Good Tire Size for Winter? 285? 265?

I just bought a 97 Silverado X-Cab with 305-70-16 tires which are great, but I'm concerned they may float on snowy roads. Is it worth spending the money to get 285s or 265s? Isee they will only be about 1-2" more narrow.

Thoughts?

I run 265/75/R16s on my 90, BFG All-Terrain T/As and I'm very happy with their performance, both offroad (lots of hunting on nasty roads) and on the highway going over the Sierras. If you live in country that sees a good amount of snow, I think it might be worthwhile to swap out your 305s for the winter.

Flotation is the key in snow. The wider tires will be better if you are driving in deep snow.

I dunno about that floating on the snow stuff. I mean how wide would you have to go , i had 33/12.50's on my 88 full size jimmy and hve never had it float on top of the snow, sink like a big rock ok but not float. I had the splines on the front drive shaft (the slip joint part) strip out on me one time when i was on a trail with about only 3" of snow when this happened.......and i had a hell of a time trying to get back to pavement. With 3" on snow!!!! May as well have had a damn plow on the front of the thing. In my opinion i still say narrower tires are better for driving in snow. If you want good ground clearance i say get 255/85/16. I have that size on my truck (BFG MT'S) and they are 33.3" tall when new and i rarely have to put it in 4wd in the city , unlike my 88. I hope i did not offend anyone , just speaking from my personal expierence. I think i ALL depends on the type of snow too, hardpacked snow i agree, you would want wider. Soft looser snow like we have here in Canada i think the narrower tires are better to get down to the ground and get some grip. I know some people might say ,"but that is fine for a foot or two of snow , but what happens in snow that is deeper ? ?" You shovel , that's what lol. I know what it is like to try and see how far you can make it when it is real deep , but all it usually ends up being is one big shovel fest. Anything more that 2 foot of snow is what they made snomobiles for :biggrin:

Obviously when you are trying to achieve flotation the wider the better. 6" wide is better than 5" wide.
You ever seen a Alaskan Tundra truck with 44" tall 9" wide tires ? Nope they go as wide as they can fit so they can stay on top of the snow.
I do understand that if you only get 2 to 3 inches of snow tops and you just want to get to the hard ground narrow that is the way to go, but if you get a lot of snow the wider the better.