all-season AWD tires for snow

oops, I forgot. the vehicle is an Impreza Outback.

I live in Reno and for a very long time I used to travel weekly to San Francisco.

I would be coming back to Reno late at night approx.

10:00-11:00PM. Winter road conditions at this time of day, or should I say night, are almost always nasty on I-80, so I needed tires that would behave well on snow/slush, but not be winter tires, per se, as Reno sees little snow, and Bay Area none at all.

I solved the tire problem/dilemma by purchasing "rain" tires (Michelin RainForce). These were excellent in rain, and also very good in slush and snow. Eventually I got an AWD Subaru but for a long time these and a set of Spikes-Spyder did the job.

I would strongly suggest you look around for rain tires!

These are all-season tires with a slant for cooler weather, that is, thread design is good for slush, and the rubber compound is formulated for cooler weather. As I recall the RainForces weren't very expensive either. I am sure you could find something for less than 100$ that would fit the Impreza.

Anyway, this is probably your best bet for all-season type tires. Check Tirerack.com I think they list some rain type tires.

M.J.

I forgot to add, you may want to look for rain tires with a more aggressive type thread. I've had these:

Some rain tires thread can be very smooth, as the Goodyear Aquas, These would probably not be as good on dry snow. Choose a more aggressive thread.

M.J.

There is no such thing as an "AWD" tire. Tires are either summer-only (warm weather compound), all-season, or winter. Most all-season and winter tires will have the "M+S" rating for "mud and snow". All-season tires are by necessity a compromise, but depending on the conditions you drive in they can serve you very well if you get the right ones. The best all-seasons will give very good performance in dry and wet conditions as well as decent performance in light to moderate snow. However for driving in heavy snow you're best off with full-out winter tires. Based on my experience here in NY, as well as that of many others, I'd suggest you look into a set of Pirelli P-Zero Neros. They are the highest rated performance all-seasons and should serve you well in whatever conditions you are likely to encounter except perhaps very deep snow. Also I'd recommend a call to Tire Rack to discuss your tire needs, they can clarify some things for you about how tires are rated and make some suggestions.

Another tire worth considering is the Nokian WR. They have an 80,000km wear warranty AND a "severe weather" rating. I use them on my STI up here in Toronto for 3 seasons, and put the OEM Potenzas on for the summer. I do a lot of gravel backroad fun driving, and they work well there, and they're also good in snow, although I've never been sure how much of that is due to the AWD. On dry pavement, they're a little squirmy compared to the Potenzas, but not all that bad, and only when you approach the limit, which is rare on the street (at least for me).

Nokian is Finnish, and I think of them every time I see that commercial on TV where the investment guy is watching them tire testing on ice, and the other guy says "Russia is right over there, isn't it?".

...Ron

Full disclosure - I work for Goodyear - that said, I encourage you to go to a site like Tire Rack and do a comparison on all-season tires. A leading consumer magazine rated our Assurance with TripleTred Technology the best overall -- I've had them on my Honda Accord for a year and a half, and they are simply outstanding in the cold, slush, rain and snow of northeastern Ohio. They also perform very well in summer conditions -- i.e., the handling is very good. The sort of combination driving you describe is the whole reason for the Assurance TripleTreds to exist -- there is also an SUV version of the tires -- Fortera with TripleTred -- that I have on my Honda Element -- in case you are rolling on a larger vehicle.

A word on winter tires -- they are compounded especially for colder weather, as well as being agressively siped and blocked for wet, slush, snow and ice. I've had great success with the UltraGrip Ice tires -- my first winter here I replaced my Michelins with the winter tires, and until driving on Assurance, I intended to switch each winter. For you, as a weekend snow-driver, they're impractical.

I offer this information in the spirit of offering help -- and encourage you to research carefully even as I hope you'll give Goodyear and Dunlop a good look.

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snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

Thank you all for the suggestions. I did look at TireRack and did not like their classification - touring, grand touring, perfomance, high perfomance, utra high... etc E.g. I looked at the Yokohama AVIDS (they get decent ratings), and "High performance" cost less than "Touring". Also, the definition of "performance" was confusing ("perform" well in what? snow? rain? dry? aggressive driving?). I want long tread life, smooth ride on the highway, and decent handling in the snow/rain, and I don't care about being ahead of everybody when the light turns green.

I live in the bay area as well. Last winter i made a few unrecommended trips to the sierra with the stock STI wheels.

I changed those out with the Kuhmo ecsta ASX. Its an all season tire i just picke dup for relatively cheap form a local store. With those, it was actually difficult to get the car to slip in the snow.. even heavy snow conditions. I know this becuase i made a concerted effort to find the limitations.. In the dry, the tires will squeal a little bit if you drive like a jerk in the mountains.

I commute from the santa cruz mountains out to the valley everyday.. My only complaint about these tires was that after the winter was over and the full on summer set in, the tires started to deteriorate faster.. I got more than 8 months out of these tires which is good considering how i abused them.

Since winter is just about here again, i may try another set of these. Hope that helps.

No affiliation with Goodyear here. I put Assurance TripleTred on my wife's Forester in April. Amazing tire. Grip in wet conditions is exceptional, also feels very solid dry. Based on this and on reviews, I'd expect them to perform much better than the OEM Bridgestones (at the very least!).

Too bad Goodyears does not make the size that would fit on my old Impreza...

Try the Goodyear Triple treads Tirerack.com and consumers reports both have them rated as the TOP all-season tire. I have them on my 04 Forester and can honestly say they are the best tire I have ever driven.

True. However - there's no real standard for whether or not a tire really is suitable for "mud and snow" other than the manufacturer's say-so.

Absolutely. Many of the highest tread-life tires are all-seasons. In general I find that Summer tires tends towards higher performance versions with overall lower tread-life. There are exceptions.

I have those, and am getting rid of them this weekend in favor of Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position in the stock WRX P205/55R15 size. If you read my thread on "inside shoulder wear", I noted that the inner shoulder was wearing prematurely and couldn't be accounted for with alignment readings alone. They were relatively quiet and handled well, but I think I'm ready to try something different. I got 19K miles on them, but they looked like they could go 45K miles on the center of the tread.

The P Zero Nero M+S doesn't look like an all-season tire, and I really don't think of it as such. I did OK in some fresh snow when they were new, but I'm not sure if that was really a good idea to market them as all-seasons. The tread pattern is identical to their P Zero Nero (Summer) tire, although a Pirelli rep said the main difference is in the carcass (which reduces the contact patch) and the tread compound used (won't harden as much at cold temps). It's not even moderately siped like most all-seasons.

When I got the P Zero Nero M+S, I wasn't all that concerned with winter performance, since I live in the SF Bay Area. I was primarily looked for long treadwear, good handling, and wet weather safety. Two out of three ain't bad. I did try taking my ride up to the Sierras just out of a sense of adventure.

If you're really looking for a good brand-name all-season tire in the same category, here are a few that I've considered (in P205/55R16):

Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (pricey though) Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Continental ContiExtremeContact Yokohama ADVAN S.4 Yokohama AVID V4S

There are no tires I know of that are specifically designed for AWD vehicles. Even many off-road tires are identically supplied on the

2wd and 4wd versions of light trucks.