Winter tires for my XJ

[Frank]

Story is, I have 275-65-16 bfg at tires (90% tread) on my XJ right now. They are the worst tires I have ever had in the snow.

I took the family today through some back roads in Mi (2-4" snow, unplowed) and the jeep was totally horrible. All over the road, literally had to put it in 4wd to go anywhere that wasn't paved.

I am new to this Jeep thing. What size winter/snow tires would be recommended for the XJ? I think something a little less wide? -maybe a 15" wheel?

If it makes any difference, my tires are at 40psi on all 4 corners right now.

-Frank

[Topgun514]

Drop your psi, that can help, I have always have great experience with my All Terrains.

If have recently switched to Duratracs, which have been taking the Utah winter by storm, pun intended. Best grip, ride quality, and handling in dry, wet, icy, and snowy conditions.

Though if you want a good tire for snow, get a snow tire like the Cooper M+S, just wont last you for summer.

[alexrex20]

i thought you want to air up your tires in the snow?

[Topgun514]

i thought you want to air up your tires in the snow?

Depends on tire size and snow coverage.

In a perfect world, we would be having on board air, and tiny pizza cutter tires for snow storms on average covered roads. Deflating for floating on tires as wide as you are tall- but this is not a perfect world, so in winter, 33 psi is a good mix.

[Frank]

I guess I should have mentioned, I started at 30psi, stopped at a gas station aired up to 40psi and did a little better. The sidewall on my tires say 65psi.

Flipping through other forums/google searches, 9" is about as wide as you want to go.

I have no problem buying another set of winter tires and maybe some stockish wheels for winter...just need some info on what kind/size.

[spad_4]

Try a narrower tire, the wider the tire, the more likely it will float. I have 245/75-16 Kumho AT's and have not had a problem

[Frank]

Try a narrower tire, the wider the tire, the more likely it will float. I have 245/75-16 Kumho AT's and have not had a problem


exactly what I was thinking actually.

[96discoXD]

Frank, if you decide to do another set of tires for winter I recommend looking at the Firestone Winterforce UV that Tire Rack sells. I've had them on a Land Rover Discovery, a bunch of prior cars, my current Mazdaspeed3 and my wifes Subaru Forester. They're inexpensive tires but they are fantastic in the snow/slush. They do squirm a bit on dry pavement because the sipes extend down all the way through the tread blocks, but they are unmatched in snow/slush conditions in my experience.
As for size, narrower is definitely better for snow on the road. I would look at a 245/75R16 or a 265/75R16 depending on what you have room for.

[MuckSavage]

My General Grabber AT2's were wonderful in the record snows we had last year. They have a "mountain/snowflake logo" on them, perhaps you might look for something with this designation.

http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=125

[Reginald]

i also use jeep for adventures.in the sights of south Americas.i do really much fun with that adventure.

[K2ZJ]

Story is, I have 275-65-16 bfg at tires (90% tread) on my XJ right now. They are the worst tires I have ever had in the snow.

Yup! I think my BFG M/Ts performed just as well in snow as the A/Ts did!

I put some street tires on for winter and muds for summer/wheeling. I used Hakkapeliittas on my Audi and they AWESOME! I could stop and take off on ice no problems. Expensive but worth it on a dd.

[hugh]

My xj is currently running 12.5 x 35 BFG KM2,s. Frankly I don,t care what what the side wall psi says, that is a maximum rating for the tire, the manuf does not know what type of vehicle you have. When they were brand new in summer I ran between 25 and 30 psi on the hwy and 12 psi on the trail. In winter on the highway around 25psi and again 12 on the trail. If it is slippery in town I have a detroit locker in the rear which really helps and if icy I just use 4 wheel high which with a rear locker gives true 3 wheel drive. The XJ is running 6 1/2 " lift so common sense dictates caution out on the highway in windy/icy conditions. And living in Winnipeg it first snowed here late November and the snow will stay till March or May and the temp ranges from freezing to 40 below. There are 2 schools of thought about wide versus skinny tires, personal experience has shown me that the skinny tires offer good traction in that they will get right down to the hard surface, however if the snow is too deep you get hung up while wide tires have always let me go farther both in snow and mud. Also try this test, find a not too steep hill, park at the bottom then try just driving up it in both 2 and 4 wheel drive without gassing it a lot. Just to see how far you make it. That,s with the regular tire pressure you run, then drop the pressure down to between 12 and 15 psi , you will make it further before spinning to a stop. This trick works well in snow, mud and sand, however you do need some type of on board air for the return to the highway. Also if you mostly use your XJ on the road with occasional off road use consider some type of winter radial, the rubber compound used in winter radials stays flexible at lower temperatures so it offers better traction.

[The Adam Blaster]

Hugh has made some good points, especially about tire pressure - ALWAYS ceck your door sill for the sticker from the manufacturer, it will list the proper tire pressure for that vehicle.
A smaller footprint on ice will get you better grip than a wider or fatter footprint. I'm assuming the most important time for grip for you and your family's safety is when you are travelling at normal road or highway speeds.
If you can't afford a 2nd set of true winter tires, aside from your all seasons, try the Goodyear Duratracs. As has been mentioned already, they have the official winter rating, mountain/snowflake and I've got them on my XJ in 31x10.50R15.
They seem to handle just like any other winter tire I've had in the past.
And by my location you can tell I've already been through a fair share of winter this year. ;)

[K2ZJ]

Hugh has made some good points, especially about tire pressure - ALWAYS ceck your door sill for the sticker from the manufacturer, it will list the proper tire pressure for that vehicle.

Keep in mind that is for stock tire size as well. I use chalk across the tread and drive on it to determine tire pressure for larger tires.

[Accrete]

Try a narrower tire, the wider the tire, the more likely it will float. I have 245/75-16 Kumho AT's and have not had a problemI ran 245/75r17 Bridgestone Dueler Revo 2's All Season tires on our TACO and now run 245/70r17 Wild Country XTX traction tires on our Express AWD van. Both are good on ice or light snow for us here on the WET! Coast of Oregon. I LUV running Pizza Cutters.

[Frank]

Lots of great info here. Thanks a bunch! Something has to change, soon. This is horrible. Literally went to the grocery store and had to run in 4wd all the way there and all the way home. -really because I was worried about someone behind me expecing me to move, and me not being able to do so. lol!

Those winterforce UV's look great and are cheap! Right up my alley! lol!

[kjp98TJ]

i have the same view on the AT's. the small voids fill up and just leave you spinning. best tire i've run is the interco trxus. lots of siping, biting edges and big voids. if they made them in a 33x10.5 for a 15" rim i'd never run another tire.

currently have new KM2's. only one small storm so far, but they seem promising.

[jeeepguy]

Duratracs... or try Nokian Vativa tires... both excellent.

[Eaglefreek]

How about some Treadwrights with the Kedge edge option? http://www.treadwright.com/

[007]

Get a true snow tire like this: http://www.coopertire.com/html/products/tires_lighttruck.aspx?page=discoverer_ms

[137buck]

i just had new tires put on my truck, i could'nt justify the price of getting bfg at's again, so on a suggestion from a friend, i had a set of cooper atr's put on...and after this last snow storm we had, i am impressed with them...they get good traction in the snow, and i just hope i can get the mileage out of them like they say they do...

[troy]

I think part of it is the jeep and not just the tires. I've lived in MN my whole life and 6 yrs of that has been in an XJ with BFG Ats, Bridgestone Revos, Goodyear MTRs, BFG MTs. In snowy conditions they were all about the same. On ice the BFG ATs and Revos were much better due to the siping on the tires. Sizes ranged from 30x9.5 --> 245/75/16.

Cherokees are light weight vehicles and the wider tires cause it to float. Which is fine in really deep snow, but not the best in icy or 2-4" conditions. I've found that slowing down was the only solution. I've thought about a winter specific set, but can't justify it.

On any 2WD car I've had winter only tires have made a huge!!!! difference.

The cherokee is still many times better in winter travel than my last few wranglers with 33"+ mud terrain tires. For some reason my wife spun out in my wranglers nearly everytime she was behind the wheel.

[K2ZJ]

Could be shocks as well. I read an article in a 4x4 mag years ago where they went to winter driving school. They were there all day and were proficient at driving in the snow. The school put them into the same suv but it had bad shocks and they couldn't drive at the speeds they were doing in the other vehicles.

[Frank]

I think part of it is the jeep and not just the tires. I've lived in MN my whole life and 6 yrs of that has been in an XJ with BFG Ats, Bridgestone Revos, Goodyear MTRs, BFG MTs. In snowy conditions they were all about the same. On ice the BFG ATs and Revos were much better due to the siping on the tires. Sizes ranged from 30x9.5 --> 245/75/16.

Cherokees are light weight vehicles and the wider tires cause it to float. Which is fine in really deep snow, but not the best in icy or 2-4" conditions. I've found that slowing down was the only solution. I've thought about a winter specific set, but can't justify it.

On any 2WD car I've had winter only tires have made a huge!!!! difference.

The cherokee is still many times better in winter travel than my last few wranglers with 33"+ mud terrain tires. For some reason my wife spun out in my wranglers nearly everytime she was behind the wheel.

I'm reading this as well. Ice conditions...well, unless you have studded tires, you are screwed regardless, just my opinion. I'm talking about driving through 4" of snow...which to me, in a jeep, shouldn't be an issue at all. Im reading though just what you said. Jeeps suck in the snow. Tires help, but it still sucks. Its really disappointing to me.

I made a thread in another section of the forum.
You can find it here. (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53187)

K2, Im talking about driving down a road, not even driving off road. Shocks are an important aspect of the suspension in any vehicle and on any surface.

[K2ZJ]

K2, Im talking about driving down a road, not even driving off road. Shocks are an important aspect of the suspension in any vehicle and on any surface.

So am I, and I agree. It could be an over looked part of the equation as to why people are having trouble driving their Jeeps in the snow. I have no problems in the snow, even with mud tires. Well, I have trouble not TRYING to slide all over, I love seeing how far I can drift sideways down the street. I rarely use 4wd unless I can't get started going from a light and I am going to hold up traffic. I go out driving when it snows to just to drive in it. Wranglers have a short wheel base and they like to spin around even with 4wd.

[Hill, Bill E.]

I run stock size snow tires (235/75R15) on stock XJ wheels for the winter.

Unless I'm going snow wheeling, then I throw the 33" super swmpers back on.:sombrero:

Nice thing about having a 'spare' set of tires, you only run them 4-5 months of the year, and they last a lot longer.

For on road driving, I would definatley get a narrower and softer tire than you have.

I had the same size tires on my XJ when I bought it, they really tunk in the snow, and even wet roads. The sidewalls were too stiff or a rig the weight of an XJ. Even aired down.


A tire with good siping will be great for wet and slushy roads, and a good set of snows, wether stock or a couple sizes taller, will do great in deeper snow.

Welcome to the Jeep thing!

[computeruser]

Yokohama Geolander I/T. End of story.

[4Rescue]

???? :confused: I run 33/10.50 BFG AT's and they are far and away the BEST AT in snow I've ever used... Try changing/droping your PSI, it helps alot. here in the NW we actually HAVE elevation changes and mountains (just ribbin ya mate ;) ) and my $Runner is litteraly the most capable rig I've ever owned for snow wheeling with the BFG AT's on it.

That said, they're NOT a dedicated winter tire but considering you don't have to swap them off to drive around in the summer... I ran expensive "all season" Blizzaks on an old VW FOX of mine when I lived/worked up on Mt. Hood and those things made it FEEL like I had 4wd. BUT they were expensive and wore out REALLY quickly... Keep the BFG's and play with your tire pressure.

I hate to ask/imply, but really, honestly how good a "snow driver" are you??? I don't know ya so I can't/won't assume anything, but your statements are way out of line with everyone else's experiences with the BFG's and alot of us live in places with alot more snow/wetter, nastier weather with them and love them so I gotta wonder...

Also, any chance your 4wd wasn't engaging correctly??? Vacum actuators are an achillies heel of Jeep 4wd systems. espescialy in freezing weather.

Cheers

Dave

Edit: should be noted, I've owned ALOT more jeeps - primarily XJ's - then anything else. so I'm very familliar wit the platform and it's snow capabilities. IMO they're great snow trucks with their multi-mode shift on the fly T-case. but the 4.0L can be a bit of a beast if not reighned in eh. 4LO should only be used for slow descents unless you have a manual and can select gears without it shifting on you. use 4HI like the guy said below, the motor has more then enough grunt and twist to use it, un like my 4Runner that needs low range alot more ;) hope you get some answers and some things sorted cause I hate to think that you're not comfortable driving your family around safely. Again, lower your titre preassure... It'll do wonders for any rig on ANY tires.

[njjeepthing]

I agree with some of the above posts, drop your air pressure. Having owned many Cherokee's in the past as our dedicated ski mobile, I never had a problem in the snow with At's. Don't be afraid to use 4 hi, that's what it's there for.

Last winter I ran Duratrac's on my JK, and with 20"+ of snow, they cut right through it. I now run Duratrac's on my XJ, can't wait till it snow's to see how they do. I run 28 psi in mine pretty much all the time.

Is there any possibility of there being a full time locker in your diff's? That would make driving in the snow a bit harder.