All Season Radials with good snow performance?

[Twisties]

Time to get tires for two vehicles, each with 4 wheels I'm afraid. We want all season radials that have excellent snow/ice/winter performance. Any idea where to find info on that aspect of tire performance?

 

Oh, and if anyone has any specific recommendations the vehicles are a 2002 Maxima SE and a 2002 Tacoma 4WD.

 

TIA

[bakerzdosen]

At least for the Maxima, I'd consider going the Summer/Winter tire route if you really want excellent performance. Big-O sold me my current tires as all season but they're Summer only. I've gotten by for the past two winters, but if I had the space to store the tires/wheels I'd go that route.

 

Look at tirerack.com.

 

Beyond that, I don't have any specific recommendations.

[stubble!]

Second Tirerack.com for research.

 

I've been having great luck with various Yokohamas (Geolander & AVID) on my vehicles. They're good tires. The AVID TRZ is surprisingly good in the snow on our Element AWD. Less so in ice. Haven't had our other vehicle with Geolanders in snow yet.

 

[Francois_Dumas]

Don't think that is physically possible..... having an excellent snow/ice tire that is all season. To me it is either one or the other.

 

I run Dunlop's on my Jeep now, they're M+S tires. I prefer the 'winter' aspect over the summer qualities... so they wear a little more in summer.

I preferred Michelins and Vredestein on my previous (non off-road) cars.

 

As far as my knowledge goes the winter tires have a different rubber compound, retaining more grip when cold and on cold roads. That's why they wear faster on warm and dry roads.

[John Ranalletta]

These are Consumer Reports' top 3 all season picks:

 

Goodyear Assurance Triple Tred

Michelin X Radial (Club Tire)

Hankook Mileage Plus II H725

 

I have the triple tred on my WRX and Accord and love them. Quiet, sure-footed and spendy.

 

+1 for Tirerack.com. Have the tires shipped to an approved installer near you. I saved about $160 on the last set over local Goodyear installed price.

[keithb]

Based on all weather performance including snow (excellent rating) in my Nov. 2008 issue of Consumer Reports is:

1. Michelin LTX M/S

2. Goodyear Wranger SR-A

3. Toyo Open Country H/T

4. Nitto Dura Grappler, Highway terrain

 

I have Dayton Timberline tires on my 4Runner and at the time (2005) they were a best buy and I have been vey happy with them. So far 40K miles and there is still a lot of tread on them.

 

If you have a fax I would be happy to fax this article to you. Just send me a PM.

[Mike]

The Tire Rack has ratings for the entire range of conditions, from dry pavement to ice. I recently bought some "ultra high performance" all-seasons for my Subaru STi, and settled on the ContiExtremeContacts. Among that class of all-seasons, they're rated the best for snow and ice traction. I've generally had good luck with Continentals.

[Rottweiler]

I've used tirerack.com for many years and am very satisfied with all my purchases. The best decission I've made for snow is to go with real snow tires (Blizack) mounted on new rims by Tirerack. In fact I just put them on my Integra today. They have 30k miles on them and they should get me through one more winter, about 5k more.