Big and Nasty MT or AT

[ekonkjack]

While looking into some 31s for the new look, I am attracted to the MT or Mud Tires but have been told by two stealers that the MTs won't do as well in snow as the ATs or All Terrains. With my 400' gravel driveway, getting through the snow here in New England can be important. What say you, you bunch of tire shredding, axle bending, rock rail riding hooligans?

[4.3L XJ]

Actually, they are right. The difference is sipes, or little cuts in the tread. The best snow tires I ever had was a set of Michelins with lots of little zigzag sipes. I used to travel up and down Hwy 97 in Eastern Oregon and would be on snow and ice for several hundred miles. But you can compromise a little by having mud tires siped. I don't know if you have any Less Schwab dealerships there, but they seem to be all over and they do it. Here is a tire the siped.



I haven't personally tried these tires out on ice, but I did run them in snow and they did work OK. My son has my siped swampers and he said they work OK on snow also.

[jakeWI]

Another question would be what type of driving do you primarily do? Generally you get about 15,000 miles out of MT and at least double that with an AT tire with proper rotation and everything.

[4.3L XJ]

Originally Posted by jakeWI

Another question would be what type of driving do you primarily do? Generally you get about 15,000 miles out of MT and at least double that with an AT tire with proper rotation and everything.

The siping gets you extended milage. Those tires have 30,000 on them. Also brands like BFG get higher milage than Interco.

[ekonkjack]

Who among us hasn't drooled over those big lugged mud tires. My eyes can't seem to turn away from them even though I know that at least 90% of my driving will be on pavement. The Cooper Discoverers that I have been running for the past 12 years have about 60,000 miles on them and if someone else was telling me that, I would have trouble believing them. Since I know that I will average less than 5,000 miles a year (I live close to work and ride a motorcycle too) mileage and ride quality is not important. Getting out of a snow buried driveway is, so that plays into my decision. Perhaps a compromise. An AT tire with the most aggressive tread I can find.

[muddeprived]

Originally Posted by ekonkjack

Who among us hasn't drooled over those big lugged mud tires. My eyes can't seem to turn away from them even though I know that at least 90% of my driving will be on pavement. The Cooper Discoverers that I have been running for the past 12 years have about 60,000 miles on them and if someone else was telling me that, I would have trouble believing them. Since I know that I will average less than 5,000 miles a year (I live close to work and ride a motorcycle too) mileage and ride quality is not important. Getting out of a snow buried driveway is, so that plays into my decision. Perhaps a compromise. An AT tire with the most aggressive tread I can find.

I have 20 minute drives to work and a good AT would be practical but i'm like you and I can't stop droolin over big lugged tires, like swampers.

my all-time favorite:



Check out bfgoodrich All Terrains or the new goodyear duratracs.

[4.3L XJ]

I solved that problem by having two sets of tires. One for daily driving and one to play, or maybe two...

[xjjeepthing]

The Goodyear Duratracs would be a nice compromise.


My next tire will probably be the Firestone M/T great ratings.

[MuckSavage]

I've had BFG MT's on my Jeeps in the past & currently have them on my wife's Ramcharger. I think they're awful in the snow. I love my General Grabber AT2's in the snow. The goodyear Duratracs look very nice !

[squrll]

I am running the BFG MT KM2 love this tire had no problems with the last major snow that hit here in the mid atlantic with about 24" I went every where and the bonus is they are nice and quite on the road I do not know how long the will last as I have only had them for less than a month

[WJCraig]

I've got the Pro-Comp Xtreme Mud Terrains and I've done fine in a few feet of snow. As long as you don't mind a little "humming" on the highway I'd say go with the M/T's. The difference between MT's and AT's in snow isn't a whole lot, but the difference off road between the two is big.

[jonzer12]

The difference between a M/T and A/T in snow/ice is LARGE.
Especially once you start running wider tires on a light XJ.
I ran M/T's for a while on various vehicles but last year bought duratracs specifically due to winter concerns. If snow is your game look into the more aggressive A/T's.

[drakan1908]

Originally Posted by jonzer12

The difference between a M/T and A/T in snow/ice is LARGE.
Especially once you start running wider tires on a light XJ.
I ran M/T's for a while on various vehicles but last year bought duratracs specifically due to winter concerns. If snow is your game look into the more aggressive A/T's.

How do you like the Duratrac? I like the looks of them but was wondering how they do offroad and on road.

[jonzer12]

They have been serving me well. My last 3 sets of tires were as follows
Dunlop Mud rovers - cheap, great wear, no side lugs, no siping, scary on ice.
Toyo Open Country M/T, cost a bloody fortune, heavy as hell, not much better than
the dunlops, poor value
BFG A/T's were great in winter, but wore quick and got flats constantly with lots of gravel road driving. Gravel literally ate them up.

Duratracs have done great offroad, no flats yet, well siped and almost as good as the BFG's in winter. I feel they are great for a DD/weekend warrior type rig like mine, also probably the best bang for the buck so far as I got them for $145 a piece canadian.
I have already outgrown my 31's and when the snow goes I will be looking for 33's or a bit bigger. For the first time ever I am considering buying the same model tires twice in a row.

[drakan1908]

Thanks for the info.