I am wanting to get some new 33" tires for my CJ7 and have a chance at a really great deal on some 33x12.5 BFG MT KMs. I live in Colorado and the CJ is my DD as well. I have been told that I will hate the MTs on the snow and ice and that I would be better off with ATs or similar if I am not truely 'muddin'. I do wheel occaisionally in Moab on the rocks but mostly on mountain trails here in Colorado.

What are your opinions regarding MTs on snow/ice. I know there are probably a ton of options but they will likely cost more.

I used 32" MT's for 3+ years in Indiana with no problem on snow. Nothing seems to work well on ice other than lots of siping. I switched to Mastercraft MT's this summer (made by Cooper tire, I think) and like them off-road and what little I've been in snow I felt like they were as good as the BFG's, and about $30 per tire cheaper. Just my $.02 worth.

If you're getting a really good deal then grab them up. You can always get them siped which is usually pretty cheap to do.

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I have been told that I will hate the MTs on the snow and ice and that I would be better off with ATs

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Well I love the BFG MT for mud snow and ROCKS. They work very well and as stated above I have yet seen any tire that works well on ICE, with out modification.
I might suggest that you keep the correct air psi for your Jeep weight when using as DD (mine was 28psi) and keep to a good rotation schedule as well. I got 44K out of mine last time.



Now folks this is NORTHERN Arizona. See there is a little snow fall here [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I have never heard the term siping. What is it all about. We use studded mud & snows here and they work great on the mountain for hunting . If things get too hairy we just chain all for and creep around the mt.

Siping is the cutting of fine cuts in the tread. Its different from grooving, where you actually remove tread. It creates more edges to grip, acts like a sqeegee, and softens the tire. Could cause flaking or chunking on the edges of a lug or maybe affect the tire warranty? Apparently they have machines to do it quickly and cheapy in the US on new tires. I've done my own siping with a steel ruler and a utility knife.

bfg Mt's are great tires in Mud, gravel, dirt, and asphalt, but they are horrible on ice!! Today we got about 2 inches of really fine snow, that was compacted into ice on the roads. My 32" bfg mts would not move me on flat ground in 1,2,or 3rd gear(the tires just spun), i had to put her in 4wd, but there were regualar rwd pickups w/ at's passing me. If ice performance is really an issue, i wouldn't get these. However, i have had the mts in some deeper snow and they did fine, just not well on ice. I would get them. I have been really impressed w/ my mts and they have taken me more places than i should probably go!

I have the exact tire on my Jeep, 32 Mastercraft Cousers, and it snows here all the time, and there is constantly ice on the streets, they do ok, then I took em in and got em studden, cause they have the holes already in em... now they grab the ice great, great tire. Chris

Have run BFG M/Ts and A/Ts for years in the snow in Upstate NY. Both work great. Seems to me the M/Ts work better in deep snow and the A/Ts might be a little better on the ice.

Nothing short of studs or chains works good on ice.

I'll take a foot of snow over a ¼" of ice ANY day.

Living in Alaska, I spend nearly half the year driving on snow and ice. Each has different requirements in a tire. As has already been stated, a tire with lots of siping does better on ice. Tires like Goodyear Ultra Grip ice or Nokian Hakapaleta (sp?)shine on the ice. In addition, I like to run studs. The downside is that most highly siped tires have very tight tread spacing and don't work as well in deep snow. A buddy runs BFG MTs up in Fairbanks on his Toyota, and refuses to drive it on ice. However, he runs BFG MTs (unstudded)on his DD Dakota and is relatively happy with them as a year round tire.

I rarely drive my Jeeps in the winter, but do occasionally. Last year I had my '5 out on some back country roads that were 3" of glazed ice (doing some grouse hunting). I'm running 33x9.50 Trail Mark MTs that have decent size lugs and a fair amount of siping. They did okay, but not stellar. When I sold the Bronco this last year, I kept the Studded Workhorses from it (on rims) to put on the '7 for winter driving next year.

For my DDs I have a seperate set of summer and winter tires. My winter tires on my pickup are Goodyear Work Horse Extra Grips, studded. They are a good balance between biting in the deep snow and having good ice traction.

Hope that helps!