Rush54

I bought my JKU earlier this summer, and living in Canada, am now looking at running a dedicated set of winter tires. I know I could prob run my stock SRA's for the first winter, but since I plan to keep this vehicle long term, I figure it makes sense to go with a dedicated winter tire now.

Since I'm buying a new set of tires anyway, I think I'm going to go to 33's and look at installing a Teraflex leveling kit. I know a lot of people say to run MT's in the snow an I'll be fine, but my area tends to get a lot of warmer weather with rain, then cooling and freezing.... = ice. Hence the winter tires.

Anyway, after doing some looking around, there's pretty much no selection in 33" for winter tires, except the Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1's. I was just wondering if anyone has run these and what you think. Also, if anyone happens to have a pic of their rig with 33" Blizzaks on it, I'd love to see it. I couldn't find anything in the 33" threads.

SNOWHARA

You won't go wrong with the Blizzaks. I had a set of them on my 06 Liberty for 3 winters. That same set of tires has spent the past 3 winters on my 95 GMC Sierra 1500. Considering your temperature changes and the amount of time you will spend right around the freezing point in Eastern Canada they will be well worth the money. I'm in Northern Manitoba. My 11 JKU has a set of Firestone Winterforce tires for the winter. Great tires, but the studs are kind of pointless here. The Blizzaks are expensive, but definitely worth the cost.

adjk09

I've had them on my TJ when I lived in Fairbanks and I have a set for my JKU in Juneau. They're better on the dry ice (Fairbanks) versus pouring rain on ice (Juneau).

Rush54

Cool. I don't think any tire is really going to be "good" on the ice, especially when it's raining/ freezing rain, but I have heard these are about as good as it's gonna get. I have a 2 year old and the Jeep serves as our primary vehicle. We live 4 hours from where we're originally from and are home to visit family fairly often, so to be honest, cost isn't a huge concern for me. If it's gonna be carry my daughter around, I can pay the extra 4 or 5 hundred bucks.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm gonna call and get a quote tomorrow. See if I can beat the ordering rush.

Delux2769

I've heard lots of good things about the Duratracs in snow, but don't know how good they'd be with ice. Have you looked into them?

Flip94ta

Duratracs are a good tire but can't touch a dedicated snow tire like the DM-V1. I highly recommend them, we have two seasons on the set on my wife's awd equinox and I'm sure of 1-2 more seasons, 18-24,000 miles total.

I've driven them in 7-8 inches of fresh snow and they did fine, where they really shine is on semi plowed roads that have compacted snow/ice/slush/lose brown snow.

Mud tires are terrible in anything but fresh untouched snow. Sipes and biting edges are really important on snow and ice and mud tires don't fit the bill, some of the better AT's like Duratracs have sipes but the compound and texture if Blizzaks puts them in their own league.

SNOWHARA

X2. The rubber compound on the Blizzak is what sets them above a tire like the Duratrac for cold weather performance. The Duratrac is a fine tire, I just want a real winter tire for real winter conditions.

xirtic

You cannot beat Blizzaks on ANY vehicle in ice conditions. I work for Bridgestone/Firestone (Corporate I.T. and not with the tires) and most of the guys on my team run Blizzaks on our vehicles that run from Nissan Maximas to Jeeps to Mitsubishi Outlanders....and all of us LOVE them in the Chicago winters that are a nice mix of ice and snow. You just cannot go wrong.

opie88

I ran 32" DM-V1s on my 2012 JKUR last winter here in BC. Our winters are pretty mild but we do get our fair share of black ice on the roads. They worked out really well, couldn't have been happier.

I've got 35" duratracs on now and will test them out this winter but am not willing to part with the DM-V1s on my stock Rubi rims just yet...

Rush54

If anyone is looking at these tires I can officially say they are well worth the coin. I'd had good runs on ice and in rain, but today was my first run in good snow. At about 30cm with ice underneath in spots these things were pretty much completely un-phased. I was mainly confined to untouched parking lots, but hit drifts up over my hood and had no issues. 100% sold. It's great to be out wheeling around when everyone else is stuck at home!!