Traveling under snowy weather and on icy roads can be hard without the right type of tire. So, finding the best winter tires for your vehicle is a must to secure your own safety.
The slippery roads cause the regular tires on your vehicle to lose traction, making it hard to steer and control your car or van. That explains why you need to switch to winter tires.
What Is Winter Tire?
Winter tires, also known as snow tires, are designed specifically to facilitate your vehicle’s ability to travel on ice and snow under the harsh winter weather.
These tires have way larger gaps in their tread design in comparison to other conventional ones, which aids in increasing the traction between the rubber tires and the slippery roads.
Why You Should Buy A Snow Tire
For most trucks, cars, and SUVs, the default tires are the standard all-season tires. In most conditions, the design of these tires can keep your vehicle moving just fine. If there is a specific designation on the sidewall, they can even carry you across muddy terrain.
Snow tires, on the other hand, feature more flexible and softer tread compounds. They help create greater friction to the road surface even when they get stiffed by cold weather.
Their numerous small grooves or sipes help them dig deep into many different surfaces. This translates to improved handling and braking performance, allowing drivers to enjoy much safer and easier rides even in the harsh winter conditions.
Top 10 Best Winter Tires Review
1. Michelin X-Ice Xi3 Snow
Best For Performance
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $56.82 – $235.91 | Ratings | (6) | |||
The first candidate on our list is the performance-outstanding Michelin X-Ice Xi3, with a snow tires rating registered 98%. It offers features like cross Z sipes, micro-pumps, and FleX-Ice compound that can provide powerful traction and keep you safe while traveling through extreme winter conditions.
These sipes and pumps provide greater friction against slippery surfaces enabling you to handle your vehicles much more effectively, resulting in better braking performance. This can be very important for snowy days when there is limited and obscure vision.
Moreover, the contact patch’s unique shape helps maximize and extend its tread life. You can potentially use these products for multiple winter seasons, helping you somewhat to save money.
With a 10.5-inch tread depth and the capacity to carry heavy loads of up to 1279 pounds, you can easily maneuver your cars, minivans, or small trucks.
When it comes to ice traction in corners, these tires may fall short, forcing drivers to slow down more when taking a turn.
2. Continental VikingContact 7
Best For Big Cars
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″, 19″ and 20″. | Price Range | $90.00 – $204.00 | Ratings | (4) | |||
Owners of bigger vehicles, like SUVs and light trucks, tend to struggle with the same problem: braking or maneuvering on slippery roads is significantly difficult.
Understanding this issue, Continental brings you the VikingContact 7 with a studless design, perfect for people looking to enhance their vehicle during the wintertime.
The products provide excellent traction under extreme weather with neatly designed treads, which helps improve the braking plus handling of all the different types of cars and light trucks.
These top-rated snow tires are branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol, which means they meet the severe snow service requirements of the industry.
One thing to keep in mind is that Continental offers no warranty on tread wear, which is a minus for this brand.
3. Michelin Pilot Alpin 5
Best For Efficiency
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 18″, 19″, 20″ and 21″. | Price Range | $208.37 – $712.67 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
Not only does this Michelin product have a sustainable manufacturing process of using quality recycled rubber, but it also has a design that enables the reduction of fuel consumption.Â
They have stiffer sidewalls which reduce the amount of heat generated by the tire. Less unwanted heat from friction will result in less energy spending and more fuel efficiency, which is quite economical and helpful in combating the climate crisis.
Another feature that greatly contributes to lower fuel utilization is the capacity of 2469 pounds, allowing you to carry way heavier loads with just one drive.
Unfortunately, they are fairly costly, so they might not be the most suitable option for those on a tight budget.
4. Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 Winter & Snow Tire
Best Budget Value
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $98.11 to $231.56 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
This Bridgestone one is a low-budget yet powerful choice for you to consider. These tires come with very decent grips with a great tread depth of 11/32 inches, creating impressive traction on ice that ensures good handling and braking performance.
They are compatible with both cars and minivans due to the dimensions of 26.3 × 8.9 × 26.3 inches, making them a flexible product that you can use on many vehicles. It would be difficult to find this much value and flexibility at such an affordable cost.
The drawback is that they only have a 5-year warranty policy, which can be a deal breaker for those who value this factor.
5. Pirelli Ice Zero FR
Best For Overall
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $117.46 to $242.44 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
The Pirelli FR is at the top of our snow tires rating list, featuring outstanding features. Made of a special heat-resistant compound, this product aids in saving energy efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption, and lowering negative environmental impact.
The grip on most surfaces and snow retention are greatly improved thanks to the directed tread pattern design and the density of high sipes in the central area. Hence, the tires can keep you secure when driving through wet and icy surfaces.
The 3D Sipe Technology helps the tread blocks stay stable at high speed, up to 130 mph. Due to the stable rubber shoulders, this tire will also have enhanced performance on drier roads.
Despite the many great features mentioned above, they are not quite resilient and durable under warmer weather.
6. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3
Best For Comfort
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $107.00 to $472.00 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 is well known as the snow tire line in terms of comfort. Its non-studded design lessens the contact between the tire and ground surfaces, offering smooth travels on irregular surfaces with sharp edges preventing flat tires and bumpy rides.
With tread depth of 10/32 inches, the tires allow for relentless grips and facilitate controlled driving, making the journey more precise and enjoyable.
A comfortable ride also stems from a good size coverage in rims from 16 to 21 inches. The items come with an XL marking, which denotes the best size and fit for multiple car models.
One turn-off point is the R speed rating, meaning they can only go 106 mph under optimal conditions. This is relatively slow compared to the other suggestions on this list, which may frustrate high-speed fans.
7. Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c Winter Tire
Best For Breaking Ice
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 13″, 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $59.03 to $211.91 | Ratings | (6) | |||
The feature that undoubtedly makes this product is the circumferential power grooves. It helps chew up the ice and spit it out to keep the rubber in contact with the road.
An extra-wide center rib with large controlling blocks in the treads gives these iG52c tires powerful grips onto the icy road underneath, enhancing sudden braking capability.
The item comes with more biting edges, which provides improved traction regardless of road conditions, as well as a smooth and comfortable ride for passengers. As one of the best snow tires, their price is quite high. Plus, with dimensions of 25 × 25 × 12 inches, they are not suitable for big vehicles such as heavy-duty trucks.
8. Michelin X-Ice Snow Winter Tire
Best For Deep Snow
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″ and 19″. | Price Range | $102.99 to $413.99 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
What makes these tires ideal on packed snow are the increased void ratio and V-shaped tread pattern. These characteristics increase hydroplaning resistance while also improving snow, slush, and wet evacuation.
The interlocking 3D sipes running laterally across the center zone enhance stopping and starting power, preventing your car from getting stuck on ice patches or in deep snow.Â
One improvement that can make this product better is increasing the ice traction when turning a corner so that your car can perform smoother turns.
9. Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 Winter Tire
Best For Extra Load
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 14″, 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″, 19″, 20″, 21″ and 22″. | Price Range | Ratings | No review yet | | |||
With Bridgestone LM005, you won’t need to worry about moving heavier loads in cold winters anymore, all thanks to its powerful studless construction, which can enable a weight capacity of up to 3062.2 pounds.
The revolutionary Nano-selective Material Mixing Technology enhances silica dispersion and overall load resistance throughout the season. Also, the zig-zag grooves allow for superior channeling of water away from the surface of the tire, resulting in better grips onto the road.
Warranty regarding materials and workmanship will include a 5-year prorated until 2/32 inches remaining depth. This shorter warranty compared to other brands is one downside of these tires.
10. Goodyear UltraGrip Performance Tire
Best For Various Surface Conditions
| Key Feature | | Tire Size | 15″, 16″, 17″, 18″, 19″, 20″, 21″ and 22″. | Price Range | ‎$77.55 to $90.87 | Ratings | No review yet | | ||
An asymmetric design allows for a superb water evacuation feature that is optimal for driving conditions of both wet and dry roads. Treadlife also benefits from this design with increased durability no matter the season.
They are long-lasting and durable tires, thanks to Goodyear’s tread rubber compound. They can give optimized and extended uses for all seasons, especially in the winter, since this compound helps the tires stay soft well below 42°F.Â
These tires are quite big, however. You might find it difficult to store them in a spare tire trunk and have a harder time changing these tires.
FAQs
What Is The Best Type Of Tire For Snow And Ice?
Well, winter tires, no surprises there. Snow tires are typically made of materials such as silica, which is more pliable at frigid temperatures. The tires’ tread stays in close contact with the road surface, resulting in improved grip and safer driving.
Do You Need Winter Tires With AWD?
In moderate snow, you can usually get by with your all-wheel drives (AWDs) with all-season tires. However, this would be a disastrous combo on slippery surfaces.
You should have winter tires for your AWD if you’re driving in icy conditions or during a blizzard, or else your car will slip and slide on the snowy roads since its tires do not have enough tread.
What Is The Lifespan Of Winter Tires?
Winter tires can last somewhere between four to six winter seasons. Nonetheless, depending on the quality of maintenance and care they receive, the time can be prolonged or shortened.
Conclusion
In short, knowing which tires are the best winter tire is critical because they assist you in traveling more effectively and safely through the snowy terrain of winter.
Suppose you are still confused; Pirelli Ice Zero FR Winter Tire is our top pick considering its superiority in tread depth, load capacity, and speed rating.
