So I live in Alberta, and just bought my new truck. (rolled my last 2008 slt) Its got 50 k on it and its still got the original tires on it. They are getting pretty bald haha...

anyways with me living in alberta, we have some pretty harsh blizzards out here and get some icy roads. My question is should I go with an All terrain, or an all winter?
I do want maximum traction, but I do want to be able to trek through a good amount of snow in 4x4. Well 4x4 in general for field driving and whatnot. I would think that winters will give me that maximum traction. But how would an all terrain compare? Would the all terrains wear a lot on dry pavement?

I also look at it this way that if i get winter. I will have to buy another set of either all seasons or tourings for the summer. Im a little new with tires for trucks, as i owned a vw before. Looking for tips. I also have 274X60X20s. So they are going to be pretty expensive haha

 

Get terra graps and learn how to drive on them. Winter tires are just a bandaid for bad driving IMO.

 

winter tires are just a really soft tire that expands and sticks to the ice. Downside is VERY fast tread wear and they aren't cheap.

 

It's hard to beat a dedicated winter tread tire for traction in hard packed snow and ice (well nothing is really great on ice) but, as stated they wear pretty fast on dry pavement.

If you opt for an all-terrain tire, choose a heavily siped tire. Sipes are slits, cut at 90° angles across the tread, providing thousands of gripping edges for better traction and stopping power. Wear-robbing heat is also dissipated more efficiently with a siped tire.

Repeated tests proved that siping increased starting, stopping and driving traction by as much as 200% over a similar tread without siping.

Good choices for such a tire would be the Nitto Terra Grappler, Toyo Open Country A/T and Mickey Thompson ATZ among others.

Notice the many slits cut into each individual tread block on these Mickey Thompson ATZs and Nitto Terra Grapplers:

 

or pickup a second set of rims and keep a set of winter tires or some studded m/t's on them. and run whatever you want during the summer months

 

Thanks guys...Ya I have been reading about and just wanted second opinions. Sounds like I might go with all terrain.

I would go with a second set of rims, but i just dont have the money for that right now, not to mention the second set of tires. Cause these will need to be replaced by the end of summer...

But all terrains are good in mucky field conditions and whatnot too i would think

 

i put snow tires on my truck for hte first time this year, last year i had allterrains,
world of difference, the allterrains would get stuck in my driveway unless i had 3-400 pounds in the bed, and even then it was tricky,
i have no weight in my bed right now, driven through some pretty rough snow and never have any problems even running through 8 inches of accumulation

 

I say all terrain or MT go aggressive lol

 

So I went with the Nitto Terra Grappler. KAL-Tire overstocked on them and sold them to me for 375 CAD. 400 Balanced and installed, taxes included. They are 275/60/20s and they are also the 10ply version.

I seem to like them alot, they are much better that the original stock tires with 2mm of tread left :P.

The only problem that I do face with them is they are louder, which i expected. The ride is not as smooth either, which i might of figured as well...Is there however, a way to make for a better ride? IE take air out, or add air? I think they are at 42 PSI right now, but the guy said they will take like 80 PSI? Is this true? Cause I thought they were supposed to be run at 32-34. Maybe just cause its a 10ply tire?

Anyways thanks for all the help, now i should be able to do a little bit of off-road driving at least. Not much without a lift, but i dont think that thats in the budget right now :P Have to put a stereo in first!


Just a side note, maybe a mod would be able to help me out, but i uploaded a signature and a profile pic, but i dont see them on here yet!?

 

They can run at 80 cause they are a load rang e tire. They are going to ride rough on the light truck. Tires sound like they are at where they should be.