Tested: Best All-Terrain A/T Tires in Snow & Ice

[Gear_yyc]

In all my A/T tire research, leaning towards 3 peak snow rating for snowy winters, I see familiar names here. BFG KO3, Falken AT4W, and Toyo AT3 are the top 3 I see everywhere. I am leaning Toyo AT3 because they seem to be the cheapest, the lightest, and performance is marginally the same as the other competitors. I read often on forums and groups that KO3s aren’t great on wet roads, and AT4Ws are the heaviest. For me, while the would all be a fine choice, this makes it easy to feel confident in a Toyo AT3 tire purchase.

Experienced my AT3's recently in mixed conditions from icy (freezing rain) to slush and fresh snow (maybe 3" deep) on the highway. On ice, my traction control was kicking in quite a bit (granted I had an empty bed). On the slush and snow on the highway, they were very impressive. It felt very stable even when passing a struggling Subaru while I was in 2HI.

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[bitflogger]

What I’m saying is that review is BS.
Go look at tirerack reviews it is more reliable.

It's their crowd-sourced reviews where I find most value. For example, when a few thousand people all say a tire is good in one of the measures or categories.

There's also wisdom with getting a tire with lots of dealers and post-sale support.

 

[tragisj]

There are too many options out there now to try out 5 tires and claim you have the best. There are many You Tubers doing empirical testing on many different brands often out scoring these.

I have found a lot of it is personal preference after 49 years of Alaska driving.

I’ve been running KO2’s for years but going to try out Bridgestone A/T this winter.

Ice and snow are two different things. I am in AK as well. We now consistently get freezing rain on top of frozen roads. Nightmare conditions. No tires works in that condition but studs.

 

[Airborne]

While i had my past 4Runner, i ran it in everything and loed it ,i was running at the time BFG-KO-2, the first season was great, always maintained proper preasure, im a slow driver i just feel better going slow, …second season was ready to. Start winter roads were wet ,no ice or snow just a rain road, the truck handled weird and i realized i was loosing traction on turns, it made me very unsecure ,i ordered new Toyo AT open country tires and they were fantastic in all conditions ,very good in snow ,slush and rain. Fast forward my new TRD Offroad was fitted with new tires after the OEM Falkens had 3500 miles on, The BFG K-3 got hype, looked good guys were happy with, however id question them when that tire hits 25,000 miles. So i went with what hasnt let me down, lol and no white knuckle rides for fear of tire loosing contact like my old KO-2 , im running TOYOS and very happy with them
David

 

[Crazy Mary’s Husband]

Does anyone here have first hand knowledge of Cooper Discoverer Road and Trail AT’s?

 

[arpstorm]

After being rather disappointed and annoyed with the Falken tiers my truck came with, 2k miles and basically legally bald, I ended up with the Bridgestone a/t ascent. So far very happy with how they handle but no snow in my area yet to see how they handle that. Very much looking forward to it, I have always enjoyed playing in snow!

Did you go for the SL version or the E load version of the Bridgestone A/T Ascent tires? When you start getting snow this winter please come back and let us know how they do. They're very high on my list so far, and they did really well in the Tire Rack A/T tire reviews.

 

[Miqie]

Ice and snow are two different things. I am in AK as well. We now consistently get freezing rain on top of frozen roads. Nightmare conditions. No tires works in that condition but studs.

Not looking for studs, but which tires are those? They sort of have a Michelin Cross-Climate tread pattern.

 

[tragisj]

Not looking for studs, but which tires are those? They sort of have a Michelin Cross-Climate tread pattern.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10. They make them studless or a close variation. Nokian is a good tire for road travel in Type 2 conditions.

 

[bitflogger]

Does anyone here have first hand knowledge of Cooper Discoverer Road and Trail AT’s?

I noticed those showing in TireRack survey reports along with the Bridgestone after the BFG Trail Terrain TA was dominant for the category some months ago.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=ONAT

That was interesting to me because at my age Cooper tires were always basic value type mediocrity, and outside of Blizzak, I've not known Bridgestone as top winter tires. I recognize the awesome ways Blizzaks start, but not finish.

I did take the time to see that video review. I'd say the main fault is just a subset of all that's available.

I'm still putting priority on the year-round 3PMSF when my current tires wear out because my experience with a few have the clear winter advantages without the specialized snow tires disadvantage when it is not a snow storm.

 

[bking]

I went with Goodyear Duratrac RT's. They are 3 Peak rated and are great in wet, mud, and snow. You don't find them on these comparisons because Goodyear doesn't give these people free tires. They should. Only problem is they are only available in E load. I've got around 25k on mine now and they are still have plenty of life left. Not bad for an offroad tire.

 

[JDBoss]

I've been running Falken Wildpeaks AT3W's for several years here in Montana on a Ram 1500, Jeep Wagoneer and now getting them installed on my 25' Trailhunter. Love how they handle the snow, snow pack and well ice just sucks hah. I think all of those listed, well I know the K02's and K03's are great as well. I couldn't pass up the Falken for the Taco @ $165 a tire as they are closeout priced since the AT4W's are out. To each their own. 3 peak tires, I'm not racing them around a track as this YTer is testing them as so lots of good choices.

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