whats the advantage of wide tyres ??

[andycook]

Found the 255mm ~10.5" tyres to be a hindrance on 4runner in soft snow on road this morning, they are too wide and struggle for grip - even with mud tyres with 1cm tread left.
Our Subaru forester with 205mm wide snow tyres is coping so much better
took several attempts to get 4 runner reversed into drive last night, with wheels spinning - did it in a oner in the forester!

the 4runner all over the place !
I am sure narrow tyres would gut through the snow better
would have thought this would be the same in mud ?

yes the wide tyres look nice and chunky, but I dont think they are good for snow!

[Gamedawn]

You're right. If you look at snow tyres on a rally car they are very narrow, with the theory being that they cut through the snow to find a surface they can grip on. The problem with mud is that there might not be a surface to grip on and the theory here is slightly different - wide tyres float on top of the mud and big lugs allow the tread to self clean (if you've got enough power). Like the big rally teams you should ideally have a different set of tyres for each set of conditions, but that depends on have a multi-million pound budget

[andycook]

i think thats why older landies - or new ones - with narrow tyres do well in snow
i find these fat tyres cause too much resistance when trying to drive through 1-2ft drifts - and cant cut the snow that well - either forwards or downwards!

[TonyN]

Don't forget your scooby is lighter than the Surf, weight counts for a lot on icy surfaces.

Narrow tyres cut down to find grip as roger said, as long as there is grip there, verses bigger tread contact area advantage for wider tyres. your Surf still weighs 2 tons, if you on a icy hard road, I'd rather have 255mm width of tyre, instead of 205.

Also the tread is important, bet the scooby tyres have more siping (cuts made into the tread blocks than a A/T. Rain and Ice tyres have more 'contact edges' than your average A/T or M/T due to the siping in each tread block.

Like most things it'll come down to personal opinion, an in that case narrow tyres look pants

[NFC]

Snow is not mud.
Mud is not water.
Water is not dry tarmac.

You will not find a tyre that excels in all conditions.

Snow needs narrow tyres with smallish tread blocks. Mud needs open treads meaning the tyre has to be wider to put enough rubber on the road to handle dry tarmac. Water is best moved by angled grooves, but the more grooves you have, the wider the tyre must be to put enough rubber on the road etc..

Work out what your priorities are then choose accordingly.

[andycook]

yeah - the snow tyres are full of zig-zaggy sipes

and yes the 4runner would look silly in narrow tyres as i have wheel arch extensions
i often see a ford explorer in aberdeen - which looks like it has skirts! as narrow wheels/tyres and massive wheel arch extensions - it looks daft!

its only in the thawing snow thats its been a problem - just making some obervations!

[RSA Surfer]

HI Andy

My BFG A/T are 10.5'(266mm) and on Sunday they did not do to bad. Had the wife and kids with me. I think you'll find that like the guys in Iceland where they can't cut through the snow for grip they use a wide tractor type tyre to go over the top. Evectively decreesing the foot print weight of the vehicle.

[Snoop]

HI Andy

My BFG A/T are 10.5'(266mm) and on Sunday they did not do to bad. Had the wife and kids with me. I think you'll find that like the guys in Iceland where they can't cut through the snow for grip they use a wide tractor type tyre to go over the top. Evectively decreesing the foot print weight of the vehicle.

the guys in Iceland also run very low pressures in their tyres to again increase the footprint.

I am in Stockholm at the moment in the worst snow for this time of year in over 10 years - it is around 2 - 3ft high on some of the objects and in massive piles by every road where the ploughs push it to. They all use studded tyres here, which seems to give a much higher level of grip then I was expecting, certainly their stopping distances are a hell of a lot shorter then I would have thought possible.

My theory that slip on shoes would act in the same manner as floating with a wider tread pattern is on it's arse, as I have been very close to a few times already!!! Who didn't come prepared then....?!

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

the guys in Iceland also run very low pressures in their tyres to again increase the footprint.

I am in Stockholm at the moment in the worst snow for this time of year in over 10 years - it is around 2 - 3ft high on some of the objects and in massive piles by every road where the ploughs push it to. They all use studded tyres here, which seems to give a much higher level of grip then I was expecting, certainly their stopping distances are a hell of a lot shorter then I would have thought possible.

My theory that slip on shoes would act in the same manner as floating with a wider tread pattern is on it's arse, as I have been very close to a few times already!!! Who didn't come prepared then....?!

Time to add padding to the rump then m8


Trev

[laser_jock99]

Found the 255mm ~10.5" tyres to be a hindrance on 4runner in soft snow on road this morning, they are too wide and struggle for grip - even with mud tyres with 1cm tread left.
Our Subaru forester with 205mm wide snow tyres is coping so much better
took several attempts to get 4 runner reversed into drive last night, with wheels spinning - did it in a oner in the forester!

the 4runner all over the place !
I am sure narrow tyres would gut through the snow better
would have thought this would be the same in mud ?

yes the wide tyres look nice and chunky, but I dont think they are good for snow!

SNOW STUDS!