A/T & highway snow

[lemsip]

How well do BFG AT/KO perform on packed highway snow ?

Does anyone know how strong PROCOMP AT sidewalls are ? I know they are two ply, not three, but how much difference does that make ?

I am looking for a tire for moderate off roading in rocky conditions, but also with good highway snow performance. Deep snow performance would be a plus but I'm more concerned about crashing than getting stuck.

Thanks.

[Luke@tirerack]

chech out the Cross Terrain from Michelin ... not as aggressive looking but, great ride quality and bad weather ability ....

Luke
877-522-8473 ext. 362

[Lance]

I've driven AT/KO's for a years...a good compromise for off road/road actually. Packed snow (Hard smooth surface) is not good terrain for this much tread void pattern. It was do-able, but AT's and MT's are not best suited for this.

To get a grip on icy/hard pack snow...you need lots and lots of biting edges....IE: SIPES. Heavily siped tires make a huge difference. (Hell, so do tire studs...)

If the snow is just soft enought to see tire tracks on it when you drive over it...then the AT/KO was able to get a good grip...it could pinch up ridges of snow to push on with the tread blocks, and it had just enough siping to make it work.

I know nobody using those Michelins off road, I see them at the mall some times though.

As for the Procomps - they seem somewhat comparable to the BFG's...like a sibling. I've seen them off road, and most people with them seem happy enough, esp. considerring the price. Friends near Mt St Helens ride over jagged volcanic flows, and seem to keep the rubber intact.

I've blown the bead on AT/Ko's on the rocks if I run too little air and too much steering gear force...but the side walls never punctured....but there are those who have punctured BFG MT and AT's, despite the three wall design....and when you look...the third wall is as thick as a balloon anyway...practically cosmetic. I think its mostly marketing hype, not a real difference.

I have seen the GY MT/R resist puncture on the same obstacle that shredded BFG MT's (Good tires/bad driving...same edge...same day)...so it looks as though the two wall GY is tougher than the three wall BFG. (Some BFG's didn't puncture either...but looked like white walls after scraping off the cosmetic third layer...)

Anyway....there's no tire that's got the big open lugs for off road work that's good on ice/hard pack...at least as good as a dedicated snow/ice tire with heavy sipes/microbubble or fiberglass impregnated soft when freezing compound rubber, etc...just simple physics. (See Dunlop and Bridgestone Winter tires for that stuff...)

Just get winter tires, hwy tires, and boggers, all on extra sets of rims.



- Lance