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Best 38-40" tire for snow

88K views 307 replies 51 participants last post by  atoz2 
#1 ·
From only the selection of tires on this list I made, what is your guys opinion?
 

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#2 ·
I've ran two on your list in the sizes spec'd.... Nitto MG's and Bias Iroks. Both tires perform great in snow but the Iroks were better. Both sets I had were generously cut & siped.
 
#6 ·
Everybody says iroks!!!! Lots of guys I snow wheel with run iroks. There's gotta be something better :flipoff2:

My hesitation with iroks is that I have a 2800lb jeep and they are stiff basted a new. The radial iroks are almost $200 more a tire too :eek:

I'm honestly leaning towards the yokohamas... but haven't been able to find any input about the 40s on the interwebs
 
#7 ·
I sincerely want to try the 38" Yokohama's. I would likely already own them if I could only manage to see one in person first. None of my local suppliers, including Big O can get them. Seems as if tire rack is it :( There is no way I could fit a 40 tire, nor do I want to limit my driving style anymore. My 37" kevlar's rub the frame, links, coil buckets and inner raised fenders as it is.
 
#10 ·
I have heard good things about the 38 nittos also, not to shabby of a price either, for the size.

I kinda believe that an aggressive tread is actually better in the snow. The problem with that is that for the most part, aggressive tread goes hand in hand with a stiff side wall. I also think this is why iroks and (from what I have heard) the mud grapplers do so well, very flexible sidewall with aggressive tread.

For that reason, I am not sold on the yoko's, for our type of snow.
 
#12 ·
You live in Washington? If so we should get together this winter.

The problem I have with the nittos is that I think they'll actually be too stiff :laughing: aren't they a sister company with toyo? Thick heavy tires from what I have heard and read, just like the toyos. A couple buddies run the bias interco STS's in 39.5 and 44s and absolutely love them. They go the same places the Canada guys go on 46" claws.

I wish I made enough money I couldn't just try em all out and find out which one really is the best
 
#14 · (Edited)
I'm running 38x14.5 toyo MTs in the snow on a YJ and they aren't great. the 35" KM2s I used to have did significantly better. The MTs tread gets packed with snow pretty quick and the tread doesn't clean real well. On snow, they seem to just kinda float on top of the snow until you make ice ruts. I was pretty disappointed with them in the snow. They're EXPENSIVE tires too.

Best ones I ever ran in the snow were my old style 37x12.5 MT/r's
 
#17 ·
Your toyos have thick heavy sidewalls (great for everything but snow) and are load range D.

I love the old 37" mtrs and quite a few guys still run them up here but I don't want to buy used and anybody with a nice set thinks they're worth gold. I want a bigger tire anyways. A buddy just bought new 42" mtrk's and I bet they are going to work awesome but damn, they are $$$$$. Even the 40s are over $500 a tire :eek:
 
#27 ·
The nittos we are talking about are the mud grappler (look like a gay spikey bogger of sorts) , not the trail grappler. I know the trail grapples and toyo Mt are supposedly the "same" tire. Not sure if the mud grapplers have anything in common with the toyo Mt.





That's kinda what I was figuring.
 
#29 ·
I have found that you can break in a stiff tire running them at crazy low psi at some speed. Me and one other guy would have to air down to 1 psi at first but after running between drifts in late spring even on blacktop once they now look flat at 4 to 5 psi. One set are radials and others that I run are bias. We are both running beadlocks though so be careful running with low psi at speeds.
 
#31 ·
I plan on airing down (whatever new tires I purchase) until they bulge then driving up and down the road until they become warm. I have Hearst this works great for breaking snow tires in. Like you said, gotta be careful not to air them down too low or get them too warm cause you'll ruin the tire(s).

Out of your list:

First choice would be the 40" MT/R
40" Yokohama MT, maybe, it's light weight, and cheap enough, but no real world experience.
40" Toyo MT, hell no, stiff sidewalls, hard rubber
39.5" radial Irok, it's hard to beat, but the sidewalls are nothing special

If you are considering a 38" tire, why not the MTR/K in the 38x14.50R17? I ran some 37" Irok radials, they worked very well in stock form. After the sidewalls self destructed, I switched to 37" MTR/K, and after siping them, I would say they are dead even in performance to the Irok radial, uncut or siped. I've moved on to 38" MTR/K last winter, but the lack of snow didn't let me do much snow wheeling. A buddy that I do a lot of snow wheeling with runs the 38" MTR/K and I have been impressed so far.

As for conditions, most snow wheeling that I do is in the Blue Mountains of Eastern WA, fairly wet, but it does vary quite a bit.
I really like the 40" mtrk's but damn they are expensive! I don't have that kind of budget yet lol. The 38" mtrk's are expensive too and they're D load range - I'd rather have a C load range tire for my lighter jeep. A few guys run the 37x12.5R15 irok radials over here in the Yakima area but prefer the 36x13.5R15 iroks over the 37s.

I just picked up a set of super cheap 39.5 radial iroks with 60% tread (all street miles) that I'm going to groove the heck out of and try this winter. Quite a few guys around here have said they prefer a low tread tire (so it doesn't dig) with lots of biting edges. Makes me almost want to try a set of KO2s haha

I plan on making a few trips to the blues this winter if we get some good snow. We'll have to get together
 
#30 ·
Out of your list:

First choice would be the 40" MT/R
40" Yokohama MT, maybe, it's light weight, and cheap enough, but no real world experience.
40" Toyo MT, hell no, stiff sidewalls, hard rubber
39.5" radial Irok, it's hard to beat, but the sidewalls are nothing special

If you are considering a 38" tire, why not the MTR/K in the 38x14.50R17? I ran some 37" Irok radials, they worked very well in stock form. After the sidewalls self destructed, I switched to 37" MTR/K, and after siping them, I would say they are dead even in performance to the Irok radial, uncut or siped. I've moved on to 38" MTR/K last winter, but the lack of snow didn't let me do much snow wheeling. A buddy that I do a lot of snow wheeling with runs the 38" MTR/K and I have been impressed so far.

As for conditions, most snow wheeling that I do is in the Blue Mountains of Eastern WA, fairly wet, but it does vary quite a bit.
 
#32 ·
How do the BFG KM2's do in the snow? I have been running the old school MTR's in a 37x12.5x15 and was very happy with then. They finally wore out and I replaced them with a set of the KM2's in a 38x14.5x17 and am hoping I'm not going to be disappointed with them in the snow, if we get any.
 
#33 · (Edited)
I ran a set of 37's on my fzj80 (5000 lbs+) I felt that they worked well in the snow, but not on ice. You will need to watch your air pressures! I got a little careless with mine and ran one almost flat (under 2psi) for about 1.5 miles before I caught it. I aired it back up and carried on. After that trip I developed a wobble. I thought it was my steel allied beadlocks, so I bought new TG creeper locks. When I dismounted the tire, two handfuls of rubber came out from inside. In 1.5 miles the tire had rubbed to the cords from the inside. I bought a new tire at almost $500 and used the damaged one my spare :( I only mention this because after 15 years of snow wheeling, running flat happens and I have never had another tire self destruct like that.
 
#39 ·
I run the BFG KM2s on my Explorer. the siping that they gave the new BFGs are leaps and bounds over the original BFG MT's. They do pretty well on the street (mileage), but can get noisy (nothing like my BOGGERs though). Like has been said snow/rocks/mud they do very well, ice not so much (I will still swear by the AT's on slick roads/ice)
 
#40 ·
I took a chance and bought 6ply 40" Toyo MT's. I know they have hard rubber but I'm grooving and siping them hoping they will work out. I drive to and from the trail so I wanted something that would last decent. I will drive around town at low pressure to break them in a little.

What does everyone think? This is grooved and then I'll sipe them all the way across.
 
#42 ·
To be honest I have never had a new set of tires in the snow, but that's probably too aggressive for the small amount of horsepower I have on tap. I like my 40-50% tread with rounded lugs because they don't dig holes that bog down my squirrels.

They'll probably never work...
 
#49 ·
I saw the 405 on Top Gear a couple of years ago and started looking on the net I found they are being made and tested by ???? I can't remember??? a big name company and were not available yet anyway. So I just bought 39.5" Irok Radials for snow and 37" Irok radials for rock. The 39.5" have a 3 ply sidewall and the 37" have a 2 ply sidewall. The two tires at 4 psi have a totally different footprint. The 39.5" just don't want to flatten out as much as the 37". I did keep the 39.5" at 40psi in between runs to stretch them out, and ran 2 psi to break down the side wall for a day. I hope with some more time on them they will soften up. They're on a 3800lb flatfender so a heavier rig will help them squat a little better. I feel for $2100.00 delivered they're a good tire for the price. I got them from JWeb07 in the vendors section.
 
#50 · (Edited)
I have used Toyo MT and Irok radial 37's. The Toyo's were very good when new but a year later they were the worst.

Irok's have been very good.

Just in case it has not been mentioned already ( I did read through most of the posts) the Irok's have a directional tread. I will eventually be trying the 39.5's on my heavy 8000 lb. truck since the sidewalls are a little stiffer.
 

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