On our way to Montana driving through Yellowstone... Not a place you'd wanna experience an EAS ghost... There were sections of Utah much worse, but not as remote. We carried chains too.

 

Bite your tongue! The 335 was rear wheel drive with a manual transmission, just as God intended a proper sports sedan to be!

Now the A4 before it was AWD. Because Audi. But the one snow attempt I made in it only lasted about a car length. Seems AWD doesn't help much when the snow is soft and over a foot deep when you're driving a sedan with a few inches of ground clearance.

 

Nice! Reminds me a bit of a couple years ago spending Christmas in the Canadian Rockies near Banf.

 

Tongue bitten! My Infiniti Q50S is RWD and FUN AS HELL...but I'd never consider taking it out in the snow.

Agree on not wanting an EAS ghost while remote. When I did the trip back from the Yukon Territory, I was on stock sized Nokians. No way was I coming back on the 32" MT/Rs.

 

How do you like the MT/Rs? I strongly considered them instead of the Coopers. In the end I heard too many mixed results with stories of less than great sidewall strength and near impossible to balance as they wear.

They are very popular with the JK crowd though.

 

Don, are you talking old school MT/R or the new ones with Kevlar?

I have the older ones (I bought them in 2009) and they have been fantastic. Tough as hell, wear well, terrific traction in anything I can throw at them. Great for NW terrain. They aren't great on wet pavement or hard-packed snow (on pavement) but just about everything else.

 

I was talking about the Kevlar. There seems to be a real love/hate attitude toward them but few in the middle. Of course if you look long enough you'll find somebody complaining about everything, and tires are a particularly sticky issue to get into.

 

I've actually heard similar things. Someone who said that the one circumferential band of "street tread" hurt their performance. I think he'd actually switched from the Kevlars to the Discoverers. I was asking him about the Coops and he elaborated.

They look cool...the Kevlars...but haven't met expectations. Another issue is that in our size (275/65R18) they only come in Load Rating of "C." Hence the sidewall issues.

I really like the Kumho Road Venture MT 71 tires (I think I got that right) but they don't sell them in the US in our size.

This is one reason I sort of "nurse" my old school MT/Rs. They are badass tires and I know I can't get them...so I avoid driving them on pavement unless I have to (I have the Nokians too for Nov - March, and I just don't drive the Rover much these days). I know I'll run out of time before I run out of rubber, but I am neurotic about it anyway.

 

...just stumbled on these:

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company - Discoverer STT PRO?

...and I've also eyed these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fier...e1DvQQ_AUIBygC

 

The 33s I just installed are STT Pros. In general Cooper's dirty tires have a very solid reputation and the guys over at ExPo put a set on their GWagon and like them.

The Fierce looks a lot like a slightly more aggressive Duratrac. Given that it's made by GY, that's entirely possible. I've heard that they use the same carcass as the DT, though I have no actual proof of that. It seems to have good siping like the DT, so should be good in the wet/snow. They are certainly a bargain.