Ironhide (my wife's idea for a name) is a 4wd with the Z71 off road package. I bet it will be good in the snow, but as a Career Firefighter ...

"Ironhide"(my wife's idea for a name) is a 4wd with the Z71 off road package. I bet it will be good in the snow, but as a Career Firefighter good just isn't enough.

The majority of the trucks I see generally have studded tires that resemble an AT or MT tire. I'm wondering if the studs will be enough to help me on the ice and the deep lugs to get me through the snow.

So doing some more digging on tire options I have come across this tire...
http://tires.canadiantire.ca/en/tires/l ... bber-a-t2/

The only problem is it doesn't come in the 265/65 I need for my 18's, so which of these sizes would be best to go with if I had to...
LT285/60
P265/70
LT275/65
P275/65

Right now this tire is on sale and has some good prices... the LT275/65R18 is reg. $274.99 and on sale for $206.24

I've heard of people opting for this general tire over the BFG TA/KO's for multiple reasons, and with this tire having the ability to accept studs I imagine it should outperform the BFG's in winter conditions

I would say go with the Duratrac’s (yes a bias opinion). I had them for the last year’s Halloween snow dump in NH and they were great. A couple of things that I didn’t notice mentioned yet (apologies if overlooked) are yes they are M+S tires with larger lugs but they also clean out very well. You don’t want to have a great griping tire that doesn’t dump the snow out during rotation. I would ensure you don’t go any wider than stock tires, a lot of people in NH I know run what they call Pizza cutters. They’re typically a size narrower than stock to help cut through the snow, but do keep in mind stock width should be fine.

Through the same company I found the Grabbers I also found the Duratracs... they were $365 a tire. That's darn near $1500 before installation and taxes. As well the site didn't list the 265/65... closest was a 255/55 or 275/65-275/60(can't remember)

Of the sizes you have listed above, I would go with P265/70. It is closest to stock size, and a bit narrower. A narrower tire performs better in snow--it can dig better, versus floating on the snow (not that the difference between a 65 and 70 series makes too much difference).
That General A/T2 looks very aggressive and meets your need for studs. Nice tire, I had not seen that one before.

sorry to open up this old thread of mine but I have been doing some shopping around and locally the majority of gm trucks owners have down graded sizes or just run 17's. so finding 18" winter tires is becoming difficult especially in the 265/65... lots of 275/65's tho as apparently that's the stock size on the Fords. so how will a 275/65 compare to the 265/65?

Are you going to keep winter tires mounted on separate rims? If yes, then consider dropping down to 17". More tire is supposed to be better for winter traction. -1 inch is pretty common for winter. Tire Rack has a lot of good selection and advice.

ya finding the 18s is hard. You can buy M/S tires but why do you want a 70%mud 30% snow tire when you can buy a 100% snow tire. Most people buy the M/S studded tires because thay look like truck tires. Real snow tires look like they belong on a car. People with studded M/S tires dont know what there missing

Well the problem is I already have the 18" rims and unless someone is up to a swap of my 6spoke chrome rims for 17's than I'm stuck with these.

With regards to your comment about a studded my vs real snow tire, is something like a Michelin Xice or Blizak get me through deep snow. I've always viewed these types of tires as belonging on iced/wet roads.

I've read reviews online and tires like those I mentioned above all have great reviews. One of the tires I did look at and can get locally comes in a 276/65 and is the Firestone Winterforce. I ran that tire on my lowered Grand Am and never had a problem... all 4 were studded too so that helped. I looked at a set of them today and they are just like the 15's a ran a few years ago except twice as big lol. The directional thread pattern and plenty of sipes combined with the studs looks like it should do the job you just expplained

When I managed a tire store one of the perks was always trying different tires. The best one by far that I used in the winter was the copper discoverer m+s. It is also has the stud holes but you'll have to run the 275/65. http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Winter/D ... R-M-S.aspx