Thread: Which tyres for snow?

What type of chains?

Originally posted by one_iota
What type of chains?

Just ladders - I don't do enough snow work (2nd time ever - 1st time in more than 5cm <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%">[hopefully!]</span>) to justify diamonds.

Macca

g'day Macca

with those tread patterns i'd take the chains for sure
maybe go the taller tyre but wont help a great deal
snow tends to clog treads worse than mud sometimes
but its great fun [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

PS dont eat the yellow snow........... :x

cheers hiline

G'day Macca,

I don't think that the snow is going to be the major obstacle to forward momentum with those tyres. Soft snow behaves a bit like sand, so a narrow tyre with a long foot print is best, but it can quickly freeze to ice and even become corrugated :!:

I drove 4WDs on Mt Buller for a snow season, and we only used road tyres, which were more than adequate on the snow. If it ices, or gets too deep, then put the chains on (the front).

Going up to Mt Skene though, there will be plenty of dirt roads with mud and loose stones to traverse. These wet surfaces are the most likely to challenge your forward momentum. From the tyres you showed, I prefer the Kumhos. The Kumho pattern had straight cut grooves along the length of the tread which provide better directional stability. If both tyres had the same tread depth, I'd take the Kumhos, but you will need to decide whether BFGs extra depth is going to afford greater traction in the mud.

Smearing and buffing some shampoo onto your windows will reduce the rate at which they fog up in the snow - try it on your bathroom mirror.

I hope you have a good trip.

-Michael2

Mate I know SFA about snow (it's cold I believe) but I would be interested in your opinion of the Kumho Venture AT's. I run these as 235/85 16's on my Defender because that;s what was there when I bought it.

I wonder if you bought the BFG's because the Kumhos weren't up to scratch.

I've had no problems with the Kumhos so far, but I haven't exactly done anything too strenuous either.

Also Kumho has discontinued this line, and replaced it with some that look more road-oriented.

Have fun playing in the snow. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

Which ever tyre is taller - Kumho....And it has more tread...

The snow is deep up there so the taller the better...

Normally on icy stuff an all terain tyre works better, and if its deep and slushy and muddy or swamper / simex are the goods!

I just hope its icy and dryish snow!

Dave [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

Snow ! - I miss it so much (I come from mountain area in Europe, sometimes 5 months/year snow conditions-my favurite for 4WD)
I would probably choose narrower-AT. But I wouldn't expect big difference.
There are 3 critical facts, worth to remember:
- snow is very dangerous in temperatures round 0C - be very careful, especially in mountains areas. The colder-the better (safer).
- make sure no ice under snow, check it often - this is reason of most exidents during snow driving. (small or tiny icy creeks hidden...)
- really have one set of chains...just for case.
If more than 10-15cm snow-use them. If round 0C - use them or don't drive. If thin icy surface under snow-use chains or don't drive.

Snow is excellent fun, but be very, very careful.
Have fun !
adam

Thanks for all the responses blokes...

First off - I led you all astray. ops: The Kuhmo's are actually Hankooks (the previous tyres on those rims were Kuhmo's - I forgot and then got all confused.. I must be getting old!).

Now that's off my chest, on to my responses:

Hiline - I know about yellow snow.. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] I went to Croatia earlier in the year and saw more snow that I've ever seen in my life! Too much alcohol means there's little patches of yellow snow all around the "drinking shed"!

Michael2 - I think you've got a good answer about the pattern on the tyres. Longditudanal (damn that's a big word!) grooves work for rally cars in mud, so I suppose they'd work for me. What are your thoughts on RainX? Will it do as good a job as shampoo? (Just I've got a couple of bottles recently donated to me, so I might as well use them if they work).

Vlad - As above, my apologies for leading you astray! ops: I had the BFG's first, but the Hankooks were there when I bought the rims, so they got chucked in for an extra $100. I wasn't going to complain!

DaveS3 - I've just found that I can get Simex's in a 31x10.5x16 (Over here), so I'm thinking about it. I've got some spare Rangy steelies out the back, so I might get 2 sets of 6x16's made into 1 set of 7or8x16's.

Adamv8 - Thanks for the tips. I know ice is "interesting" (I found out in an Audi 80 Quattro in Croatia!). I doubt I'll be pack leader, so I will get some pre-warning from the people in front of me, but I'll still be real careful.

Looks like I've got a slight preference to the taller tyres (the BFG's), so I'll bang them on. The other advantage is the chains I'm borrowing were bought for 225/75's. I don't know how well they'd fit around a wider tyre (not a lot of difference?).

Thanks for all your help!

Macca (Looking forward to getting out and about for the first time in ages! 8) )