Wow dude...you've got a serious talent for asking questions that are guaranteed to stir the pot on this board! It's all good though. I think that we can offer our opinions without slinging TOO much mud at others who happen to disagree with us. Well, some of us can.
The pot has to be stirred to cook something good. I think it's OK to stir the pot when the goal is to accomplish something useful, or learn something.
I live near Mt St Helens. I don't ask US Citizens for winter driving advice because I think I know more about winter driving than most of them. I only ask Canadians for tire advice. So please don't anyone get to fumed at me when I stir the pot here. I only do it with the best intentions of wanting to learn from you because I respect you.
I'll give you an example, the Eastern USA is currently having snow storms, and in some of the Southeast states they've declared a state of emergency due to 4 to 6 inches of snow. That's embarrassing. In the Northeastern USA there haven't been any "state of emergency" declarations, but they are still very nervous about a little snow. Either that, or the USA news media has nothing better to report on. Has world peace broken out, and now a few inches of snow is worthy of hours of coverage each day? Sometimes I find my fellow US Citizens to be a bit embarrassing in their pitiful hand wringing over a little snow or ice. It's pathetic.
The USA Northeast and Midwest do get a lot of winter weather, but they don't have mountains like I have in Washington State. My Buick car can drive fine in up to 6 inches of snow when road not overly steep. How can I ask for winter driving and tire advice from my fellow Americans when most of them know far less about it than I do?
I come to Canadian forums for opinions and advice about tires that are good for winter driving, good on road, and good off road, and good on steep grades too. I think only Canadians are qualified to give advice for that combination of things.
I'm sure Alaskans know about snow and ice, but their snow and ice are (IMO) far colder and drier than what I get - because it's far colder in Alaska than in Western Washington State.
I get a wide range of winter conditions due to a wide range elevations and various temperatures at each elevation. Regardless of temperature it's almost always wet here. I have mud at low elevations; sleet, wet snow, or wet ice at medium elevations; and drier colder snow and ice at higher elevations. So I need a tire that can handle winter on and off road, and also handle mud, all in one tire, and be good on highway too - because I can encounter each of those conditions each day, and most roads are steep to very steep and curvy (often with a cliff on one side of road). Lateral traction is my first priority. Forward traction my next priority.
If I were to pick one tire to run year-round both on and off road, I would get a set of Toyo Open Country MT's and sipe them. I've run mine on my DD in the summer and fall months, and Spinalguy is right with regard to offroad with them - they just plain work. They offer good traction in every type of terrain I've tried them on, and substantially better lateral stability than my "winter" Goodyear Duratracs.
Lateral stability is something I need. IME narrower tires have more lateral traction on snow.
If you want to look at a less off-road oriented tire and something that's close to an AT, the Duratracs might be a good choice. They will offer about 80% of the performance of a first rate MT offroad, and do VERY well with ice and snow on the road. I've got mine studded, and they perform VERY well on snowy and icy roads. Not as well as a true dedicated "winter" tire like the tires on my girlfriend's Audi, but I have yet to find someone that offers a 35 inch dedicated winter tire.
I'm very satisfied with my BFG AT 33 X 10.5 R15 on snow, ice, sand, and on highway. However, they are so pitiful on mud that I can't tolerate it. Since it's very wet here, we have lots of mud when it's warm, and snow/ice when it's cold. Since my BFG AT don't work on mud, I need to look elsewhere.
Spinalguy may have a point with the Nittos - I believe that they are also made by Toyo. I'd be interested to try them after I wear out my Toyos. Maybe. 
It's good to hear that you like the Toyo MT. I might get those in 33 X 10.9 R15 and add more sipes to center treads. Though I still want to see if I can get a Trxus MT in that size.
I like the Duratrac, but there is no 35R15 size. I'd really like to run a narrowish to medium width 34 or 35. Like 10.8 to 11.2 ideally, or something near that. The Toyo MT 33 X 10.5 R15 is about that since it (allegedly) runs tall and 10.9 wide.
Topic: What tires do you guys recommend? (Read 3228 times)