winter tire vs. off-road tires

Hey there,

I recently bought a 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Sport, and am looking into buying winter tires. However, I was also thinking about just buying a set of off-road tires instead.

I was hoping someone could give me some advice about Winter vs. Off-road tires. I don't do any serious off-roading but do a lot of winter driving in the mountains and would like to do more trail riding in the summer time for camping and what not.

Any suggestions?

 

X2 Goodyear Duratracs. I have ran several tires and keep coming back to these. Waiting on the current Nitto TerraGrapplers I have to wear down so I can run back to the Duratracs.

They shine in snow the most against anything else including snow tires. They are sever weather rated too. Unless you are going to rock krawl your Taco like mad, go with Duratracs.

 

Depends where you live. Here in Vt. I like winter tires studded or just winter tires. if you live in an area that dose not get that much snow I would go for or tires

 

off road tires
sorry

 

True winter tires have a softer compound, for better traction on the ice and snow, than harder-compound offroad tires.

 

The goodyear duratrac mud all terrain is a pretty cool looking tire. Not for rocky trails I heard.

 

Off-road on Duratracs:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=32RLuzD5tbg

 

Going on 30 years driving in Maine winters and I've never run a dedicated winter tire. When I had a car (that was way back) I had all season tires and when I switched to trucks, an all terrain tire has worked just fine. Biggest thing is....drive appropriately according to the conditions and you'll be fine.

My last 2 sets of AT tires have been great...General Grabber AT2 and my current Toyo Open Country AT2.

Just my experience...others may vary.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/goodyear-wrangler-authority-the-rangers-review.233752/
check this out, I have had them for about a year

 

As you can see from my avatar picture, I live where it snows. For years I was a ski instructor and winter driving conditions are something I've dealt with for a long, long time. For snowy conditions tires go like this - chains > dedicated snow tires with studs > dedicated snow tires > all season > off-road > dedicated summer tires. Dedicated summer tires are completely useless in the snow (I know, I've owned them) so they need no further discussion. Dedicated snows with studs will turn a rwd performance car into a go anywhere tank. (been there too)

That leaves us with dedicated snows, all season, and off-road. Dedicated snows use a soft rubber compound and will get torn up and punctured if you use them for trail riding. But, they will give you awesome traction, while they last. All season tires, which IMHO are what the truck comes with, are an all around compromise and for 98% of trucks a really good choice. And, lastly off-road, which can be a really mixed bag. If you go with something like a BFG AT you'll get a hard tread compound for puncture resistance and long life, but not so good for the cold and snow. (these are the tires I have on my truck) A lot of folks like the Duratracs. I've never owned them so I can't say how they are in the snow. I have owned BFG MTR's and they approach being useless in the snow.

So what tire should you buy? Beats the shit out of me. Back when I had my BMW M5 I had 2 sets of tires. I literally got stuck with the summer tires on a 1/4" of snow. But with the studded snows and 200# of salt in the trunk I could go anywhere I wanted. I also have 2 sets of tires for my wife's car. For my truck I can tell you why I bought the BFG AT's. When it's not snowing around my home, it's a hot ass desert, and I like nothing better than getting out into the middle of nowhere when it 100+ degrees. The trails are full of sharp rocks and having flats is no fun and potentially life threatening. (my rugged fail thread) Given that I know how to drive in the snow, and the truck is 4wd, and it has all the electronic traction control wizardry I'd be good to go with just about any tire. I bought the AT's because I wanted a tough tire that doesn't punish me on the pavement.

 

+1......

I used to think all-season tires were "good enough" until I purchased my first set of true winter compound snow tires. The performance difference is night and day. I still keep a winter and summer set of tires for my year-round daily driver Scion Tc.