My H3 has pretty good snow traction although not quite what I expected (I did expect it to be a tank....it's about 80-90% there). My 2000 Chevy Silverado Ext Cab 4x4 had 245 75 16s on it and had tank-like snow traction (Firestone Steeltek off road tires). My H3 has the stock Wrangler 265 tires on it (inflated to 33psi cold even though it says 30psi ondoor jamb). Thought about changing to a 245 tire for better winter performance....anyone try this?

OR, would the concensus beto try a more agressive tire maybe Bridgestone Dualers or BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires???? Do the Wranglers just stink for snow???

 

I went with a more aggressive tire for winter. I went right into the mud terrain tires. I kept the stock 265 size however. I thought that would be plenty skinny and best for the winters here. I am very impressed. I have traction like I have never had before. Here are a few pics before the snow fell...





They are Nokian Vitiiva M/Ts and I got them at Kal Tire.
http://www.kaltire.com/retail/tires/...amp;cat=LT/SUV

 

I live in Colorado and deal with my fair share of snow......especially in the mountains. I put BFG AT on my 2007 H3 Adv and they are incredible. I have had the H3 in snow 3' deep and dont event need to put it in 4HI. The "normal" AWD does great.I would suggest the BFG AT as a great4 season/on and off road tire.

 

those pics are NICE - like that tread!!

 

Thanks,

I just got home from driving through some fairly deep snow... anywhere from a couple inches to about 18 inches deep and I had tons of traction.

 

I've kept my all seasons and still have traction in snow/ice (Canada Weather) Mind you Im looking at buying some 35's within the next couple of weeks...BTW Do smaller tires give you better traction? I would've thought it be the other way around....

 

It depends....

When you are cutting through the snow, narrow tires will give you an advantage. If you are driving on very deep hard snow, you want the widest tire possible and "float" on top of the snow.

Most people in the city would probably benefit from skinny tires rather than big ones. If you are driving to the north pole you would want wide tires.

 

The Brigstone Duelers are pretty darn good tires for snow. I have been very happy with then for that and on the Hwy. Obviously they come up a bit short off road, but a decent compromise. We got 10-12" snow here Friday in about 7.5 hours, and no plow has come down my street yet.

The "old school" thought was skinny tires to dig down to traction on the snow. Great for bias ply technology, does not transfer well with radial designed tires. Big old honkin MTs do ok in the snow, an all terraine tread is even better because they increase traction to slippery/icy pavement.

 

Ihave the BFG AT/KO's in 32*11.5 on my BlaZeR2 and thay are awsome I have also dropped the tire psi to 20 from 40 and found that i gained traction which makes sence since snow and sand are a lot alike

 

I had a problem last year, came home from NH, got caught in CT's first snow storm! Got held up in Mystic for 3 hrs and wound up with 4" in the bed of my ford p/u while waiting! Imade it home and had 8" in my driveway. My drive is really steep and is paved. An hour later the wife got home and there was 10-12" in the drive. Tell you what, them wide floatation tires don't work well on smooth steep inclines! The H2 loaded as it was, couldn't compress the snow enough to keep it from shearing between the tire and asphalt and sliding down hill. (truck has OEM AT's). I figured that the wide tires combined with tall tires, higher gears (compared to my ford) and shorter wheel base were just not a good combo for this situation.
My ford was running new 265x16 (31" tall) all weather tires, it is a crew cab short bed with 4.30 gears and 6.8l V10 (empty the H2 weighs about 400lbs more).
I too am thinking about different winter tires. Probably an agressive M/T with siping.
Trying to find a narrower tire that meets the 'required load rating' is pretty tough.