:-)



js.

 

My parents both run Cooper Discoverer M+S tires on their vehicles (Ford Ranger & Hyundai Santa Fe) all year round. They are fairly quiet, wear well and are great in the snow. They live in Vermont and work nights so they need good snow tires and have been running these for several years now, I believe they do stud at least the ones on the Santa Fe during the winter for added traction.

I am running the Cooper Discoverer S/T's on the JK and they did great the couple times we had weather after I put them on in March, no deep snow but slush and ice. They are M+S rated and studible for extra traction, they handle well both on and off road, so far they have had very good wear (8,000 miles since March).

 

....and I'll second this, but they don't do terrible in mud, they are just not a mud tire. I think the A/T KO tires are a great compromise between a mud tire and a highway tire.

 

Juts a little note on M+S tires... The "M+S" can be put on any tire with a higher than average void ratio. This means pretty much ANY typical mud tire will also be rated M+S. The rubber compound can be hard as steel in the cold, and they can still get the M+S designation. Some of these tires (like the M-55s) will do ok one ice, and others will have next to no traction, so be careful. A proper winter tire will have lots of sipes and the compound will remain soft and pliable at low temperatures. Studs are good on ice, but only in a narrow range of temperatures -- I think something like -7C to +3C or thereabouts (they kick butt at these temps though!). The studs have to be able to dig into the ice. At colder temps, the ice will be too hard for the studs so sipes and soft rubber become more important. At warmer temps, sipes and/or voids become essential.

I chose the Toyo M-55s for their off-road capability as well (good void ratio and 10 ply E rating). If I were to buy a tall "road use" winter tire, I'd probably get the Toyo Open Country GO2 Plus.

js.

 

Folks living in the country, where roads take several days to get plowed, probably want a good "mud and snow" tire. Generally tires with higher void ratios for snow & mud will also have a harder compound to avoid 'chunking' of the lugs. This means they don't do as well on ice. To try and address this you can have the center lugs siped (by machine or manually), and add some studs.

js.

 

Last summer I was in 'search mode' for winter tires, and kept a list of 'possibles'. I eventually settled on the US-made Toyo M-55s, which I siped manually and studded (note: the Canadian M-55s are not pinned for studs). Perhaps this list can be helpful for folks starting their own search...

• Cooper Discoverer S/T (Sure Track); 8 Ply D; OWL; 32.8x11.3"; 20/32 tread depth; Pinned for studs; Siped.
• Toyo M-55 LT285/75R16; 10/E (Part #309180)
• Kumho Road Venture MT 834; Pinned for studs; No siping. Radial?
• Maxxis Bighorn Radial; 8 Ply; OWL; 33x11.5; 19/32; Pinned for studs; Siped. (Hard Rubber?)
• Firestone Destination MT; 8 Ply D; OWL; Pinned for studs?; No siping.
• Procomp Mud Terrain 2 Ply; 8 Ply D; OWL; 33.1x11.3; 18.5/32 tread depth; 55 lbs; Pinned for studs; Some siping. (Bias Ply, Not Radial)
• Hankook Dynapro MT RT03; 10 Ply; Pinned for Studs?
• Interco TrXus MT; 10 Ply E; Sipped
• BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO (10/E not 8/D) BSW (Not Good in the Rain)
• Nitto Terra Grappler LT285/75R16 E
• Toyo Open Country G-O2 Plus
• Toyo Open Country A/T; 8 Ply D
• Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO with UNI-T AQ II
• Hankook Dynamic MT RT01 (No 33x11.5")

js.

 

I searched high and low for a studded 37" tire and the only tire I could find was the Hankook RT03. I just picked them up on Fri. There are a lot of 35s that can be studded but I believe the only 37 is the Hankook.

 

The Cooper Discoverer M+S is a premium snow tire and is the one I would buy if looking for strictly a on road tire. I has alot of siping and good void ratio. The only downside is the max available size is 32" in both 16" and 17" wheel diameters.




I was also looking for a tire with better off road characteristics The S/T is more of an All-Terrain but still handles the winter conditions well, it also has larger void ratio than the BFG KO's which I had on my YJ and they did not handle mud or snow very well. I am running 33's but the S/T comes in sizes up to 35" in both 16" and 17" wheel diameters.

 

An all-weather tire with the new snow rating is fine for year round driving.

 

No one seems to know how to answer a question:

DO NOT USE WINTER TIRES IN THE SUMMER!

Winter tire rubber is made to stay soft in winter temps. At higher temps the rubber is WAY too soft, and will wear extremely quickly. I'd even say it's dangerous.


As for proper winter tires, there is a website dedicated to them:

snowtire.info/forum/index.php

Contains lots of info.

Here's my general POV:

-ANY dedicated winter tire, no matter the price, will be superior to ANY all-season tire. I had sprawlmart winter tires on my Celica, they were incredible. The main difference is that the rubber used on winter tires doesn't harden up like all-seasons.
-Studded winter tires are better on ice, worse on dry roads.
-Some non-studded winter tires are nearly as good as studded tires (Nokian tires are amazing for non-studded tires).
-"Ice" tires such as the Michelin X-Ice work very good on ice, but less good on snow.
Example: My $80 Sprawlmart winter tires (basically just big siped lugs) were better on hard-packed snow than my dads $150 Michelin X-Ices (fancy dancy tires with sipes all over the place).

See this link for a light-truck winter tire comparison:

snowtire.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=292

Add WWW