Skinny or wide in winter?

[jesterbomb]

In gross winter conditions, with a lot of highway driving, what do the majority of you guys recommend?

Narrow to cut through and dig down through snow to pavement (or ice). Or wide to float on top and give more surface to grab with?

And yes, I just created a similar post a few minutes ago about where to put the least worn two tires. I just figured I would keep themseperate tomake future searches easier. If any of you more knowledgable tire guys have an opinion, feel free to advise me on that as well.

Link here:http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1013455

91 XJ, 4wd, 4.0, 5 speed.

Thanks guys.

 

[joe_peters]

Narrow tires. Wide tires will tend to "float" in deep snow.

 

[MJmk]

For a lot of highway driving, skinny winter tires, either snowflake designation or studs, not all season, with lots of tread. Beware of slush! :scared:

From your other post, I put the best tread on the front, figure stop/turn is better than go.

 

[go1lum]

33x9.5 studded where the best I ever had. I out wheeled many monster rigs in the snow. But that could be more in the driver. :spin1:

 

[wishbone]

third season on 33x10.5's are great for the highway, but yes, watch slush and standing water.

 

[thebrick]

Skinny tires are generally better for winter driving...but I have heard that in hard pack snow, it doesn't matter...depends more on tread design and compounds.

 

[jesterbomb]

I'm trying to keep it to winter tires definitely, or at least all terrains with the "Severe Weather" rating for snow and ice.

I kinda figured the opinions would stray toward skinny. Cool.

But... Studs? I know they aren't illegal to run anywhere in Alberta. (Alberta is pretty slack when i comes to stuff like that. No emissions testing either. Or even a requirement for a catalytic converter.) But might they not actually cost traction on sections of highway that actually get plowed? Just curious, I've never actually driven studded tires.

Opinions?

 

[ceb0217]

I would say for me I like wide tires the skinny ones pack the snow into ice. its easer to find traction in snow than ice IMO.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

this will be my first season on 33x14.00 boggers. im going to try them at 1-3psi and see how they do in the deep stuff

 

[winterbeater]

Skinny tires for snow and water. Better chance to get to something solid and less hydroplaning. For glare ice, wider is just a little better with more contact surface, but it doesn't REALLY matter once you're on the glare ice.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Skinny tires for snow and water. Better chance to get to something solid and less hydroplaning. For glare ice, wider is just a little better with more contact surface, but it doesn't REALLY matter once you're on the glare ice.

your way seems to be exact opposite of everything i have been taught.. lol

Wide for snow, skinny/studded for ice.

not saying your wrong, i just find it funny:shhh:

 

[lawsoncl]

Depends on how deep the snow is. Too deep and skinny tires will just leave you high centered. I doubt you find snow that deep on-road. Either way some skill is needed, particularly knowing when to stay on the gas and keep up momentum, and when to give up before you end up high centered with 4 holes dug out under each wheel.

 

[Eliminator89]

Last year I had some dedicated snow tires (Firestone WinterForce) put on. I had low mileage ATs on it (Firestone LE one size up from stock) but didn't like the way they worked on snow. The snow tires were FAR superior. Made a big difference. The size was stock 225-75/15. I don't think you could go wrong with those (or similar designs) but, they do have a soft compound. Not good for summer driving. They'll wear fast. I pulled them when the snow season was over to keep wear to a minimum.

As for skinny vs wide, my experience (30 years in MN) is skinnier is better if not taken to extreme. You'll have better traction in fresh snow and on slightly compacted snow. With glare ice or hard compacted snow, it won't much matter, you'll be skating with eiither. But then, ice on the road gets treated with salt and sand most places so it usually doesn't last long. When you hit slush, skinny is better. Therefore, skinnier is better for most of the winter.

Offroad, I have no experience with deep snow.

 

[lawsoncl]

How did you like the WinterForce? I'm considering a set of them as they are rated about the same on tirerack.com and about $20 cheaper per tire. I think they are like the Blizzaks which only have the soft tread for the first 50% of the usable tread, which means they turn into all-seasons about half-way through their life.

 

[Eliminator89]

I really like them. They made a big difference from the LE's. Well worth the investment in my opinion. They whine a bit on the highway but not bad. I liked the tread pattern better than the Blizzaks. Are they better than Blizzaks? I don't know, but they sure are better than AT's in the snow.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Awesome A/T tires (with siping) are perfectly fine, never had an issue. I always thought it was a waste to get snow tires (at least on a vehicle like a jeep or truck) And my old jetta did great with some nice all terrains. I think really the only vehicle that need snow tires are ones with low pro tires.

 

[UltimateG]

Definitely skinny.