Best tires for snow in each category
Winter is slowly approaching and with it comes the snow. We all have been in situations when we wished our vehicles stopped shorter or had more traction when the white stuff covers the roads. Thankfully there are a few sites out there who bothered testing most tires in the winter conditions for us. There are three types of tires that can be used in the snow: The well-known all season, the newest type - all weather and the winter/snow type.
The all season category: These are the type of tires that has the lowest traction on snow and ice (and that is the reason most parts of Canada does not sell this type of tires), but can be and are used all year long in the USA. For a tire to have a good traction on snow it has to be as soft as possible and unfortunately all all-season tires are made out of a compound that get hard when the temperatures fall below 45 F or 7 C. With that in mind the softest all season tires sub-category is the Standard Touring All-Season. From the tests that "Tirerack.com" does regularly when new tires show up on the horizon from each manufacturer, we can assume that the best bet for snow traction on a budget are the General Altimax RT43 and Continental TrueContact. The first one is the lower cost brand of Continental tires and most of the time their models are actually previous generation Continental models that were just re-branded and sold as General tire from what I have read before. Therefore you still get the German quality Continental tires are famous for. As a bonus Continental is the brand that stops shorter in rein in most of the tests. I would not suggest anyone spending their money on a higher priced all-season tires if using them in the snow. Your money are better spent on All weather tires.
The all weather category: These tires are the category of tires that actually are as good or even better than the winter/snow sport tires offered from some of the manufacturers. Best all weather tires for snow were the Nokian WRG3 in a recent test by the Canadian Cars magazine. The reason this tires were so good in snow is because they actually use a winter tire compound mixed with Nokian's special technology for withstanding high heat produced when driven at high speeds or driving in warmer climates. WRG3's were recently replaced by the WRG4's and are the only tire that I would recommend using all year long in Chicago unless buying on a budget. Recently due to higher interest in the category most manufacturers started producing all weather tires or in other words all season tires with the mountain snow flake symbol. Other okay choices of all weather tires are Michelin Cross Climate plus, Toyo Celsius, Vredestein Quadrac 5, and Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady from which the Michelin excels on icy roads. For people who don't mind slapping wheels and tires each winter and summer as I did in the last 6 years, for best winter traction there are the Winter/snow tires available.
The Winter/Snow category: These are the best performing category in snow as the name suggests and they have three sub-categories - Sport, Studless and Studdable. The Sport/Performance sub-category are the winter Run Flat tires of each manufacturer or the specially created tires for sport cars, but I myself would not spent my hard earned money on them as they are priced similar to the other two categories, but does not have the same capabilities in snow. The Staddable tires are special order tires only in all the places that provide them in the USA and are banned in most states for use on regular roads. These are the best tires for deep snow and ice due to having tiny metal studs molded into the rubber of the tire, but could be dangerous if used on roads not covered in snow or light snow. Finally best suited winter tire for regular use are the Studless category. According to the Canadian Cars magazine best ones were the Nokian Hakapelita R2/Hakka 8 and Bridgestone Blizzak WS 8. The last one is carried in most tire places. Hakka 8 was recently replaced by the Hakka 9 which is the current best tire for snow. For people who want a good winter tire on a budget the Nordman 5 or 7 comes to mind along with General Altimax Arctic 12. Best studless tire for ice is the Michelin X-ICE Xi3.
