Well the M/S tires on my off-road package are a joke just a highway tire really worthless on ice or deeper snow so the other traction options are worthless without good tires. Am thinking about running a winter set (trapping season) and a highway set in the summer wheels are cheaper then I thought they would be $115ea and the tires about $160-$175 each. This would allow switching the tires and wheels in sets and not remounting and balancing them 2X a year. Don't think I will sweat the low tire sensors on the winter tires been getting by without that stuff most of my life. LOL


Anybody run winter and summer tires/rims?

I have always done that.

I do. My winter tires are studded and on their own set of rims. My summer tires are heavy duty and on their own set of rims. Expensive yes! Worth it in the long run, yes! I change over to summer tires in the spring. I change over to winter tires in the fall.

I couldn't imagine not having two sets for my Tacoma's. Not too particular about tires in the summer, but in hunting season and all winter long I have to know my truck is going to get me where I need to go, with sometimes a couple feet of snow. Whether it is on road or off road. No tire is going to do everything well. We have found an extremely aggressive all terrain/almost mud tire does the majority of what we need. We tried Duratracs for a couple years, and they wore well, and handled the snow fine but after some miles we just couldn't keep them balanced, and they rode terrible. This year we switched to Cooper STT Pro's and have been very happy with them so far. They are excellent in deep snow and mud, but lacking when it comes to icy road conditions, which we were expecting.

I run two complete sets for my truck, rims included. I run the factory set during the summer and a set of BF Goodrich AT's during the winter months.

You can usually find great used rims at a junkyard. no I mean AUTO RECYCLER.

I just started about 15 months ago. The problem is that between turkey hunting, trapping and the winter, I put 24000 miles on my grippers and 3000 on my highway tires. I'm not sure it is worth it.

Just hate to go all grippers then if I have to travel in the summer and burn them up but the highway tires just turn the snow into ice is all and won't even let you turn just sit and spin!

Jerry, you can by used wheels dirt cheap, in most cities, at used tire stores. They will also cheaply mount the new tires on for you.

Keith

I run two different sets, one for summer (summer tread), one for winter (aggressive tread). I used to run the more aggressive tires year round. But, they wear out much faster in the summer. I do have them switched on the rims from a dealer seasonally. Plus, running the summer tires in the summer, I think I get better gas mileage.

I second your gas mileage statement. Mine started to plummet when I switched back right before the trapping season. I've always run super aggressive tires year round, I would have never guessed how much difference it makes. I'm glad I ran my grippers on my Southern turkey adventure after all the weather I went through but I sure wish I could have got that highway tire MPG.

You will add another year when you don't have to switch rims every year...... they pay for themselves after 2 years those extra rims.

And don't forget a decent set of chains!

Same here. Between trips to camp where all the township roads are dirt and sometimes mud, hunting, trapping and muddy construction sites, I run M/S on all my trucks year round.

Been doing that for many years on my trucks.

Try and have your winter tire bead balanced.

We run two sets on our cars but I keep aggressive tires on my truck year round. I can find snow about 10 months of the year and mud the other two. My truck never goes far on pavement so I don't worry about wear or mileage.

I used to do that back in germany on my Merc. Not on the others though. The Land Rover had mud shoes on year round and the golf got a new set of rain tires every fall.