Perry Mack
Amp A/T Pro - our Chevy 3500HD on the snow-covered, mountain forest service road.
Words and photos Perry Mack
I wanted to make a moderate-speed left turn into the snow-covered driveway at the farm but the front tires of my new-to-me Chevy didn’t agree with my decision. As the gatepost and ditch drew closer, I was already thinking about the hike to the tractor to pull the truck out of the ditch and estimating the damage to the front end.
The Yokohama tires on the truck had aged prematurely and been rotated so the tires with tread were at the rear. This left the centre-bald front tires in charge of changing direction as the first snowfall of the year accumulated. The worn-to-drag-slick front tires had some tread left at the edges but the all-important sipes were completely gone.
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Perry Mack
The tread pattern kept us moving up the mountain by clearing the voids on every rotation.
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Perry Mack
Siping in the shoulder lugs provides edge-to-edge ice and wet traction.
Traction, it seems, is just like the lyrics to the Joni Mitchell song, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it's gone”. In my defence, I had already ordered the new Amp A/T Pro tires. The 2011 Silverado 3500 HD diesel LTZ was running stock-sized LT265/70R18’s. Our plan for the truck is to pull double duty as a long-range overland adventure vehicle using a Roof Top Tent (RTT) and as a family hauler towing our 27’ Blackrock travel trailer.
The truck will see some pavement, but also a great deal of gravel, dirt, and mud while accessing many of British Columbia’s off-grid, lakeside recreation sites. We push through all four seasons in our Wrangler and have no intention of changing our habits with the Chevy. We need a tire that is solid on snow and ice, large as possible without a lift, durable, and great on gravel and dirt roads. It also has to be relatively quiet on the pavement and provide superior traction through coastal rainfall and of course, in the mud, which is what comes after the torrential rain we get.
Perry Mack
Look familiar? Like you, we need traction we can depend on.
This is a tall order. After perusing countless websites, we settled on the Amp Terrain Pro A/T. But first, the essentials. This tire has the severe snow service mountain snowflake rating of a true winter tire. The M+S-rated tires are only tested on mud and packed snow, while the three peak/snowflake rating like the Terrain Pro A/T are accessed for and tested on snowy, slippery roads and low temperature or frozen roads.
Amp builds these tires in an LT285/65R18. The diameter is virtually identical to stock so your speedometer is still accurate, but it is seven percent wider at 285mm (11.22 in), yet it fits on the stock 18” rims and doesn’t rub at full lock so no lift or spacers are required. There’s more rubber to the ground for cheap.
Perry Mack
Dependable control on wet cold roads as we begin our ascent.
We’re not sure why the Amp website doesn’t label them as LT tires but we assure you the sidewall and specs say ‘LT’ as they are a load range E with a max single tire load of 1.51 kg (3,640 lb) and max inflation of 80 psi. The tread grooves are deep at 13.5mm (17.3/32 in) and we like the tread design with plenty of siping, rock ejectors, and the ‘twin peak’ reinforced sidewall. During our test, we’ll be looking for this tread pattern to prevent hydroplaning on wet pavement, clear snow, mud, dirt, and debris when we are off-road.
The Amp Terrain Pro A/T comes with a 100,000 km (60,000 mi) tread life warranty so we’re hoping to put plenty of adventures on this tire. The Yokohama Geolandar G015 that we swapped out only made it 50,000 km (31,068) in four years before needing to be replaced – significantly shy of the 100,000 km (62,137 mi) that was guaranteed.
Perry Mack
Yes, there’s a cliff. No, there aren’t any guard rails.
A fresh layer of cold, wet, slushy snow fell on bare roads as I left home under darkening, snow-laden skies. By the time I reached the bottom of the canyon, it was starting to accumulate and the temperature had dropped below 0°C (32°F). So far the tires had held well through all of the wet pavement turns and braking maneuvers. Now it was time to climb the mountainside road above the snowline to reach the twisty and often isolated forest service road. This road is great for test driving with plenty of turns and little traffic so if something goes awry, we’re not likely to hit anyone, and hammering on the brakes numerous times to test traction means we won’t get rear-ended.
We also like the ascent for testing the traction in two-wheel drive. Pushing a one-ton pick-up up a hill in slippery conditions is a great test for traction. The test mule is our 2011 Silverado crew cab LTZ standard box SRW without any weight in the bed.
Perry Mack
Not as much snow this year. We can still see the sign.
As expected, traffic became non-existent in 20 minutes and visibility deteriorated as we climbed higher into the cold, damp cloud layer. Perfect.
The Amp A/T Pro handles the twisty, snow-covered roads really well at speeds up to 70 km/h (43 mph). Loss of traction climbing in two-wheel drive was rare and mild, indicated by the flashing traction control warning on the dash. On the downhill run, we slammed on the brakes several times to test the traction while braking and coming to a complete stop. At sane speeds for the conditions, the tires held a straight line and stopped the truck. Only at above-sane-speeds for the conditions did it take a little longer – long enough for a short prayer and a list of expletives as we started to run out of straight road. But they worked and we stayed on the road – like a fortune cookie once said, ‘only the man who reaches too far knows how far he can reach.’
Perry Mack
Mud clung to the sidewalls but didn’t block the treads as the tires pushed us steadily in two-wheel drive. The old Geolandar G015s had us spinning in four-wheel drive.
The wet, snow melted and turned the dirt to mud at the farm. A few kilometers through the sticky mud had the sidewalls adorned in the brown snot but the treads were clear, and traction was great.
Torrential rain season is just around the corner and we can’t wait to test them during our coastal mountain travels. Watch for updates during our further adventure-truck explorations including our long-term review.