Wintermark snow tire q's & request for observations on other AT tires.

Hello all,
Long time since I have been here, but this is still the BEST place around for XJ info, and therefore I wanted to ask a few questions.

It's tire time again and as always I find myself wanting something different than I have used already, and in this case I have to change because my current 30x9.50/15 Sidewinder AT's are no longer produced. Really liked these tires and they would do nearly anything really well until where they are now, which is getting pretty close to dangerous. The biggest drawback has been their loss of side lugs. I bet I have torn off every 4th lug, or maybe even more. The locker in the rear doesn't help keep them on either when the side lug is the only thing biting in a rocky hillclimb environment when if the locker were gone my other tire would obviously just be spinning. Anyway....

My hunt for tires has an economic background..as in not much money. I don't want a purely street tire because I love playing in slick spots here and there (I guess we could all say that<pun intended>) but for the mostpart I love going to the mountains of East TN and Western NC in the Tellico/Citico/Nantahala/Cherokee areas and DEEP snow traction is a major concern (see 15-25 inches of snow regularly, but here in the valley usually get a dusting or two per year or just lots of rain but it's all snow in the mtns), however I don't make but just half a dozen trips per year up there. I'd have been looking at everything in the lower cost bracket from Kumho AT's, to Mastercraft Courser AT's and CT's (made by Cooper but a little less expensive) and several others, but then ran across the old Kelly Wintermark HT "High Void" snow tire. I know that tire has been around a long time and I am just going back to a 235/75x15 hopefully to gain a little better mileage since the best I got with the 30s was 19.5mpg and my old 225/75x15's got 22.5 best all-time for me. Trust me, I'd love to throw some 31's on, but I still like to disconnect the front sometimes if on the rougher stuff and to not like my teeth rattled out and fuel is obviously an ongoing EXPENSIVE expense, hehe. I have recently purchased some snow/tire chains that will fit 235's or 30's so want to stick within that range and 225s are minimally smaller than 235's but dang, they look so tiny and out of place (even if they do get better mileage). My main question is if anyone has ran the Kelly Wintermark before and if it can reasonably be used in the Southeast US throughout the year and still get reasonable tire wear. Seen so many different articles about winter tires and snow tires and various compounds that are softer/more flexible in cold weather and that sounds great in that condition, but I don't want the tires turning to tar when it's 100F outside either. The Wintermarks are 100 bucks less than the cheapest AT tire I can find and they still have a decent side lug. This is my daily driver and I put probably 8-10K mi on my XJ per year as it's rarely driven more than 100 mi at a time and usually sees maybe 100mi a week of mostly city. My Sidewinder AT's have probably 25-30K on them and have been on about 4.5-5 yrs and I may be able to get another 2K on them. My tires don't typically last long on my Jeep (in my opinion, when I hear multiple stories of people getting 100k on a tire that I got 45k out of). My factory Goodyear Wrangler RTS's prob got 25k on them and my Michelin LTX M/S got approx 45k.

Part of me wants to get an aggressive AT like the Cooper ST or the Mastercraft Courser CT, then another part wants to get the cheapest least aggressive AT I can find and automatically chain up when I hit the snow, and another wants to get the Wintermark because it's the cheapest thing around and know I will have good snow traction and a big side lug too that hopefully won't be ripped off.

Would love to see your observations on all tires listed above or anything similar in the similar cost range.

For the record. 99 XJ 4x4 6cyl 4dr sport, 8.25 Chry rear axle w/ No-Slip rear locker, open front diff

Thanks

Rusty

I just recently purchased some 37x14.00 Irock bias for my xj, and i know that kind of blows the $ issue out of the water but, i was dead set on going with the trXus M/t's, the guy at the 4x4 talked me out of going with them, I live in alaska and deal with a longer winter than most people could ever dream of like 8 months out of the year, yeah im serious, my friend has some irock bias the same size i just bought on his wrangler and he loves them and says they are great on the snow and ice and are extremyly bad ass off road, he said that he drives off road in 2wd most of the time and thats without a locker, like i said you might have to pay a little but you do get what you pay for, they also ballance decent for on road, so i hope that helps, Todd

I'm in the BFG AT bandwagon as the best all-around AT for the money.....I run 31's on my TJ (daily driver). We had about 14" fall here a couple weeks ago, and they pulled like a mother in snow. If you know anything about VA and how they handle snow, that is...they don't......I was plowing my way thru all 14" of it.

I run Kuhmo MT's (35's) on the MJ, but it doesn't come out in the snow unless it's a true emergency. Pickup truck + locked rear on 4.56's and a 5 speed = pucker factor. Hell, it's challenging enough driving it in the rain let alone snow.

Jeff (from Pittsburgh originally, so I know snow-driving )

cant speak for the others but a Courser AT is a pretty decent tire for the money.... I just picked up a set in 235-70-15 for $490 otd which wasnt too bad compared to the other brands I was quoted.
If money hadnt been so tight I would have went with the Duratracs.

Well, thanks for the help guys, but now it's all in vain. On way to work today a 20 year old kid failed to yield in his mommy's accord and my XJ ate it for breakfast, but in doing so my XJ choked, blew it's airbags in my face as my 6'6'' body went shin first into the dash. I came out with a busted or hairline fracture shin but other than that I did well other than very sore. The folks in the accord had anywhere from bruises to head injuries and were brought out on backboards and c-collars. Needless to say, my 99 is totaled with a semi crumpled front, broken lower control arms, front end twisted to left, and front of jeep pointing up with a wrinkle across roof from b-post to b-post. This is the only crash I have ever been involved in in my 20 yrs of driving. Hopefully my last one too! Now, the challenge is finding another Jeep for what my payout will be whether it be another XJ or a TJ, or otherwise. Gonna miss my XJ of 10 yrs with lots of great memories:tear::tear::tear:

Hopefully this will not be my last post on here forever

Rusty