Driving in 4wd

Interesting what part tyres can play here, closest I've come to getting stiuck in snow in a 4x4 was in a defender 110 I had for work, couldn't get up the hill out of a farm yard I think because I had Avon Rangemaster tyres which had gone 'hard'. Changed tyres and it made a huge difference.
My in laws live in Ireland, my father in law had an Avensis and couldn't get up the hill to his bungalow in the snow one year. Parked in a local pub and phoned a taxi co to get him home, guy turned up in an Avensis, my father in law said he wouldn't get up the hill, but taxi had winter tyres and drove straight up there no problem. My father in law now has a set which he fits in November and gets round no problem, even though he's up in the mountains.
I think a 2wd on soft compound mud pattern tyres would go anywhere a 4wd on road tyres would go.

From what I know is that with snow or ice on the road a 2WD with proper winter tires is always better than a 4WD with all season tires especially when braking.

The issue with the winter tires usually is that they are not used enough distance and should be replaced after 4-6 years and still have a lot of tread.

This is a problem I have with my parents, trying to explain that a tyre has become ineffective simply due to age when all they see is it still has quite a bit of tread left and is therefore satisfactory. To me tyres are like oil, cheap enough to replace regularly compared with the costs of not doing.

i had to change my cheap offroad tires of MT design cause they where too hard for wet pavement. Do not remember the make of them, but cheap.

Winter tires get changed every 4-5 years.

Just now I saw a full traffic chaos outside my window in a more or less flat "hill" several cars had problems taking off again after traffic stopped. Embarrassing.
If they cannot get up there they can not have good enough tires for braking.
I was out saturday night to rescue a french car from southern norway got stuck there. laid a strap around his rear wheel and dragged the car around and out of the ditch with the jimny should have taken a picture.

RainerK wrote: From what I know is that with snow or ice on the road a 2WD with proper winter tires is always better than a 4WD with all season tires especially when braking.

Yes and no really. While winter tyres are brilliant. They are not miracle cures. Just in the same way a Mud Terrain won't stop you wheelspinning on a muddy surface. A winter tyre will not completely stop you from slipping and sliding on snow or ice.

Also some All Seasons are very good. They aren't all equal.

My bfg all season road tyres are definitely amazing. Dreadnaught in 4x2 goes smoothly where Spare Jimny on Bridgestone dueller needs 4x4 which says a lot given Spare Jimny is automatic and therefore inherently better at smooth power delivery.