# Tire width?



## Hammer24 (Nov 27, 2006)

I've read many threads about tires and most have said that the thinner tires are better and that mud terrain tires arn't as good as all terrain tires...Can anyone elaborate on this as to why this is? and does this also apply to the size of tire such as 245, 265, 285 etc...I guess my thinking is that the more tire you have in contact with the ground, the more traction your going to get...but maybe my theory is wrong. Thanks for all and any input on this.


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## polarplowing (Nov 16, 2005)

The width of a tire depends on what you are doing with the truck. Wide tires float on soft surfaces, whereas skinny ones cut through soft ground. For plowing you want a skinny tire for more weight per square inch of rubber on the road, so that the tread can get grip. All terrains work better than mud terrain because of the sipping in the tread. The sipping opens and closes, pinching the ground as the tread rolls on the ground. Mud tires usually don't have much sipping. They are really good if you have wide tires, lite truck and going at higher speeds in deep snow (large treads give more paddle like traction, with more floation) If you have a compact truck or light duty 1/2 ton with 12" tires it is really going to suck on the ice or for plowing. But if you had those same tires on a diesel 1 ton with blade and salter you would do much better. Just my opinion on tires, I hope this helps.
I usually run 245/75/16 on my plow trucks, they are factory sizing but both trucks are very heavy. On my play truck, I run 315/75/16 because I want the floatation and it is fairly light, but not very good on icy roads.

Ryan


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## mayhem (Aug 25, 2006)

Hammer24 said:


> I've read many threads about tires and most have said that the thinner tires are better and that mud terrain tires arn't as good as all terrain tires...Can anyone elaborate on this as to why this is? and does this also apply to the size of tire such as 245, 265, 285 etc...I guess my thinking is that the more tire you have in contact with the ground, the more traction your going to get...but maybe my theory is wrong. Thanks for all and any input on this.


The sizes you refer to (245, 265, 285, etc.) are the tire width. Its actually the width of the tire tread from shoulder to shoulder in millimeters.

The poster above me explained better than I ever could why certain tires are a good idea in certain situations.


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## Hammer24 (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks guys, this information helped alot...


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

Hi
I may be able to help. To start off with, you drive almost exclusively on packed snow. If you're pushing a snow plow you'r driving on packed snow behind the plow, if you're driving on a road even if there's fresh snow, most likely there's packed snow underneath, unless you're the very first person to drive on it, in which case as soon as your tire rolls onto the snow (compacting it) you're driving on packed snow. 
What gives you traction is the number of edges on your tire in contact with the snow. If you go look at a dedicated snow tire, you will see that they have lots of sipeing in them (sipeing are cuts across the tread). The really good snow tires have a dedicated tread compound, if you look at the tread with the microscope you'll see that it looks like a sponge full of lots of little edges.

You don't have to take my word, Goodyear says that there all terrain tire has better snow traction than their mud terrain.


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## dunedog (Oct 30, 2004)

another way to explain it is the tire to surface contact lbs per square inch...... generally you want more lbs per square inch for plowing.prsport


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## cold and tired (Nov 28, 2006)

Be careful you don't spend to much time and money on tires. Alot of people focus a lot of energy on tires, when it comes to traction weight is your best friend. When it comes to winter tires get the good ones most will come with 80,000km (50,000mile) warranty. I don't both with two sets of tires, currently I am running 285/75R16 yokohama geolanders and I am very impressed.


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