A/T vs. All Season vs. Winter Tires

[The Pinkfingers]

I've heard BFG A/Ts (the tires on the Jammy Dodger) are great in snow, not so much on ice. This is our first deli winter, but we're not buying anymore tires, so this is a question from curiosity.

Best for winter (up in the hills of North Van, so quite a bit of snow):

1. Winter
2. A/T
3. All Season

or

1. Winter
2. All Season
3. A/T

What say you?

[coaxial]

I would say for the small amount of snow/ice we get here compared to the rest of canada, it is not worth buying and storing a 2nd set of tires to have winter tires. But if you've got the money and space for them and the time to change them they are the best and safest one ice/snow.
A/T are great for snow but not great for ice.
A/S aren't much good for snow or ice.

The tires I'm tempted by are http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... ilentArmor which are apparently good for snow/ice/mud, and durable enough to keep on year-round, and last a long time.

Currently I've got nokian AT II and they are quite good for snow/ice/mud/etc.

[robinimpey]

The tires I'm tempted by are http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... ilentArmor which are apparently good for snow/ice/mud, and durable enough to keep on year-round, and last a long time.

If you do put on a set of these let us know what you think. I'm wanting something that has the features these tires have, but going to run the ones I've have on this winter and next summer. Put on mostly highway miles so smooth and quite is appealing to me.

[deLOOKA]

This will be my first time running BFs. So no comment.
Allthough I have been told to keep the tires rolling or else they pack up easily.

The last 2 seasons i have been running Nokian AW on our LHD Nissan Xtrail.
Has worked great driving to Whistler, Cypress for nite boarding and DH biking, Seymour the same and Big White.
And before the Nokians were stock All Seasons on the Xtrail, Pathfinder and Sidekick. I just try to drive accordingly.

[jessef]

I've logged some miles on my new Nokian Vatiiva All terrain's.

Just up to whistler, around and back. Tons of ice, snow, slush, road,etc...

This has to be the best tire I've had on a Delica.

In order of preference from what I've used on Delica/Pajero's in the past 4 years :

1. Nokian Vatiiva AT's
2. Procomp AT's (close 2nd)
3. Toyo Open Country AT's
3. Goodyear Silent Armor's
4. Goodyear MTR's
5. BFG AT's

The Nokian's and Procomp's are at the top. Both clean out moderately in the mud. Excellent in the snow/ice/wet and moderate on dry. Good highway/street road manners. Similar to an all season. Nokian's are more $$$ compared to Procomp's. I like them both.

Toyo's and Silent Armor's are great tires. I put them 3/4th because the Nokian/Procomp's were much better in the ice/wet.

Goodyear MTR's are heavy duty truck/ply mud tires. Very surprisingly, they are much better than the BFG AT's in the snow/rain because of the tire compound, but downside is that they wear faster and have to be rotated more frequently.

BFG AT's. I swore by them. Have been using them for years. But after using the above tires, they stack last in my list. Compared to the Nokian/Procomp's, they are horribly in the snow/ice and wet/slick roads. Horrible. They spit rocks like you wouldn't believe and they pack up really bad in wet snow. The only things the BFG AT's have going for them compared to the others is treadwear/life. The tread life is excellent. BUT... that comes with a price. Meaning the compound is really tough = hard = not good for wet/snow.

I've been driving many different vehicles for two decades. I have done and still do a lot of offroading both mild and heavy.

Right now, our Delica see 50% highway, 30% city, 20% off road (logging roads, snow, hills, mud,etc..)

Given that, the Nokian and Procomp At's are at the top for safe, comfortable and enjoyable driving.

I still have friends who drive with BFG AT's and say they are the best. They haven't extensively tried anything else comparable in the AT range, so they are very biased towards the BFG AT's.

I will never buy BFG AT's again. There are much better tires for the same/less money spent, hands down. And this is coming from a guy who for years pushed BFG AT's on everyone.

When we go on our expedition down the south america, I'll be fitting Goodyear MTR's on there because of their heavy heavy load and ply rating.

In our westcoast climate, there is no tire that beats the Procomp All Terrain for bang-for-buck, bar none.

Reason I went with the Nokian's this time around was because I had credit at Kal Tire and they had the Nokian's in stock, otherwise a set of Procomp's would have been going on.

My 2 cents.

[wookie]

We just put some TBC Artic Claw studded tires on our bus. Probably over kill, but will never have to worry about black ice surprise anymore. They cost 862$ in total at Kal Tire.

[Erebus]

Keep in mind that if you have 2 sets of tires, they will each last roughly twice as long. So, although you have more invested in them, your cost per km is the same. This is ignoring the cost of a second set of rims.

It also means that you can have a set of tires that suit the conditions.

Although I've had two sets for most of my previous vehicles, for the Delica I don't yet. That's 'cause right now I have 6 Bridgestone LT 235/75r15 mounted on 6 15x6" stock rims. So adding 4 more rims and tires is out of the budget at the moment. And if I do, it will be larger 16" rims.

The Bridgestones suck on snow and ice. Green1's all seasons match them on both; he has been able to follow me anywhere I've gone. But mine are good in mud.

Keep in mind that these are the only tires I've had on the Delica, so I can only compare to other tires on other vehicles.

[rps13]

My vote is for the BFG A/T's. I've had them on 2 of my Delicas without a single complaint. Awesome in the snow..like AMAZING! great in wet weather and good when its dry..pretty quiet

[Golf Cart]

All season radials in snow in in 2wd suck butter, in 4x4 not too bad, shitza on ice.

Dunlop Grandtrek snows on the rear in 2x are good, but once I flip to "Double Green" its like trying to hold back the "Big O" , .......unstoppable.

All this driving in 10-12 inches of snow

[The Pinkfingers]

My vote is for the BFG A/T's. I've had them on 2 of my Delicas without a single complaint. Awesome in the snow..like AMAZING! great in wet weather and good when its dry..pretty quiet

So far I have to agree. These are what we have on the Jammy Dodger, and so far they have been just fine. Our street gets plowed rarely, and I've purposely been rarely shoveling our driveway, and the van is still very sure footed in 4wd. In 2wd, not so much, when going uphill in snow or ice.

[FalcoColumbarius]

I have Yokohama A/T-S Geolandars (w/26,000 kilometres on them). Generally they have been quite good. When we went on the Paradise Valley sortie they were quite proficient in a foot of snow and on steep grades. In deeper snow I had the chains on but the Dino was running on the same tyres (newer) without chains and apart from some slipping and sliding was getting to most of the places I was.

Regarding ice: It is ice ~ not many applications are going to completely stick to ice.

Falco.

[jessef]

My vote is for the BFG A/T's. I've had them on 2 of my Delicas without a single complaint. Awesome in the snow..like AMAZING! great in wet weather and good when its dry..pretty quiet

Wait till you try some other tires. Might be surprised at how they rank in wet/snow compared to other AT's.

With that said, the Nokian AT's are great.

I have yet to put it in 4x4 driving around the lower mainland.

They are great in the slushy/soft snow up and downhill.

I also have about 300 lbs of weight above the rear tires. That plants the tires on the snow like white on rice.

[loki]

My vote is for the BFG A/T's. I've had them on 2 of my Delicas without a single complaint. Awesome in the snow..like AMAZING! great in wet weather and good when its dry..pretty quiet

Wait till you try some other tires. Might be surprised at how they rank in wet/snow compared to other AT's.

With that said, the Nokian AT's are great.

I have yet to put it in 4x4 driving around the lower mainland.

They are great in the slushy/soft snow up and downhill.

I also have about 300 lbs of weight above the rear tires. That plants the tires on the snow like white on rice.

when was the last time you use bfg a/ts? just curious as I think they changed the compound up recently. if your nokians are as much better then my bfgs as you say you probably shouldn't use 4x4 even in the snow cause your getting as much traction as dry pavement ;) I just got my 31" bfgs a couple months ago now and they are better in all conditions than the winter duelers I had before.

I'm not saying the nokians aren't better (I would have the M/T's on my van now if they had them in stock) I would just be shocked if the difference is very noticeable.