For snow/ice conditions, is it better to have a narrow or a wide tire? A narrow tire should work it's way down to the road through the snow/ice quicker but a wider tire would have more surface to grip with. Looking for advice.

 

Most tire shops will tell you that narrow tires provide better traction in snow and ice conditions. Wider tires seem to float on the snow. BUt IMHO, wider is better. I think narrow tires look funny on a big truck. I have 265's for winter and don't really have a problem with traction. If I do, I just put it in 4WD.

 

What Jupiterak said. Most work pickups have 245/75's or 235/85's in a E load rateing. These trucks will due multiple heavy duty functions includeing snow plowing. But a 265/70R17 or 265/75R16 will look better, and in a good AT tire will perform well in the snow too.

 

While the wider tire may look better, I'll still throw my vote in for the narrower tire in the snow. I've driven trucks with the wider tires in the winter and I was never happy with the performance. Yes, even on plow rigs. I'm willing to sacrifice a little look if it means better winter performance.

peace...

 

narrower is definitely better for snow traction. just make sure that you maintain your overall tire circumference so your speedo and gearing don't change. e.g. on my car, the summer tires are 205/60/15 and the winter tires are 185/65/15. a higher aspect ratio is required with the smaller width to maintain the same circumference.

 

Narrower tires should give better traction on ice and snow. Simply put, it comes down to pounds per square inch of tire. The narrower tire has less surface area in contact with the snow/ice, so the truck's weight is distributed over a smaller area than would be with a wider tire. This results in more weight pushing down on the tire per square inch, making it dig in better. I think a previous poster touched on this when he mentioned that wider tires seem to "float" more on the slippery stuff. Hope this helps.

 

I agree with the above posts. The narrow tires are much better, especially on ICE. Less surface area that could start slipping. The best tires for snow have good sippings to allow water to escape and to let the tread spread out like fingers. I started using a set of Bridgestone Winter Duellers (same size as 4x4 OEM) last year for the snow months, and made it to every ski slope during every big dump of snow! SKi hard.