Tires for that Photo travel vehicle?

A lot of input on Photo travel vehicles. Am limited to the vehicles my Uncle owns as I'm living on his farm. Pickups and Ford Escape. Big Ford F150 SuperCrew and a small VW diesel. A lot of gravel an dirt roads and a climate whose two main features are Winter - and Winter is coming.

He has two sets of wheels for each vehicle. Summer and Winter tires for each. Over the past five years he has switched entirely to Nokian tires. Rotiiva 10 ply "All weather" (not all season - these are a bit different) for the big 4x4 truck as it goes in farm fields as well as roads. Good traction but winter specific are still better on ice and snow - but this year he ran them through the winter to see how they did. Good, but studded snows still a bit better.

His VW pickup now runs Nokian WR G4 "all weather". Surprisingly good in ice and snow - but not quite as good as Nokian Hakkapeliitta(studded or not) or Nolian Nordman(either) or Bridgestone blizzaks or Michelin X-Ice. He is trying them as an alterntive to switching out and this winter it has worked well. Really nice on the highway and he's planning on them for his wife's Ford Escape for summer use as they will work well for the late spring and early fall snowstorms before a changeover.

The Ford Escape - Summer tires will be the WR G4's after the Michelins wear more this summer. Winter are the Nokian Hakkapeliitta(non-studded) which are great. No road noise from studs - though their studs are cushioned and installed at the factory and have different patterns depending on where they are located on the tire. Nokian invented snow tires - and seem to do a really good job of it.

So - I know a bit more about this specific brand than others and trust the judgment. He has put on a ton of road miles over the years, even an Audi 4000 into The Racetrack at Death Valley. His photo efforts have him on rough roads often and the cold up here by Canada is a severe test for tires, including summers with temperatures over 100 degrees. Have watched as the switch in winter to studded snows on the trucks. Once we get past the first few snows it is mainly ice packed roads on both pavement and gravel and the studs give a bit more bite on the ice. Some States don't allow them. Driving into Canada they are fine and where we go it is "winter tires" required. If you don't have them on the vehicle, you don't drive there.

So, how about Tires for the photo vehicle?

Nokian are very good tires

Tires do depend on roads/terrain as I discovered with my 1977 GMC base model with big lug snow tires on the rear

It could drive through snow drifts over the hood with ease

Tired of winter I drove to Mojave and found quickly how bad snow tires are on sand

Stuck deep, walked 25 miles out, got a ride the rest of the way in the back of a pickup with a large dog. The 2 women passed us beers, a joint and dropped us where we needed to be. God Bless them. They were the only vehicle we saw until Palm Desert which was tiny town back then

Next day a 4 wheel drive got me out, I changed tires learning about low pressure

A Norton Commando in my truck bed with triangular tires was impossible in sand

But the 2 Husqvarna motocross bikes were a blast, once we learned to hydroplane on sand, go faster!

I miss those days, we camped 6 weeks deep in desert

and did for 3 years

The truck gained a 45 caliber hole from LA wackos the last year

The studded hakkapalitas have carbide tipped studs which nobody else has; they are probably sharper and longer lasting than previous tire studs. I have these on an XC90. I used to have older studded haks on Saabs and I'd lose many studs over time flinging the car around corners and other types of driving that caused sparks on the pavement. Still better than non-studded tires.

Nokian makes great summer (all season) tires too, though I am not sure how well suited they are to mud.

My Transit Connect has Continental tires in the summer and studded winterforce tires for the winter. They are noisier than Nokian and not as nice at high speed, but are good for most purposes.

On performance vehicles in the past I have enjoyed Sumitomo, Yokohama, Continental, Michelin. Dunlop has been hit or miss. While you can order tires online, it is also helpful to have a local shop you like to deal with which has connections for certain brands which are sometimes good and easy to get.