So.. since this'll be my first winter with the X, i'm wondering how necessary snow tires are with a 4x4.

I live in Northeastern Ontario (Sudbury) so we have snow from December - April.

Should i be saving to buy snow tires, or will good all seasons plus 4x4 be all i need?

Depending on how much snow is on the ground, reg all season tires will do. If your talking over a foot then id invest in better tires.

What are the tires you have now?

What is your average snowfall on the ground?

How frequent are the storms normally?

It all depends on what all season tires you have on there. I live in the mountains and driving through a foot of snow is normal. We got around fine on the stock BF's. But our Xterra also has the rear LSD, which helps. This past winter the tires were down to about 20% tread. I never got stuck but it wasn't ideal. As long as you have a good amount of tread left and it's a decent tire, you should be fine.

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

Some other questions.

How much are you actually driving the Xterra? How far are your commutes? Is it highway or surface streets? Hills or flat? How comfortable are you with driving on ice? How much traffic?

I have winter tires for my Geo so I drive that more than the Xterra in the winter. I mostly only use the Xterra for short trips around town and stuff. The Geo would handle better on racing slicks than the Xterra would on snow tires, so... Well, maybe that's exaggerated, but the high center of gravity of a truck or SUV combined with the front end weight bias really work against you.

ANyway, even in 4WD I take it real easy in the Xterra and I'm running BFG A/T's. As someone else noted moving forward isn't a problem, it's stopping and turning and sometimes just staying on the road! Even in 4WD the rear wants to slide out pretty readily and the high center of gravity wants to send you into the ditch in corners. But it is perfectly safe if you know the limits and drive with care; ignoring all the other idiots around you that think you're moving too slow!

That said, if you do want to get winter tires you basically have two choices... studded or studless. Personally I prefer studless even though they do not have the same level of ice traction as a studded. I just drive slower! The studless are just a lot nicer if you aren't on ice all the time. In the studded tires it probably doesn't matter much what brand you get or anything, but my neighbor uses a Cooper snow tire of some sort with studs on his GMC pickup and they really work well. If you want to go studless, I highly recommend the Bridgestone Winter Dueler. They don't last long if you drive them on dry pavement, but they are probably the best studless snow tire you can buy for an SUV.

But, if you just need to go short distances and aren't going to be driving a lot on ice, get some BFG A/T's and drive carefully. Get extra siping in them and that will help a bit too. They do a good job for not being a dedicated snow tire.

Main thing is watch out for everyone else!

You know, I will chime on here since we're talking about the GFG AT KOs here. The thing is, the first winter I drove on them (this is coming to be my third) I felt a huge difference. I used to have stock Grabbers before that. I have driven my dad's Nissan Maxima that compared to tge BFG ATs his tires didn't handle for shit, although I don't remember which tires they were.

To sum it all up, based on what I have driven previously, the BFG ATs are the best tire I have driven on snow and ice, granted that I have NOT tried a dedicated snow tired yet.

I have the BFG AT KO and they are good in the snow. They are also rated "snow tires" according to Transport Canada as indicated by this symbol on the tire:

I was thinking of getting new tires this year too so I have decided on BFG ATKO's or a little more of an aggressive tire Interco SSR's I here they are good in snow to.Its good to know that they are snow rated.

Generally...the more agressive tires do better in deeper and softer snow, and the ones with more sipes and so forth do better on ice and hard packed snow.

Its mostly because the big knobby tread blocks can act like cleats for traction when they can sink into the surface a bit to bite...but on a harder surface, the big tread blocks can't sink in, and get no grip.

Something like a Blizzak on the other hand...with a gazzillion microscopic grip points, interacts with the surface more thoroughly, and can grip even ice.

Of course, in deep soft snow, those microscopic traction points are merely pushing snow flakes, and if you ever tried to pull your self by a snow flake, you know its tough going.

That's why no one tire does it all.

That's one reason I like the BFG AT ko too. Lots of sipes, lots of knobby tread elements.

Its not as good on ice as something like a Blizzack, or as good in deep snow as an MT, but is better on ice than the MT, and its better in the deep snow than the Blizzack. For me, that's a good compromise.

On the street, I've NEVER had a problem, I can romp through what ever blizzard we've had, and drive in circles around stuck SUV's, etc...the AT ko's have been awsome in snow.

Off road, I pretty much noticed the worst problems trying to go up hill on glazed hard packed snow...essentially an icy hill climb...and I noticed the Interco TrUXus (sic?) MT's, which are also well siped, did better going up it than the AT ko's.

So - choose your weapon.

oy.. thanks all =)

To answer most questions, we tend to get a lot of snow up here.. around 6-10 whomping storms a year.. although the past few years have been less.. it often gets too cold to snow.. yeah.. sucks to be me.

I'm not sure how much exactly, but by February the snowbanks are taller than i am. At least after the plow's been by a few times.

I currently have Nokian all-seasons.. brand new as of April.. and they seem to be a decent tire.

I was thinking of new tires + rims, but i guess if i went the BFG route, i could use them year round and sell the Nokian.. tough one there. Maybe i'll see how these perform in the snow and go from there. I had snow tires for my previous car and it became real obvious real fast that they were a must up here. I just wasn't sure that was necessarily true for the X with the real 4x4.

thanks for your input.

I definatly agree the BFG KO's are worth it! I almost cheaped out and bought the BFG Rugged...so glad I didn't, Lake Erie really know's how to dump snow...have never had a better "all-terrain" tire as them go in the snow!!!

I live right smack in the middle of Canada. A Canadian prarie winter can be very severe.

No, you do not absolutely "need" winter tires.
But for that matter you don't need a 4x4 either.

I am with Old Army on this subject. Sure 4x4 gives you twice as much traction, BUT twice of nothing is still nothing.

My FWD Accord on winter tires will run circles around my Xterra with all seasons (longtrails).

Now I am not talking about 30 cm of snow. Naturally 4x4 , and a higher ground clearence will out perform the Accord.

I am talking about icey conditions, driving up my drive way which is on an incline.
Honda wins easy.

All the 4x4, AWD, traction control, LSD, mean absolutely nothing if the 4 contact points on the road have no traction.

For the winter I put on a set of Michelin Latitude x-ice tires.

There is a huge increase in traction.

People that say (not knocking anyone) you do not "need" winter tires, and tell you your all seasons will do, simply have never driven on winter tires. I was one of those people.

Once you drive on winter tires you will never drive without them.

It amazes me when I see people shelling out lots of cash on leather, abs, ebd, traction control, navigation, dvd, boom boom hear it for blocks stereos, but cheap out on winter tires.

Since you are only driving on each set of tires for 6 months, they last almost twice as long.

Our winter was unusually warm last year, and a lot of days were hovering around 0 degrees.

One day we had some freezing rain. I came up to a 4 way stop. Thank god I had my winter rubber on. I was able to stop, while mr. minivan on all seasons slid right through. We would have hit had I been on all seasons.

As far as I am concerned avoiding just one accident more than pays for the tires.

As for studded vs non studded, you would be surprised at how well non studded tires perform.

Stick with non studded, and just use tire cables if there is some freezing rain.

You are so right!



That's the nice thing about the AT ko...its essentially a snow tire that you can leave on, and get 50-75K out of....so no swapping is necessary.

All Terrain kicks All Season's ASS every time.

0 Degrees!! That's unusually warm?
That's making me reach for a sweat shirt just thinking about it. And I was born in Minnesota!

0 degrees celsius my friend, which works out to 32 fahrenheit.

We can easily hit -20, -35 celsius sometimes.

For those not fammiliar with mertic....that is really %$@#%$#$ cold!!

I ride my motorcycle until it drops into the teens (in deg. F) for highs... That's -7 degrees celsius and lower... And I only stop riding because I can't get it to start consistantly in the single digits in the mornings...

And I live in freaking Kentucky! Geez... I thought Canadians could handle the cold better???

You must look like an eskimo on you bike when it's that cold out.

I thought that was you in this picture

All-season tires are fine for hardpack. Mud terrains are best for deep powder (1'+)