Snow Wheelin Tires

Which tires to get always seems to be a touchy subject among four wheelers. A good snow tire seems to complicate the issue that much more. The reality is, there are many different snow conditions and some tires may perform very well in specific conditions and poorly in other conditions. While I won't try to convince you what the best snow tire is, I will try to cover some of the tire qualities that I have found to work well in most snow conditions.

A good snow wheelin tire should fall into the following categories

• - Radial
• - Siped
• - Mud Terrain

Radial tires perform much better than a bias ply tire in the snow. Bias tires generally have a stiffer sidewall that contributes to higher ground pressure (explained below). The design of radial tire distributes the weight of a vehicle more evenly over the area of the footprint, whereas the bias ply tires will tend to have a higher ground pressure at the sides of the footprint. Radials generally have a softer rubber compound. When it's really cold, you can feel the difference with your hand. The softer rubber helps the tire stick to the snow.

Siped Super Swamper
TSL Radial

Siping is the process of cutting razor slits across the tread of the tire. This results in a much more flexible tire and hundreds of additional biting edges. Siping isn't a must have, but it certainly helps...a lot. I've found siping to be nearly as effective as studs. Some tires come with factory siping, but generally this is something you'll pay for when you purchase the tire.Or for more thrifty wheeler like myself, you can purchase an Ideal tire groover and install the blades upside down. It's a lot of work, but I've been pleased with the results. When shopping for tires, keep siping in mind. Some tread patterns just won't hold up well to siping.

Mud terrain tires seem to work the best in the snow. While all-terrain tires might work really well in some conditions, I've found that mud terrain tires work the best in most conditions. However, all mud terrain tires are not created equal. A tread pattern that is too agressive will result in too much digging. If the tread pattern is too tight, it may not self clean enough. Snow tends to be more sticky than slippery. Not very intuitive, but true. Snow sticks to itself very well. A good snow tire can use this concept to our advantage. The idea is to have a tire that holds some snow in the voids, but still self cleans a little bit. The snow that stays stuck in the voids and sipes will help the tire stick to the snow on the ground. We still want some of the lugs to be clear to get a fresh bite. The three stage lug design on many of the super swamper tires applies this concept very well.

Wider is better.  Not so fast! Given equal tire pressure, a 36x12.50 and a 36x14.50 will have the same size footprint. The shape will be different, but the total area will be the same. Don't stop reading. I'm not crazy. Here's the deal...to keep things simple, lets say we have 4,000lbs vehicle. We'll assume it's perfectly balanced and therefore 1,000lbs at each tire. If the tire is inflated to a known pressure, say 5 psi(pounds per square inch), we can now determine the area of the footprint in sq/in using the following formula.

Properly aired down
Goodyear Wrangler
MTR.

So what does all this mean? In theory it means that a wide tire and a narrow tire exert the same amount of ground pressure at a given PSI. In reality, my experience seems to support it. While there are certainly going to be some conditions where a wider tire will perform better, the same holds true for a narrow tire. It's also woth considering that Wider tires are heavier, and require deeper offset wheels. This contributes to much more wear and tear and broken parts. Wider tires also need more fender clearance and wider fender flares to stay street legal. Wide tires also don't behave as well on the street. Offically, I'm just not convinced that wider is better. I've been at this for a few years, and I just haven't seen the evidence. Sure would be a fun test to do someday! Based on my experience, I'll recommend something middle of the road, say 12.50-13.50 range.

Taller is better. In the deep snow progress is generally halted when you start pushing too much snow. Taller tires mean you'll push less snow. When I made the transition from 33's to 36's, it made a world of difference. Instead of just following along, I was able to get out and break trail. I also have to try pretty hard to get stuck. The step to 39-40's and beyond makes an even more significant difference. Based on my experience, I'll recommend no less than 35-36 inch tire. That's a pretty reasonable tire size that can be made to fit most vehicles. Beyond that many of us will be looking at more significant drivetrain, suspension, and body modifications.

Safety bead on a
15 inch wheel