Tires For Winter Road Trip

I am planning a road trip to Montana this winter. Anyone who has ever been knows how wild the weather can be and how varied the terrain is.

For context, I'll be traveling to Fort Peck for a fishing trip and then visiting Bozeman and Kalispell for some well needed vacation. I'm sure I'll see gravel, deep snow, ice on both roads and boat ramps, rocks, and regular pavement over the three locations so I'm looking for some insight in tire performance. The way I see it I have 2 options. (open to other suggestions)

1) A hybrid tire such as the Duratrac or Cooper St Maxx. In this option I would just run this year round. The Maxx currently has my vote since it comes in 255/85/16 and has a long tread life.

2) Blizzak W965(personal preference, open to longer lasting options) during winter and some AT for the dry season. I am not sold on any particular AT as of now, however the Maxx seems to fit this category as well. It's not uncommon for us to get rain mid summer where I live and bog up some backroads for a week. We actually had snow a couple weeks ago out of nowhere, so the AT of choice would have to be able to handle some nasty conditions in a pinch. The stock tires are getting squirrelly on me so I want something that I can confidently run over cinders/gravel/lava rocks at high speeds and wears well.

What seems to be the answer to me is to get Maxx's and Blizzak's and do the winter swap. If that sounds correct can someone give me a description of the Blizzaks non-ice performance? I'm a bit worried about running them on a road trip this size due to the terrain variation I'll be traveling across. Obviously they work great on ice, but do they work the best in deep snow as well? How about dry gravel/pavement handling?

If that doesn't sound like the best option, what tires/option # do you guys recommend for this type of trip? I'll probably be doing something similar to this trip yearly so it's not a one-off where I can just get by with Maxx/Duratracs if they aren't the perfect solution.

 

Hankook dynapro atm, we have them on all our work trucks/vans and love em.
I also second the duratrac as that is what i have on both my trucks. Also the city crews in calgary use them on their service vehicles for winter if thats any consolation.

 

i have the ST Maxx in 265/65-17. i just so love these tires, but I'm not seeing the winter like you will. i do, however, see plenty of wet, and these tires aren't great in the wet, but none of them are 'great' in the wet, although some reviews suggest others are a bit better on a wet road.

due to this, if it was me and i could afford/deal with a winter set, then I'd absolutely do it for peace of mind, and to me that's a lot of peace of mind not knowing just how bad your conditions may be. go fully prepared!... although true the ST Maxx can cover it all, just watch out for wet roads at highway speed.

btw, the ST's are really only tough on a wet road when you're unloaded... just a characteristic of very stiff and hard tires on a light truck.

 

Best option is to have a summer and winter set.

Winter tires work awesome on snow packed and icy roads, but if deep snow is encountered they don't have the cleaning ability to really dig through it. Gravel and pavement they handle pretty good on, at least the blizzak's I had on my old truck.

That said I'm currently running St Maxx on my current truck year round and so far I really liked them this past winter. No they don't grip or stop you nearly as well as a actual winter tire, but for how aggressive the tread is I'm quite happy and would buy again when they wear out.

And if you do go for a summer/winter set the St Maxx can take studs as well, food for thought.

 

I went for blizaks for the winter as my truck's major purpose is as a snowmobile hauler and snow chaser here in the north east. I used them last season, they are great for ice and slick roads. For really deep snow you might want an AT with a lot more tread, but for under 2 feet no issues.

I'm pretty sure the blizaks saved my ass in an emergency stop for a deer last season. Fully loaded with a snowmobile in the bed. Pucker up!

Here she is in about 1 foot of snow on blizaks.





Bonus loading video! Bet you hoped I stuffed it like that guy in the bike loading video.


Only 6 months until winter!

 

Everything about the duratrac makes me want them until I hear about the tread life. I can't imagine they would last long blasting a cinder road at 50+, but their winter performance sounds amazing.

I'd definetly be under load during this trip, would that remedy the wet traction issues?

 

Do you have experience studding them? I saw these screwable studs for them but it sounded like they were only good for a single insert.

 

I live in one of the areas you'll be visiting. I have a 4door Wrangler that I have a dedicated set of winter wheels for, and those have Blizzaks mounted. Excellent winter tire.

I don't know where you'll be driving from, but Blizzaks should not be driven extensively on dry roads during warm weather, and I believe "warm" is defined as over 45-50 degrees, because the rubber compound wears rapidly in those conditions. I remove mine quite early in the spring.

 

hard to say exactly from here, but if your pressures are correct and not excessive, then I'd bet you'll be totally fine. on my 265's i run 29F 27R cold and unloaded, comes up to 31/29 when warm. as long as your tread is compliant with the road surface it should be good. our light trucks just don't make the tread comply without some load.

 

Coming from CA. Don't worry I like your state the way it is.

I can't imagine crossing NV will be good for the blizzaks.. Any recommendations from a MT native for "off road" tires that won't kill me on the ice?

 

I have experience with both Duratracs and dedicated snow tires. If it just snow you're dealing with and you want good tread life....get the Duratracs. They're just as good as most snow tires and better than some in the real deep stuff.

But if you regularly encounter shallow, compacted snow, slush, etc.....get dedicated snows. They will perform a little better in those conditions. They will, however, wear faster as their componds are very soft.

As for ice? Studs and/or chains can certainly help. But you're probably SOL no matter the tire or the number of driving wheels you have

 

I'll also add that winter driving is 25% tires, 25% common sense and 50% experience

 

I'd like to consider myself fairly experienced in winter driving. I lived in Mt for a bit and I come from a true 4 season area. Sounds like duratracs are going to be a very competitive option for me compared to blizzak+Maxx. I've heard the tread life is pretty bad.. What kind of life have you gotten mileage wise? Are they just as bad on the ice as any other tire?

 

I've had good success with BFG AT T0s, and now the T02s are out. I'm not personally experienced with those, but hear that they are even better than the 1st gen ATs. I am considering doing a lift on my Jeep one of these days, and will probably go with TO2s when I do, and just leave them 12 months of the year. I just bought my TRD OR, and the stock tires on that look like they'll be decent, so I'll just leave them on, maybe toss 100 or so # of tube-sand in the bed, and drive them through next winter. It'll be my DD.

Only thing to totally avoid is big knobby mud tires, totally like hockey-pucks on ice. Not good!

No tire is totally up to sheer ice. You just plain have to slow way down and make no sudden moves. Even studs have limitations. Fortunately, that isn't the typical driving condition in MT, it's more mixed with dry road, snow-packed, loose snow, slush, with actual sheer ice being less common and typically spotty. Be careful at polished intersections in town. Wheeeeee!

 

Well my truck has just shy of 40k and i got the duratracs around 5k, so 35k and they still look brand new. Slight wear. My dodge however has duratracs for 4 years now and about 75k and they are deffinetly starting to bald.

 

I can not imagine the DTs would wear faster than a soft dedicated snow tire. Part of the reason I went with DTs was the hope that they would last much longer than snows. I also liked their deep snow rating and aggressive tread design. Mine are mounted on separate wheels and are only on the truck when needed. So I can't accurately tell about the wear.

An experienced driver in a 4x4 vehicle with Duratracs would have no issues in 90% of that Ol' Man Winter could throw at them

 

That said....if I were going back to snow tires, I wouldn't hesitate to get the Firestone WinterForce. I've had great luck with that tire.

 

My first stay in MT I had an outback with Cooper grand touring tires on it. Thought I was invincible. A couple intersections into October made me think otherwise real quick. I remember alot of packed ice in Lewistown and it was definetly hard to drive on with those touring tires. Sounds like I can't go wrong with duratrac or Maxx.

 

I'm leaning toward the Maxx tires pretty heavily based on size. Does anyone have experience with having somebody sipe tires after purchase? Are there any negative effects?

 

Last year I put Cooper AT/W LT235/85R16's on my 2006 Access Cab. Love, love, loved them on ice. I used to run the same size on my 3/4 Chevrolet when I lived in Alaska and they always got me through deep snows. They will end up on my '17 Tacoma when the time comes.