I had my new wheels installed yesterday and now I'm thinking of bedlining my factory 18's and using those as winter rims. My question is, will a 265/70/18 (stock was 255/70/18) tire fit without any rubbing? These are the 2 tires I've narrowed my decision to so let me know which is a better choice. Duratracs are out of the question for the reason that I want to use my factory 18" rims so 1) just too expensive & 2) would definitely require wheel spacers

Blizzak DM-V1 or the Hankook I Pike RW11

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Go with the Blizzaks. I had a set on my old Mazda 3 and they were the cat's nuts on packed snow and ice.

 

second the Blizzaks, amazing tires on the snow and ice.

 

Tall and skinny is good for digging, fat is better for floating and surface area on ice.

 

Blizzaks x3, have them on my GMC, my winter vehicle, only time I need 4wd is when I'm pushing snow with the front bumper. Best winter tire I've ever owned.

 

The edges of sipes and tread blocks are what will give you traction in icy conditions. You do not want a large floatation contact patch for winter driving. Tires should be aired up so they cut through loosely packed snow and find their way to harder packed surfaces.

For me and the variety of lake effect snow and ice we see through the winter months, siped MTs (Toyo and Goodyear) have been the ticket. They perform admirably on the really slick stuff and when we get bombed with a couple feet of wet snow it gets packed into the tread voids so I can just motor along. Nothing sticks to snow like snow and the more areas of your tires that hold snow, such as sipes, the better your traction will be.

 

Bigger contact pattern = more edges of sipes and tread blocks that give you traction in icy conditions. The flip side is that it causes flotation in other winter conditions where it is unhelpful.

Blizzaks are excellant snow tires, but I have never run them on a Wrangler.

 

+1 for blizzaks...I'll be running 18's on my Sahara this winter on stock rims

 

More edge, less weight per.

As you know being in a place that gets a fair amount of snow there are all different types. There are times when floating over snow makes sense with the deep light powdery stuff. There are others with wet heavy snow that you want to cut through and pack it down. Low amounts of snow, less than a couple inches and you want to cut through and get down to the pavement.

When we really get dumped on it's generally pretty heavy and wet lake effect snow. It's not the type of snow you want to float over, but rather cut through or compact. As MTs are already a large floatation tire, the last thing I want to do is air them down and get more on top of that stuff. This is why snow tires are generally narrower and often have higher inflation rates.