sorry yet another tyres question from new owner

I have done some reading here which was helpful, but remain a bit confused.  I have bought a reasonable condition 2005 manual with Dueler H/Ts with good tread left, and a new matching spare.  I will be doing 10-12k pa.

Most of the time the Jimny will be on potholed lanes on the south downs with the odd 40 min run on A roads.

Twice a year it will go to Europe for  2 x 4 weeks, the route involving good A roads, but possibly very wet and or icy in the winter.

The destination will be in Alps, where it will be hilly with some snow in the winter.  In the summer it will go up a steep flinty/gravelly track (no mud) which can get very wet.  The final 400 meters is across a steep grass field.  It is not serious off road though.

In a way I wish it had come with slightly more capable AT tyres, as I could have been OK with the slightly more uncomfortable long trips, in exchange for the security.  But it didn't.  I dont have much money to throw at it but want to be safe. I will need to take it out on snowy hilly days. So thoughts gratefully appreciated.  Drive it as it is?  Buy some ATs and sell the HTs?  Have 2 pairs and swap?  (storage not great)?


 

Hi. No worries, it is allways a consideration of wallet, storage, conditions, and basic need.
For snow and Ice a set of real winter tyres (three peak snowflake) is my recommendation allways.
If that is not an option, and there is no problem parking the car and stay of the roads when conditions are beyond the "normal" tyres, I would rather have one set of fresh tyres than two sets of older. Better to wear out one set so that it is more affordable to change for fresh new rubber more often. (difficult with a light weight jimny to wear out tyres though)

But wich tyres.. the more fine lines and edges in the tread pattern the better. And softer rubber grips better when cold.

My BFG AT was OK for winter use the first 2-3 years but then got hard and slippy. Great still for most other conditions. For prolonged life there must be better tyres for the winter though.

Remeber that your old tyres may even fetch some cash for the new ones if sold at half tread life when/if you need fresher rubber for winter use.

For most other conditions allmost any AT tyre will do great at what you describe, but stay off the cheapest brands and stay with the main types.

I would second what yakuza says, a decent set of ATs would fit your needs and no need to go silly for BFG or Maxxis.

My own preference would be either Yokohama Geolandar 205/70 r15 (£90 on Blackcircles) or Hancook Dynapro (£86 on Blackcircles), I have had both and both are good tyres, but there are plenty of others out there.

I did run 2 x Geolandar on the back and 2 x Dueller AT on the front for a while after running Duellers all round, but AT on the back and HT on the front, it's what it came with.

Noise wise I didn't notice much difference between Dueller HT, AT, Geolandar or Dynapro and fuel consumption, etc was about the same. Both the Geolandar and Dynapro were much better off the tarmac.

I now have a set of Maxxis Worm Drive (215/75 r15) on the car, but have a spare set of alloys fitted with Dynapro, the idea was to fit the Dynapro in the summer, I did last year, but never got round to it this year.

Robin

I drove in the deepish snow of 2014 with the stock Dueler H/T tyres.  Apart from a bit of side-slipping, they were absolutely fine and I never lost traction with 4WD engaged.  Winter tyres would have been better up steep hills but the Duelers are much more gnarly than the average car summer tyre.

Some European countries mandate snow tyres (by which I assume 3PMSF markings) in snowy conditions.  You would need to get different tyres for those places.  The Geolandar G015 A/T is pretty good on road and is 3PMSF marked.

Side slip was my experience on HT tyres in snow also ^^^^
You could go forward fairly well on them, but as the snow gets deeper the vehicle became more susceptible to side slips.
I then fitted 3PMSF tyres (Geolander) and the difference in snow is noticeable. Not more side slip and a "sure footed" feel to direction changes. 
It's something I will alway look for in a tyre now having experienced the difference,  but if you can't afford the tyre swap you can go most places on HT tyres in my opinion.
I was pushing the tyres in both instances over some very snowed in Scottish roads, what you described I feel your HT tyres will cope with. A set of snow socks is cheaper than new tyres if you feel the conditions warrant then fitting. But if you have the wallet capacity a set of ATs will save you getting out of the vehicle to fit socks.
Mike

I bought a set of s/h wheels with BFG A/T tyres for winter use. They do not take up too much room in the shed. I will be re-fitting them shortly.

Roger