Skinny vs. wide tires WINTER DRIVING
 

Whats your opinion? Seems to me on here once in a while the comparison of RWD vs. FWD snow driving cars comes up once in a while. Heres a different topis I often think about. Obv wider tires are better on dry pavement, more surface area = more wheel contact = more grip to the street = less spin. But for winter driving like in slush and packed snow (as most roads are as of right now) my belief is that skinnier tires are better since they dig and cut through better. I think you get a much better bite where wider tires are more prone to spin, even with the wider surface area and more contact I think it makes it spin easier. I have fairly skinny tires on the brown truck and on my saturn and can feel the dig. But I'm my moms expo with wide fat tires and my gf's wide saturn tires I think they spin a little easier but still grab pretty good.... What are your opinions?:partytime:

Well, I've got 285/75/16's in the new truck and it doesn't seem to go as good in the snow as the jeeps 33x12.5x15's. But, I think that tread pattern plays more of a role than width based on those two.
Conventional wisdom says skinny is better. I've always stayed wider though cause I hate the skinny look lol

I hate skinny look too >.<

Skinny tires are better in snow and slush, as any tire dealer will tell you.

See heres the debate on that one for me. Slushy wet snow driving skinnier the better to have less contact area and cut THREW the snow. Now the other side of that is heavy packed snow. skinnier tires will hold Less snow. after all the best traction on TOP of snow is NOT a beefy tread pattern/ Rubber on Snow. But a tread pattern that HOLDS the snow. as Snow on Top of snow will get you moving better.

thats my 2 cents have fun tearing me apart...... Douches!

Thats a good point!!! I like this thread.

Yep....

skinny tires are better in snow, think of a piece of plywood and a 2x4, what is going to slide to the slide easier if you push it in snow? which will track better? same principle with skinnies and wide tires. because the surface area of the skinnies are small and the footprint of the tire isn't as wide, more force is exerted per square inch and the tire is allowed to stick cut through the slush and each square inch of the tire is actually planted more firmly

Def the skinnier tires, like stated above you are going to get more weight on a smaller area which will let you cut deeper into the snow. While snow to snow contact is what you are looking for you don't want to be on top of the snow, think hydroplaning in a deep puddle. same basic principle. Wider the contact patch the lower the psi and the more likely you are to slide. Most summer/all season tires will not pick up snow properly as compared to snow tires, it tends to cake on unevenly. Pound for pound you can't beat dedicated snow tires. With proper snows you really cut down on the difference for the sizes as the tires do all the work.

blizzaks FTW! Pirelli also makes some nice snow tires

Blizzak and the Michelin Pilot Alpin snows are my fav's

skinny.

i had my 315s on when it was a dusting...was all over the place no traction, put my 225s dunlop snow tires on and was driving around in the blizzard we just had pretty much no problem besides my friends snowbank in his driveway....lawlz

I really like my MTRs. All around amazing tire, off roading and winter driving. Plus the perks of throwing chunks of snow behind ya lol. This is my 2nd set and they never let me down. Skinny snow tires on a truck look funny IMO Id say in a car skinny tires...but tread pattern matters the most i think.

general tire makes a half decent blizzak imitation

Skinny is definitely where its at. But if you can't afford them, or don't want to bother with a second set of tires (like I do), a high performance all season works pretty well as an alternative. The Bridgestones I have now are pretty awesome, and for being the stock 16" wheels, I can go mostly anywhere with 90% confidence; including driving in the recent blizzard. (I HAD to try them out!!) I can't say the results were good when the whole 11 inches was on the ground the next morning, but up to 4-5, they were impressive, even in unplowed conditions.