You could go with 265/75/16 if you wanted with very minimal rubbing in my opinion. Kinda wish I'd done that, the truck sits higher, I used to have this size.

I have 265/70/16.

Thanks for the update. This is really great to hear, and seems to be spot-on with the reviews (albeit non-Manitoba frozen winters).

I am checking prices on them this week. I may just go with stock 245/75/16, as this is used for a very very low daily km commute and rubbing will surely be noticed by the driver (not me).

Glad to hear the Cooper ATW has been quiet and good in winter. I have a set on hold at the local tire store. I just need to get in to have them installed. I went with a 255/70R17. A little taller and narrower than stock.

I'd love to hear any more comments on the ATW. Especially if there is a reason I should get something different.

Just went through my first winter with the pathy. I know most of you take a different approach and stay with off road tires all year round. I opted for "real snow tires". So I went and bought a set of factory studded Nokian Hakkapelitta 8.
In my case, my wife uses the vehicle to drive the kids to school, do groceries and stuff. We take the logging roads into the mountains sometimes, but do no winter off roading. Plus, I live on a side road, that's often times neglected by the plow trucks for days in a row, and is full of compact ice, once they manage to plow the snow/slush off it. Additional to that, I have a pretty long, windy driveway. And as I am the winter service for that driveway, I mostly leave it untouched.

Those Nokian tires are the best tire I ever had. They drive very smooth on pavement. And the noise level is not too bad. At least for studs. They sound like they chew up the pavement at very low speeds. But as soon as you drive any faster then 15-20 mph, it changes to a mild humming noise, that you hardly notice after driving the tires for a few days.

Nokian advertises these tires as "Eco studded". Their studs sit on a tiny niche of empty space. So the studs actually move into the tire for about 1/3 of their length, when touching the surface. It gives them a very low rolling resistance and is responsible for the little noise they make. Nokian even promises the best fuel economy in the studded tire segment. Well, what can I say...they got me down from 15.3 to 14.5L/100km. The truck came with a set of Dunlop H/T. Not the most aggressive tire, and still worse for fuel than the Studded Nokians are.

The only thing on the Pathfinder, that bothers me, is the fuel economy. Therefore those are very helpful. (Just did my plugs by the way. And ordered a k&n dilter. Hoping to lower the fuel consumption to under 14.0L/100km).

Let's speak about performance.

Never seen anything like it. The pathfinder is literally glued to the road. Even on logging roads, with 7 and 8 % grades and covered by solid ice, the Nokians make you feel like you are on a paved road. Phenomenal!!!
They handle 7 to 8 inches of snow with ease. And selve clean the snow very well.

If I would have to name a down side, I'd definitely say price. 1362.00 CAD installed. Do the math to figure out the cost for those of you in the states, but it's for sure expensive.
Over their lifespan they should pay for the price difference to other studded tires by themselves though. As I mentioned, I save 0.8L/100km. That saves me roughly a CAD every 100km. Price difference to the Blizzaks was about 300 CAD. So they should have paid the diffence within 30.000 km. That is of course only an assumption. Assuming the Blizzaks would have had the same economy than the Dunlop I had before. But anyway, thinking they save me money, makes me feel better 😀😀😀

One other thing is, that they are prone to get a larg number of small rocks stuck between the thread. I guess it's the thread pattern, because the are worse with that than any other tire I had so far. Once a week, I spend about 10 minutes to pick out the rocks. So it's not too bad, but I thought I mention it.

Update on the Hakkapelitta 8, that I wrote about above:

They saved me from hitting the back of a burning loggingg truck last sunday.

I happened to drive behind a logging truck on a windy highway. On a long, straight stretch of highway, the truck accelerated to about 60 mph. I followed up. A few seconds later, it colided with a toyota corolla. Head on. The toyota just moved over from its own into our lane, for no apparent reason.
The entire road infront of me, was blocked. By the demolished corolla on one, and the burning logging truck on the other side. I had no way to stir around the wrecked vehicles. So I hit the brakes as hard as I could. Never felt such a braking power. I don't know the distance it took me to come to a full stop, but the corolla was still at the same height of the road, where it had colided with the truck. And the truck stood about 10 meters beyond that spot. I was roughly at the same height with the toyota and had been about 20 meters behind the truck, at the time of the accident. So it took me jyst over 20 meters, maybe 25, to come to a complete stop, from driving 60+ mph.

I'm pretty sure that I would have crashed into the logging truck, with different tires,. I have been in emergency stop situations before, with different tires (but also different vehicles. Comparable in size and weight though), and this was the best stopping I've ever wittnessed.
The pathfinder did a great job as well. I could feel the ABS engaging.

very sad day though. The truck driver got out relatively unharmed. A real miracle. But the lady in the corolla looked terrible. There was also no way to get her out of the car. The fire fighters had to cut her out. She made it to the hospital and was stsble for a few days. But jyst heard from a friend, that she passed away in hospital.