Winter tires vs siped and studded MT’s?

I understand the benefits of running true winter tires; I’ve lived in Fairbanks Alaska for 8 years and have only gone one winter on all-seasons with cooper AT3 4S’s that we’re brand new.

I’m running 255/86r16’s Maxxis MT762’s for summer tires. I love the look and added height. The tallest snow tires I can find for 16” wheels are 265/75r16’s or 285/75r16’s. I don’t really want to go with 285’s, and I don’t want a shorter tire, but I don’t want to severely compromise my winter traction either. So I’m thinking about getting another set of MT762’s and having them siped and studded, and the getting a 5th tire siped only for the spare. That way I only have one tire size to worry about.

So my question: can anyone here who has run siped and studded MT’s AND also had true studless or studded winter tires on their Taco’s comment on each tires effectiveness?

 

On my former non-Toyota truck, I used to run two sets of Cooper S/T’s 255/85R16. One set had studs for winter. Fast forward to my Toyota where I put studded snows - General Artic max 265/75R16. In CT where I am, we tend to have a wetter snow and I found the cooper MT treads with studs to be a better tire. Granted, it’s two different trucks but these Artic Max tires seem to be designed for more of a plowed surface vs the deep lugs on the Coopers. I’ll need new snows this fall and will be considering an MT studded tire (235/85 or 255/85) for me.

 

I run a 265/75/16 Firestone WinterForce II mounted on stock steelies. I've run these on other vehicles with great success too. They are studdable....though I've never done that.

 

Those are actually what I have now for snow tires, except mine are studded. This will be their third winter which is about all I expect to get out of a winter tire and still have the best traction as I drive about 30k miles a year with 10k of that in winter.

In interior Alaska, I mostly deal with deep cold, hard pack snow, and ice punctuated with heavy snow events every couple weeks. My road doesn’t get plowed for several days to
weeks after storms. I do not live on a main road and agree with the sentiment that most snow tires are designed for plowed and maintained roads, and hard pack.