Car and Driver tested several studless snows and Nokian killed the competition
I have a set of 16" rims on order that will be getting Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 winter tires (205/55R16). They'll be getting installed at the end of October, after the car arrives.
I replaced them with Nokian Z-lines and I am loving it (cheaper too!)
I'm currently running Nokian eTyer02's A/S <700/AA Rating> on the stock 17''s. With regard to our marvelous New England weather (CT) in the winter- It's either going to be (Bridgestone)Blizzacks, (Nokian) Hakkapeliittas, or (Gislaved) NordFrosts. All on my stock wheels. I used to be a huge Goodyear and Continental Fan. Things changed. Getting older with two in college I sharpen my pencils often to get the absolute best while keeping as much $ in my pocket.
Dunlop SportMaxx RT. Best bang for buck IMO.
Everybody has their favorites based on dynamic values i.e., cost, grab & release, noise, and/or life of tire. I just completed a modified Cannonball Run with my daughter on her Spring Break from college. Near the end of our 2,300 mile run we arrived one night in Niagara Falls with 34 degrees and slick rain. When we left the following day we cruised south to NYC via Wyoming County NY which was 78 degrees and sunny. We made it to NYC a day later in pouring rain. My Nokian enTyers were superb! Quiet, all weather dominance, and (Subjectively) a slow wear rate. The OEM Continentals had a firmer sidewall and turned in great fuel mileage but the Nokians earned my loyalty with how quiet they are.
I installed Dunlop sport max RT summer tires and they work great and were priced good, I've had them on all winter too and I've driven them in 20-30° weather and they still performed very good, although I'm happy overall with the tire, they're almost worn out.
I wish there were more options but the OEM Dunlops are wearing well -- only about halfway worn at 25k miles. They are decent, quiet and have good grip (wet braking is very good) so I might just buy another set of them when the time comes.
As for the WRG2's - had them for less than two years. Rotated every 6500 miles. Very noisy starting at 18,000 miles and down to the bottom wear bars after 23,000 miles. There was no way they were going to make it through another winter. No treadwear warranty from Nokian. The Entyres are quiet and the ride & handling are very good. I only wish they had just a tad more grip in the Chicago snow, but overall I'm very happy with them.
The Dunlop's are worthless if you plan on doing any sort of off road driving. They were put on there to mainly optimize fuel consumption.
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