much ALL tire sizes are nominal anyway...so pretty much ALL 34's are in this size range...and, 33's would be mostly in the 32-33" range, etc.

Your Pics -









Copy the image address, and paste it between image brackets:

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All I did to poste your pics from your links, was to open your link, copy the address, and paste it between the tags.

Have fun!




Yeah - if there IS something to grab under the snow, THEN the sink and grab works, IF the snow is not so deep that it makes too tall a wall infront of the tire to continuously climb as it rolls along, etc.

That's why I was talking about dirt roads with snow on them as an example...thinner snow over a good traction surface is where it can work, and why the old fashioned (Model T's etc...) could navigate bad roads with what looked like bicycle tires.



Of course, the tires were very tall diameter, and the cars were much lighter, etc.

The weight in general makes a huge difference in traction...as in flotation is normally desireable...but, you DO need enough ground pressure to break through the surface to create a little ledge to grab for your tread blocks...which is why an unsiped MT has such trouble when the snow is packed TOO hard, etc.

Its also why pro rock crawlers, and pro mud boggers, etc...do NOT use the SAME tires, or the same size, etc.

For the weight of the rig, and the terrain, there is an OPTIMUM tread contact patch size and shape, and ground pressure.

For thick mud, think paddle wheel steamer...you are paddling along the surface as quickly as you can before you sink.

FAT tires, giant paddle wheel lugs, etc...are the hot ticket.

For rock crawling, fat tires are more stable and have more grip...but, TOO wide, and the ground pressure is TOO diluted...hence the prevalence of 12.5" tires, rather than 15" etc like for boggers.

If the rig is even lighter, like the M series/old willies, etc...than an even skinnier tire can make sense for that reason....on rocks.

For a 4K lb rig though, the optimum seems to be about that 12.5" range....and on sand, mud, the fatter the better.

On snow, it all depends upon how hard it is, and if you're siped, etc.

 

See if this works

 

Ok so can we go back to the Massachusetts laws for second? We can only go 2 inches bigger? Is this enforced? Can they reject your car if you go to get a inspection sticker?

 

Maxxis BigHorn Radial Tire 34X12.00R17

 

Copy the image address, and paste it between image brackets:

[img] goes on the left of the paste

[/img] goes on the right of the paste

so -

[img] image address [/img]




All I did to poste your pics from your links, was to open your link, copy the address, and paste it between the tags.

Have fun!

 

Yes - use a rim with more backspacing, or, if spacers were installed, take them off (A spacer subtracts backspacing - the more BS, the tighter the tire is tucked into the wheel well)