Winter capable non-winter tire recommendations

Got a 2018 144" 4x4 back in the summer, and now that it's snowing I'm starting to take some ski weekends in the mountains (Tahoe and Mammoth.) I'm thinking of ditching the factory tires for some more capable all-terrains. As the van is my daily driver and because that in order to get to the mountains I'm spending 4-7 hours driving at highway speeds (Santa Cruz to Tahoe and Mammoth) I don't want to go all the way to full winter tires.

I was really happy with the winter performance of a set of Toyo Open Country A/T II's on my previous car (Honda Element), and they would probably be my first pick if I was to buy them today. What all-terrain tires have you guys had good experiences with? Should I try to go up to a little larger size (I think I've seen people on here moving up to 255/86R16 without issue)?

Any help and recommendations are appreciated.

just fyi.... all sorts of current threads with info and pics about AT and Winter tires on the site...

And remember that skinnier tires do better in snow - they punch down more, wider tires have less PSI ground contact - like snowshoes vs shoes.


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We live in the mountains in a ski town and chose BFGATKO2 in 265/75r16 for our 170” 4x4.
We do lots of road trips of 1,000 each way to visit relatives and I didn’t want to fry a dedicated winter tire, nor have to swap to leave town....so a snow tire would be less than ideal.
The BFG have been decent to pretty good in winter on everything I’ve had them on, so thats where I went....I like them on the highway....they’re fine off-road in Colorado and Utah.
They are certainly better than the stock vanco tires in all aspects.
I’d also try these https://www.nokiantires.com/all-season-tires/nokian-rotiiva-at-plus/ not as aggressive as the BFG but possible better in snow because more siping and Nokian is known for winter tires.
The Toyo at is probably decent all around as well.

Weight over the rear axle is your friend in winter.

The BFG KO2 is decent. Some sizes do not have the snowflake, as they use a harder rubber compound. They are still very different than a dedicated snow/winter tire. Honestly there are some winter tires that are great year round. Such as several of the Nokians. The only real downside is that they will wear faster than a hard rubber summer tire.

thejingles, I am in the same boat as u. lots of winter driving in Northern VT ski towns (and elsewsher in the north east) but most winter driving can be on highways at high speeds for long durations. there are many, many, threads and opinions on this subject. I have concluded the following, for my own needs and experience driving in winter thus far:

-most important is the driver. of course. every decision when driving a Sprinter, for me, regardless of the weather, is a conservative one.

-a dedicated snow tire with the softer rubber was the first option to cross off the list. under normal driving conditions this type of tire is unnacceptable on several levels (for a Sprinter), again, at least for my own needs.

-“off road tires” under highway driving and other regluar/asphalt conditions will sacrifice how the van rides. not as smooth, not as quiet, shaves MPGs, and many of them do not excel in the snow anyhow (BFG all terrain could be an exception, people seem to like them under most/all driving conditions, if even they are not the first choice for one specific need- other than being a single tire for all uses).

-“commercial traction” tires start getting my attention for winter, because they are *not the snow specific soft rubber, but DO have the option for winter studs. if u can/want to use studs/2 sets of wheels seasonally, these are something to look at. Copper has the S/T Maxx which look super cool, but are basically an agressive off road tire with studs. so again, on long highway trips not ideal, unless extreme weather is truly an issue. BFG has the Commecial T/A Traction w/studs, but ive heard that rubber/ride is quite a bit softer than other tires (with the tread pattern and flexibility of those tires u should never get stuck anywhere- but again- more pertinent in off road or construction sites/mud etc than on the highway). So BFG definitely has some options just seems hard for me to sacrifice certain things on the road and pay top dollar for them when they are really not designed primarily for pavement at high speeds for long durations. Keep in mind of course u have a full size Sprinter. not exactly the vehicle to experiment with tires when pushing it to it’s limit. it will drive and ride differently with each different tire. I have had studs in the past but right now that is not is not option for me, for several reasons.

-Ultimately I concluded just sticking with the factory Vanco Continentals was my best bet. they are rated M+S and ive been happy with their performance in all conditions, including snow. from the beginning i was sticking with the factory size tire (monster tires are not for the snow, or the highway...), and the Vancos were basically brand new at the beginning of winter so figured to see how they do. we’ve had all kinds of early snow and wintry conditions. the tires perform fantastic. Also highway tire chains are available for them (a nice alternative to studs as they are not permanent). I considered buying a set but probably will not bother. just a fresh set of those same tires i have now every winter should be fine.

I would *not* use the factory Khumo “road venture” tires in winter, if your van happened to come with those, instead of the Continentals- I would make a change for sure.

hope this is of some help!

If you want a tire that has better winter performance than the CoolAid choice (BFG K02), and is also quieter, balances better, and lasts longer try the following
1)Falken Wildpeak AT3W
2)Hankook Dynapro ATM

If you dont want an AT style tire go with the Michelin Defender LTX M/S. I run these on all of my wife's suv's which we use when not taking the van for winter travel. THey last forever, have great snow traction and are quiet. Not cheap though.

Ive also read some good things about the newest Cooper Discoverer AT3 4s though have never personally run those.

OffroadHamster said:

If you want a tire that has better winter performance than the CoolAid choice (BFG K02), and is also quieter, balances better, and lasts longer try the following
1)Falken Wildpeak AT3W
2)Hankook Dynapro ATM

If you dont want an AT style tire go with the Michelin Defender LTX M/S. I run these on all of my wife's suv's which we use when not taking the van for winter travel. THey last forever, have great snow traction and are quiet. Not cheap though.

Ive also read some good things about the newest Cooper Discoverer AT3 4s though have never personally run those.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the options (and to everyone else for their two cents.) The Falkens and Hankooks were on my radar because they're not as wildly expensive as some other ATs, and I actually put the Coopers on my Element earlier this year before I sold it. Never had them in the snow, but they seemed comparable to my old Toyos for daily driving.

OffroadHamster said:

If you want a tire that has better winter performance than the CoolAid choice (BFG K02), and is also quieter, balances better, and lasts longer try the following
1)Falken Wildpeak AT3W
2)Hankook Dynapro ATM

If you dont want an AT style tire go with the Michelin Defender LTX M/S. I run these on all of my wife's suv's which we use when not taking the van for winter travel. THey last forever, have great snow traction and are quiet. Not cheap though.

Ive also read some good things about the newest Cooper Discoverer AT3 4s though have never personally run those.

Click to expand...

I've been running these Falken AT3W's for about 15k miles and been really happy with them. Pretty aggressive and surprisingly quiet. Not much snow experience since we fire up the quattro on those days.

And only $693.40 out the door mounted and balanced.

May be not of any help, but, depending on what and where you are driving, there is two types of winter tires around here in Québec: 4-seasons tires that have the pretention of being winter tires (they bare the "snow mountain" logo that is mandatory here from December 15 to March 15) and the "real" winter tires. I have these 4-seasons+logo Kumho Road Venture SAT (KL61) on my nice aluminum wheels for summer and for winter driving to the sun through the north east mountains. I like them a lot: they are as quiet as the stock Vanco4 and threader is good. Ok in the snow. However, when temperature goes below -5C (20F), they freeze completely and becomes, IMO, useless on ice and compacted snow. These are just safety net if we get into a snowstorm on the road to the warm south...
The "real" winter tires do not freeze and remain soft and efficient at very low temp. The drawback is that they will "melt" and will not perform well at temp over 0C. They even becomes dangerous because the breaking distance is far longer that summer/4seasons tires.
I just ordered a new set General Grabber Arctic LT studded for our winter driving. Kumho are back on the van on March 15.

I just had Firestone Winterforce LTs put on the van for the winter. I live in New England and use my van as a daily driver/work van/play van and I wanted to be safe if/when we get a storm and I have to make a delivery during the storm. They can be studded if needed, though I do not think I will have them studded. So far they drive well in rain and on dry pavement. We have not had any snow to test them out yet but I can say that with a dusting we got a month ago I almost got stuck when backing out of my shops driveway with the stock Vanture tires. Once winter is over I will be looking to add a more off-road capable tire, BFGs or the Firestone Destinations?

Onefin said:

We live in the mountains in a ski town and chose BFGATKO2 in 265/75r16 for our 170” 4x4.
We do lots of road trips of 1,000 each way to visit relatives and I didn’t want to fry a dedicated winter tire, nor have to swap to leave town....so a snow tire would be less than ideal.
The BFG have been decent to pretty good in winter on everything I’ve had them on, so thats where I went....I like them on the highway....they’re fine off-road in Colorado and Utah.
They are certainly better than the stock vanco tires in all aspects.
I’d also try these https://www.nokiantires.com/all-season-tires/nokian-rotiiva-at-plus/ not as aggressive as the BFG but possible better in snow because more siping and Nokian is known for winter tires.
The Toyo at is probably decent all around as well.

Weight over the rear axle is your friend in winter.

Click to expand...

My van came to me with those Nokians already on it - They seem to be a pretty great tire so far, but I've only driven just a little bit in the snow with them as of yet.

I live in rural Canada, and have been driving Canadian winters for nearly sixty years. I no longer think that you can compare "all season" tires with the snowflake symbol to real winter tires.

Following a wake-up call on an icy bit of highway last winter, I subjected myself to a $1200 wallet flush in the form of four Michelin X-Ice tires. I've never experienced such extraordinary traction on snow and ice on any vehicle. There is simply no comparison. Simply amazing.

Comments that "they wear out too soon" are irrelevant. It's called "safety".

As usual, my opinion. Based this time however, on experience. YMMV.

I have Cooper ST Maxx (un-studded). We've been in a few snowy drives with good success here in the CO mountains. We recently we completed a ~1500mi round trip to go skiing in Montana in which we drove probably 600mi of icy and snow packed roads. Nasty and in the single digits.

Happy to report that the ST Maxx's did very well and only slipped a bit when on ICE. They tracked great moving down the snowy/icy hwy at speed. They seem really well suited for deeper snow.


That said, I am thinking of getting some studded winters next year just to make it as tank-like as possible. Nokian LT2's are top of my list.

But, again, the Maxx's did very well.

https://www.nokiantires.com/

Best tires, I've had them on 4 different vehicles. I've had BFG, Michelin, Goodyear, and coopers in the past, nothing comes close to performing as well as nokian.

I just ordered 6 Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT2 (Studded) LT215/85R16 tires to put on my 2016 3500 DRW. I've read about them in dozens of threads, and wanted to say thanks to all that have posted on them. They were a really good deal at $128.34 each. I tried to get a quote from my local Direct Tire, but they told me they called their Nokian rep, and there are none available in the country. (Not sure how that can be) Ordered mine at tires-easy.com. I called the 800 number to make sure they are still available. They are, and will ship today. I was looking for a thread to share this info, and this seemed the most recent/ relevant one.

Les Schwab "Mazama" tires. Co-developed with Sumitomo Rubber, snowflake stamp on sidewall. Quieter than Toyo A/T II. Love mine.

I have to agree with the comments that there is no comparison to a full winter tire. I run all seasons for the simplicity and I have a heavy van which keeps traction well. However, I used to have dedicated winters for my Subaru, and that car was neigh unstoppable. I could break it loose if I wanted to (to be fair I could easily break it loose on warm dry pavement as well) but driven with even a modicum of concern for safety it was exceptionally surefooted. Modern winter tires are incredible.