255/85r16 tires for midwestern winter ....

They are just expensive because of that size. They are considerably cheaper in other non E-rated sizes. These are C-rated

 

ST MAXX is a Q rating so like 100mph. These are the ones I'll be buying once I get another 10k out of my stock tires.

 

OP is long gone bro.

 

FML lol. Who keeps digging up these zombie threads

 

I got sucked in also, I was aware though. There's no winning. Revive an old thread and get shit, or start a new one about something and get nuked cause there's "a million other threads on this!"

 

Get some blizzaks. Doesn't come in 255/85/16 but you can get 235/85/16 or 255/75/17 which are both 32" tires.

I had the falkens which are touted as excellent for snow, and now have blizzaks in the same size 245/75/16. The falkens were very good when new, and ok once the tread got down a little. The 'zaks are in a different league, grip for days.

Yesterday we had a blast of snow come thru when I left for work at 5:30am. Roads were covered, it was coming down so hard that 30mph was as fast as I dared go, I could barely see the road. Had it in 2wd, no weight in the bed and I could still take off from a stop uphill with no wheel spin. I only put it in 4wd so that if I drifted off course into a field I wouldn't be SOL.

They've been excellent so far, grip well even on sheet ice. Tread life remains to be seen but so far so good, and grip in rain and dry conditions is predictable and good.

 

This is pretty much the same experience I've had with them.