How does your JL stack up against the grand cherokee? My WJ is amazing in snow and ice. And I disagree about the duratracs, they have been excellent in snow for me.
How so, what tires are you running?
As you might imagine the Grand Cherokee has the best road manners-especially in the snow. While many here acknowledge that the tires are of utmost importance, I think when it comes to "roadway" snow, every component plays a role. Tires, weight, drivetrain, and vehicle dynamics all come into play. If I'm offroad in the snow, I'd prefer to be in the JL hands down with BFG All Terrains or the stock Mud Terrains. But if I am on local roads or even a highway, nothing competes with the Grand Cherokee. That's just my personal experience. Many of us that travel in the Sierra have been in white out conditions where no vehicle should be driving. But given the rarity and the usual snow conditions here the Grand Cherokee is my go to snow vehicle, the TJ would be my last.
Nice! Do you have the rock-trac or selec-track transfer case?Great trip to Lake Tahoe with the 2dr 10th Anniversary for Thanksgiving, 2019,lots of snow, early/late ice and the Goodyear Kevlar did well. Had cables but never needed
What do you like what is tall and skinny for a 17 in load range C? Thinking of doing rubicon fenders on my sport, rubicon shocks, keeping the low springs, and something like a narrow 34 AT geared towards daily driving/snow.
Directly compared Duratracs to Cooper Discoverer AT3, no contest, the Coopers were some of the worst tires I have ever driven in snow. Directly compared to Cooper STT Pro, another marginal tire in the winter, Cooper will never again get any of my money for tires after giving them two solid chances on tires. Directly compared to BFG KO2's. The BFG's are excellent in so many conditions. I find the Duratracs to have much better deep snow performance 6+ inches and much better performance on ice. I also find that the Duratracs have better snow performance for more of the tread life than the BFG's which I will not run in the winter below half tread anymore. Compared directly against BFG KM2's which are just plain a BAD choice for winter like most un-siped MT tires. Compared directly against Firestone XT's which I have found I like better than the KO2's in the winter, especially in deeper snow. I find these to be pretty close to the Duratracs and cheaper but again not quite as good towing my sleds up deep snow covered forest service roads. Duratracs have always required the least amount of chaining up, and I have had to chain all of them up. Duratracs are by far the most popular with all of my friends who run lots of mountain roads in their trucks. Years of experience running mountain passes for work and play, 90% of them on Duratracs. Most wont consider anything else. I have tried a bunch of others and I am going back. No contest for me, they will go on my new truck immediately.
BFG KO2 is offered in 34x10.5, but it is E-load.
I am worried about the weight and stiffness of E on a 2 door. I had C on my TJ and they rode nicely.
I found the most noticeable deterioration in ride and handling come from tires with greater (a) weight and (b) contact patch.
On my 2019 JL I run BFG KO2 in a 285/70 R17, load range C. (33x11.5) This seems to be a good compromise and keeps the weight of the tire/rim combination within reason. In my case, I use the JL both on and off road and the BFG All Terrains handle both tasks reasonably well.
Agreed. I always try to consider overall weight and contact patch for specific uses with my vehicles. Bigger isn't always necessarily better. Some large tires get incredibly heavy.
