Snow tires- Lion hunting

[kyleds8]

Hey All,

getting ready for lion season and looking for people's thoughts on the best snow tires for my toyota driving FS roads in deep snow?

Conditions are Rocky Mountain deep, light, dry snow. I'm in the camp of snow tires that "float on top" rather than tall thin tires to cut through the snow. Of course no tire will really make a heavy truck float, but you catch my drift... No tire's cutting through late season snow here no matter how tall and skinny.

Many thanks

 

[Travis Hobbs]

The greatest snow tires are chained, but the next best thing are studded tires.

Nothing else comes close… I started putting them on recently for winter hunting and I don’t think I’ll go back.

General Grabber is a good all-terrain “studable” option…. They will definitely have options for your Toyota.

 

[ZRob97]

I’ve always heard good things about Goodyear duratracs for an AT/snow tire.

 

[5MilesBack]

For winter type hunting I've always just used whatever A/T tires I had on the truck and thrown on chains as needed.

 

[black dawg]

What toyota? and what size wheels do you have and how big of a tire can you run?

Toyo mt and yokohama mt have been awsome for me. Have to be able to air down though.

 

[robby denning]

The greatest snow tires are chained, but the next best thing are studded tires.

Nothing else comes close… I started putting them on recently for winter hunting and I don’t think I’ll go back.

General Grabber is a good all-terrain “studable” option…. They will definitely have options for your Toyota.
View attachment 338173

Agreed, if I take the time and money to have two sets of tires, studs are STUDS

 

[Randle]

I agree for the first year or so studs are great , after they wear down then they are just nail head that slide on ice

 

[Buzzy73]

I air down and chain up on wore out 37’s. My xj does pretty good like that, just need lockers and lower gears at some point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[6mm Remington]

Cooper ST. Maxx tires 10 ply Have them siped!
Get some good chains to compliment the tires. Good V-bar chains are hard to beat.

I've ran Cooper AT3's for years and they have worked well. A couple years ago I got a little more aggressive tire in the ST. Maxx. They have been fantastic and work a lot better in snow, mud, just about any surface you throw at them.

 

[black dawg]

Cooper ST. Maxx tires 10 ply Have them siped!
Get some good chains to compliment the tires. Good V-bar chains are hard to beat.

I've ran Cooper AT3's for years and they have worked well. A couple years ago I got a little more aggressive tire in the ST. Maxx. They have been fantastic and work a lot better in snow, mud, just about any surface you throw at them.

What do you have those on?

For me they have been OK in most everything, but dont have the best grip on packed slippery (not siped....) stuff. Pretty tough tire, and both sets I have are wearing pretty well.
The one set has chunked out a little from being used on rough rocky stuff pulling firewood to the road.....

Also should add, the three ply sidwall that makes these a pretty tough tire also makes these the stiffest riding tires I have had yet.

 

[Spoonman]

I’ve had a ton of different tires. I had the Nitto ridge grapplers and they were good for the first 5k but after that they were poor at best. Toyo m/t, bfg, and a couple others I can’t think of were ok. I just put a set of M/T baja boss a/t on my gmc 1500 and so far they are amazing. Very good road handling when wet, quiet, we’re awesome in the snow, and great in mild off road. They are severe snow rated as well. Have 8500 miles on them so far and still loving them.

 

[6mm Remington]

What do you have those on?

For me they have been OK in most everything, but dont have the best grip on packed slippery (not siped....) stuff. Pretty tough tire, and both sets I have are wearing pretty well.
The one set has chunked out a little from being used on rough rocky stuff pulling firewood to the road.....

Also should add, the three ply sidwall that makes these a pretty tough tire also makes these the stiffest riding tires I have had yet.

They are on a 2004 F150 4-door.

 

[mtnbiker208]

goodyear wrangler duratrac

 

[Seeknelk]

If your trying to float, get the biggest mud tire you can run and get them sipped and air them down. If not trying to float get studded Nokian haakapalittas or Bridgestone blizzards, something like that. I use a cooper MT PRO that r sipped. They work quite well in a mix of deeper snow and harder slick stuff but they are a compromise. In deep snow , BIG mud tires aired wayyyyy down are the way to go. Or tracks. Look at what hardcore wheelers use , that’s one extreme but shows what works in deep stuff.

 

[PanhandlePilgrim]

+1 for the Coopers. Going on 60k miles and still have decent tread on them.

 

[Orchemo]

Studs are good for icy blacktop road driving. Off the hard pack, those little stud pins don't dig much.

Chains, shovel, recovery boards, buddy in another rig or a pair of skis/snowshoes for when you want to go just a bit farther than you should.

 

[dkhor]

If your trying to float, get the biggest mud tire you can run and get them sipped and air them down. If not trying to float get studded Nokian haakapalittas or Bridgestone blizzards, something like that. I use a cooper MT PRO that r sipped. They work quite well in a mix of deeper snow and harder slick stuff but they are a compromise. In deep snow , BIG mud tires aired wayyyyy down are the way to go. Or tracks. Look at what hardcore wheelers use , that’s one extreme but shows what works in deep stuff.

Studded nokians all the way!

 

[Seeknelk]

Studs are good for icy blacktop road driving. Off the hard pack, those little stud pins don't dig much.

Chains, shovel, recovery boards, buddy in another rig or a pair of skis/snowshoes for when you want to go just a bit farther than you should.

A good studded tire is more than just a tire with studs slapped in it. The hankook I pike, nokian type tire are super impressive without studs, made of the right rubber..studs just make em better. But I remember a buddy that had studded tires so we r good to go. To a predator calling spot. Those were a cheap co-op type hard hard rubber with a worn all terrain type tread. Most useless and scary tire on mountain roads. Still pucker marks in those seats.

 

[Squamch]

Most guys run either a 49" irok, or the big Mackey Thompsons, the 54" claws. The stone tusk tires are gonna get a lot more popular in the next few years though I'd bet. Russia proven tires should be a good selling point, although it's tough to wear out tires on a snow rig.


Big tires and low pressure is the ticket. Bigger footprint. 600+hp doesn't hurt either.

 

[Philthyphil]

There you have it. Shut the thread. Squamish wins.

Aside from Russia proven. I’d go BFG AT all day. I actually do. We live on a hill that is ice for 4 months of the year and that is what we run. No better grip we’ve found in the snow either. I’ve used a bunch of tires on various rigs and this is what we have found to be best. YMMV.

Haven’t run blizzaks but if your ok with the turnover on those I think they might be better on snow but I’ve read not great on ice.

That said get whatever AT you think is best and buy chains for them. For the sounds of it you’re going to push you way in and if your like me, go until you can’t, like requiring chains to get out.

Expect to self rescue!