A few years back I happened upon a set of closeout 265/75R16 Blizzak DMZ2 for $30 a pop. It was a no brainer and for the past 3 years I've been spoiled silly. Now that my DMZ2s are thoroughly spanked and I've mounted my 3 seasons on dedicated wheels I'm on the hunt for options.
Now the Blizzaks were great tires but on the OEM wheel 265/75R16 were a bit wide; at the directed 33 psi they exhibited wear that would normally suggest over-inflation. I like the idea of maintaining a 31.5" tire for winter and mucking about less chance of spin narrow contact patch to cut through crud... OTOH prematurely wearing the center of the tread and going wide in an area that is prone to ice seems counterintuitive.
Has anyone else considered trying a 235/85R16? I've been eyeing a set of the Duratracs with the intention of studding them and was thinking that the inherent sidewall stiffness of the E load rating would make up for height\narrowness of the tire. Anyone have experiences with Studded tires? I'm not too concerned with noise I want to hear about handling concerns/trade-offs.
Does anyone else here cheat (use dedicated snows)? What works for you and how do you use them? I'm especially interested in hearing from those that go down trails in the snow. I’ve been looking at the Nokian LTs as well. I have one of "those" jobs that expect me to be there regardless if the state shut down the roads and am more than willing to drive 4 hours in a blizzard to ski.