Whats better, wide or thin tires?

 

93Warrior:
A lot of guys tend to think that the biggest, widest tires available are the best for mud and snow. However, in all actuallity, the opposite is true. Skinnier tires will tend to cut through the mud, muck, snow better than wide tires, allowing you to get to the bottom of the crap to solid ground. Take a look at the guys with full sized trucks in the winter time-they usually swap their large meats for more narrow ones to aid better in the deep snow.

Then again, I just got back from my property, with a little over 2' of snow. I'm running 27" Bi/Tri Claws on my 'Cat with 9.75" wide up front, and 12" wide in the rear. Although I was pushing snow with both bumper, and occasionally the headlights and dragging skid plate the whole way, the 'Claws pulled me through everything I wanted to go through. Hell, I even had to tow my dad in the suburban with trailer attached UP a few parts of a snow covered road, and winch him back up on the road a little while later. I'll have pics up for that early next week.

Whatever way you go, I think a heavy lugged tire is the best bet.

Mike

 

i am not a mudder in any way but i would think a wide tire would float more for bottemless mudpits or heavy/packed snow but for snow that is not super deep or mud that has a base to it the skinny tires would slice through it and hit hard ground (if there is any down there)

 

A wide tire may provide better floatation in some situations, but anywhere there is a reachable bottom, you are MUCH better off with tall, narrow tires with enough 'bite' to dig to the bottom and grab a hold.

Ride around in the snow on an old ATC with the big, wide balloon tires, and you will see what I mean. They just slide around on top, and when you need to 'dig' to traction, all they do is spin. There you are, motor racing, wheels spinning, and you going about 3 MPH because the tires take so long to dig down to traction. I have tried my Xplorer against ATCs in snow (in 2-wd) and ran circles around them 90% of the time. The other 10% resulted in them 'floating' over a deep drift that made me stuck (had to go to 4wd to get through - or a faster run)

 

Wider for mud.
Narrower for snow.

A wide tire offers more floatation in mud, and covers a larger area to gain traction from. Also, a tire with good side lugs helps immensly by digging into the side of ruts. The more you dig down into the mud, the bigger chance you have of highcentering the quad. That is the main cause of getting stuck. Get the frame of the quad resting on something halfway solid, and your tires will dig up ruts quicker than you can blink.

Narrow tires are better for snow because they do dig down better. You aren't as likely to highcenter in snow either, basically because you don't go around looking for the deepest "snowpits" (hahaha) to go through, which is the case in mudriding. Narrow tires also put more weight per square inch to the ground. Think of ice skates. Narrow blades rather than big flat blades. Sounds stupid, but it was the best thing I could think of real quick.

 

I don't want to be argumentitive, but I have always believed the exact opposite. Wide on the snow, narrow in the mud. I think that each have their exceptions, but as a rule of thumb.... Think of the track on a snowmobile, wider is better, and what about snow shoes? Staying on top of the deep snow is the way to go. Now on to mud. I used to think that these guys with 44" TSL Super Swampers on 12" of lift could go anyware they wanted. Wrong answer!! I saw truck, after truck, after truck, at a mud race, creep down the strip wide open, just plowing the muck with their front tires. Guys with skinnies were flying!! And what about those swamp buggies you see on ESPN. They got big, tall, narrow tires, cutting through the muck, down to the bottom where the traction is.
As I mentioned earlier, there are exceptions. If the snow won't pack your going to have to get to the bottom of it to get any traction. If the muds too deep and doesn't have a bottom, your going to have to stay on top of it.
Bottom line is. There is no black and white answer. But remember no matter what the condition, with a ton of traction and not enough a$$ to keep them clean, you aint goin nowhere. E

 

I like this topic. A case can be made for every type of tire and the thread could go on forever with point/counter point.

The application is the key.

In the spring of the year, the 3 wheeled trucks that apply liquids to farm fields have the original monster truck tires-very wide. Yet the tractors that work the same fields have the tall narrow tires.

On an ATV one has to assume what type of bottom is available, a hard bottom or bottomless, such as a peat bog. Ag. tires in a peat bog would be useless; but will be a lot more effective elsewhere if a hard bottom is available.

On ice or hard packed snow, narrow tires are better because the weight of the vehicle involved plants more pounds per square inch upon the surface to increase traction, yet Blackwaters have been notoriously weak in deep snow conditions because they just dig down providing no flotation and put four holes in the snow.

A snowmobile operates at a low pounds per square inch factor yet compacts snow at the same time to gain traction. But without studs is terrible on ice.

 

I think it depends a lot on the type of tires and the wheeler your driving. For example, I have a Honda atc90 and atc110. One has 4 ply wooly booger type tires and the other has 2 ply bald turf tamers. The one with the turf tames can run cirles around the wooly boogers. The soft compound on the turf tames allow it to ride on the surface without sinking. The woolly boogers are hard and just spin and sink. So even though they are the same size, the type matters more.

My 4x4 has new blackwaters, and it has to spin and dig till they reach traction. In deep snow(over 2 feet), forget it. The atc is so light and has has high floatation, so it just glides over the surface.

So basically, I think that the choice of wide or narrow tires depends on the vehicle your putting them on, and the type (powder, slush, ice) and depth of the snow. Just my two cents.

 

Great post! Good to see everybody with varying opinions talking civily without bickering. Nice job guys, keep 'em coming, this is a good topic.

Mike