Ok fellas, I need some help. I have the oh-so-lovely 20 inch Wrangler HP's on the truck for now with probably 15K miles of life left at least. In Nov I'm taking a trip to my parents in MI (I'm in FL) so there's a good chance I'll see some snow. I'm not thrilled with the tires so I've been researching replacements for when it's time to change 'em. However, almost anywhere I've looked for reviews and opinions on the Goodyears the results have been pretty bad. I've seen anywhere from so-so to downright dangerous on snow and rain. So I'm trying to decide on if I should change tires or not before my trip. My hangup is that : 1. The tires still have a fair amount of life left and, 2. It's going to cost at least $1200 or so to replace them with the ones I want (BFG AT's). Has anybody had experience with the Wrangler HP's in snow? I really don't know how big of a gamble I want to take, especially with my pregnant wife in the truck with me. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. []

 

I had Wrangler HP's on a F150 once and they were the WORST tires I've ever had, I lived in the Fla panhandle at the time, actually L.A. (lower Alabama). I don't know about snow but they sucked on wet roads something bad. I had mine only one year before I got rid of them and replaced them with some SUMITOMO HTR's and I can be honest they were the best tires I've ever owned check them out at this link; http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....TR+Sport+H%2FP
at about 120 bucks each you can't beat em, and I put over 35K miles on them and still had about 1/2 the tread left when I sold the truck, and that was on roads when I was stationed overseas in Guam (who by the way has roads made of crushed coral, lava rock and asphalt ,some of the worst materials for wear & tear anywhere). I'd reccomend them to anyone, and I'll be replacing my tires with them as well.

 

Comes down to how you drive. I live in Mass and I drive through the snow just fine on my stock 20's. I leave for work before the plows come out to clear the roads for the drive to work and I don't always put it in four wheel drive. User error is a powerful thing.

 

yah, i never have been a big fan of the goodyear tires...every dodge i have had i've replaced em right away cuz i think they are one of the worst tires ever made. right now i have the Cooper Discoverer H/T Plus on my truck, they are a all season sport truck tire and they have been great in the snow and excellent in the rain for me, but also i'm drivin a 4x2 so ur opinion might differ, so just my $.02 cents worth

 

Personally, I don't roll on anything other than Nitto or Falken tires. Right now I have Nitto NT 404 tires on the truck. Even in the rain I could probably stop on a dime.

 

First off, goodyears suck for the most part, unless your talking about MT'R's or their high performance tires. The main reason DCX uses the tires they do is because of fuel economy. Goodyears get pretty good mileage because many of them are a harder compound, which explains their poor ride. I have the stock 17" SR-A's and I hate them. They are the stock factory tires, and as soon as they are worn enough, I'm buying Mickey Thompson MTZ's. Not everyone needs a MT or AT tire, but I'll never buy a middle of the road Goodyear tire for any of my vehicles. I also see that BFG AT's get worse mileage than BFG MT's. I'd recommend Pro Comp's AT's since they offf a milage warranty of like 40,000 miles. Another tire I think is a good all around tire is Mickey Thompson's ATZ. A guy here at work has a Long box, 4 door F-350 (non-dually), and he had bought some Goodyear Silent Armor tires. They had a 60,000 mile warranty, and he was able to wear them competely out in 20,000 miles. They looked like a nice tire on road, and had enough tread to be aggressive offroad, but they just didn't last. If you don't drive offroad, but would like something that looks like a "Truck tire" just do your homework and get something with a mileage warranty.

 

I have the GS-A that came with my truck still on. Sure I can spin them when its wet out, but they haven't let me down in the mud or the little amount of snow we got here in VA last year. Didn't even have to put it in 4x4 during snow. It really is the driver experience in the snow. I had a 89 all wheel tempo two years ago that I was able to takeout in 1' of snow and had no problems with generic tires from the local used tire place.

 

I got stuck last Christmas in mud that wasn't even deep enough to cover the sidewalls of the tires. It was embarassing, cause I had to get pulled out by a F150 that had stock tires that 'looked' just a little more aggressive than mine. My step dad works at the proving grounds in the performance department and deals with tires msot of the time. His dept. runs all the fuel economy tests and performance tests (top speed, 1/4mile, etc.). The first thing he said when I pulled in after picking my truck up from the dealer was "...got to get rid of those things..."

 

I have an 04 QC with the stock 20's. It seems to me that even with Limited Slip they still spin pretty good on wet pavement. They have done ok in small amounts of snow but they're just big spinning discs with no real traction. I had to get a flat repaired recently and they tried to sell me the Toyo Open Country 305's with 20 in rim. I only have 23000 on my stock so I will wear them down a little more as the Toyos are not cheap! They do look pretty tough though. I should consider since I am moving from MO to CO soon.

 

tested my stock tires in two feet of snow about two years ago and had no problems. The only thing is when you drive a beast like ours in the snow , it has to be in 4x4 mode and alwas at a reduced speed. I've seen plenty of snow in long island and it doesn't matter if you have good tires or not , If you don't take it easy on the "heavy foot" you will tend to skid every so often and the weight of the truck won't help once you start to skid. The 4x4 and torque from my hemi was plenty to plow threw any mound of snow as long as I did it with caution. Yes the wranglers suck and I do advice trying others , but don't just buy them to deal with the snow. you'll do ok with the stock ones , just take it easy.