Its not so much about getting through deep snow that will make you want winter tires, its more about dealing with starting, stopping and turning on packed snow and ice that will make you a believer in winter tires.

I used to spend a lot of time in Colorado. So much so that I invested in a set of winter tires for my car. While it wasn’t all wheel drive, I had no issues driving Colorado roads in the winter, so long as they had been plowed a bit. It was much more controllable than most of the 4wd SUV’s out in the snow, mainly because it could stop a lot better than any of them, unless they had studded tires.

And there is a difference between snow tires and winter tires. Most people think of snow tires as Grownd Hawg looking things that are meant to accept studs. Winter tires look like an all season tires but with more siping and rubber compounds that works better in sub-zero weather and they stick to ice better. BFG AT’s although they do well in snow are not a dedicated winter tire and will not perform as well as a winter tire. The trade off is that winter tires don’t do well at high temperatures and will wear quickly if left on during the summer. You can survive on a set of all season tires through the winter, but once you’ve had a set of winter tires, you will wonder why you have gone without.

Check out what’s available for light trucks here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/snows.jsp