Help W/ Tires Eighter Chains Or Tires?

jerr529 · December 28, 2010

I need help with determining what to do with needs for tires in snow.I hvae a 2008 chevy Silverado,5.3 V8 automatic.I live in northeast , haveing problems with driving in snow cause of the light weight of the truck.I have placed alot weight in the bed to try and give it better traction.What i need is from anyone, who has any input on what might be best ,stud tires are out.Chains can be limited.So its Tires or some kind of belt chain.Steel chains cant use. So anyone have any ideas please help.

jerry

impalabelt · December 28, 2010

I need help with determining what to do with needs for tires in snow.I hvae a 2008 chevy Silverado,5.3 V8 automatic.I live in northeast , haveing problems with driving in snow cause of the light weight of the truck.I have placed alot weight in the bed to try and give it better traction.What i need is from anyone, who has any input on what might be best ,stud tires are out.Chains can be limited.So its Tires or some kind of belt chain.Steel chains cant use. So anyone have any ideas please help.
jerry

Well, personally, here in Alaska I run a set of BF Goodrich A/T's ("BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO") as my only tire (I absolutely *love* them). They do perform amazingly well in snowy/icy conditions, and maybe add a "little" roughness to the ride in the summer, but hardly noticeable. A "better" (in some opinions) tire is the Nokian Hakkapelitta, everybody that buys a set *loves* them. Problem is, you can only get 'em at Johnson's Tire Service here in Alaska. Honestly, just a really good all-terrain *aggressive* treaded tire should work great for you. You shouldn't really need studs unless you like to scream to a halt in the winter, usually only the little cars and crossovers have 'em to help them get going from dead-stops and stopping as they're so light. I haven't found a need to place any additional weight in my bed, the traction seems pretty solid to me. I believe another poster already mentioned how "sure-footed" these things are in the snow, and I have to agree. You'd probably have to work pretty hard even in 2wd to "spin-out" in the snow/ice, though I haven't "pushed" the limits personally. I don't even own a pair of chains, and I don't think many locals here do either, and I've been here 30 years.

This is just my .02!

Cheers and good luck!

-2008 Silverado LT.

Edit: It just suddenly occurred to me that you may have the 2WD drive-train, I didn't see it mentioned in your post, so I assumed 4WD. If so, again, a nice set of aggressive all-terrains should still work fine (since, as you stated, no chains and no studs). That G80 diff with the stabili-trak still works wonders on icy roads. I usually roll around in 2WD in all but the snowiest/iciest conditions and haven't had many issues at all. The only time I've encountered problems in 2WD in the winter is attempting to start from a dead-stop on a hill, and even then, the truck did move, just much slower than most people probably cared for. ha ha! But by then it had made the switch to 4HI and I was off. Anyway, again, just my own opinions from experience. I'm sure there are others on here with much more experience or knowledge that can offer a more complete or better answer!

Cheers and good luck just the same! Hope you find what you are looking for!

jerr529 · December 29, 2010

Thanks i do have 2WD on mine and was wondering ALL, can i use those BF tires or you recomending another tire all train??

jerry

ryan_hermanutz · December 29, 2010

Look for a tire that has a snow flake on the side. The owner’s manual says you should not use chains, but I use them and never had a problem. I’ve used quick fit diamond chains on everything I've ever owned and they work great and are easy to put on and take off even if you’re stuck already..

oldschool327 · December 29, 2010

Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac has the snowflake and is ready to accept studs if you ever want to use them. Great AT/Snow tire, buddy at work has them on his 1970 C-10 4x4 and drives through the Sierra mountains with no problems each day to work.

impalabelt · December 29, 2010

Thanks i do have 2WD on mine and was wondering ALL, can i use those BF tires or you recomending another tire all train??
jerry

You can use the BF Goodrich tires I mentioned, yes, I'm not recommending one over the other, just giving you choices. If you want a tire that can run year-round, the BF's are a good choice, as are some of the others mentioned since my last post. If you want a strictly winter tire with or without studs, the Hakkapelitta's are also nice, though I suppose without studs they could probably double as year-round tires.

As I said earlier, really, all you're after are a good set of aggressive all-terrain tires or strictly winter tires if you don't mind change-overs, of which there are *many*. The two I've mentioned just happen to be the ones I've had the best experience with in snow/ice conditions, personally.

Cheers!

jerr529 · December 31, 2010

Thanks to all you guys for the input and suggestions, i really appreciate all of them. In my area we get about 3 good snow storms. Maybe averageing from 6 to 12 inches and a rare storm like this past weekend .After consideration of where most our hwys are cleaered pretty quickly and only some side roads are problems .I decided on the Michilen LTX M/S2 which was given a very high rateing, its a all season tire which i felt was more feasable to my situation .Thanks again for all your help as usual.

jerry