Best bang for the buck, Hankook W300 for me.
I have Hankook Ice Bear W300's on the Mazdaspeed 3 and I like them a lot. I actually first used them on the Miata. Not the most extreme winter tire but NJ has very mild winters and they behave a lot like an all season in the dry which is perfect for me.
generally i buy BFG or Michelin, as when i worked in a garage, they were the best wearing, least problematic, and best performing tires for my needs.... Falkens/goodyears/bridgestones wear great tires (assuming they bought the correct tire for their application) but each had their troubles... often times it was customer maintinence, people never aligned, checked pressure, or other random issues... other times it was the tires generally wearing out too damned fast, as seen with most of the newer goodyears, and on a trip to test drive for goodyear, they even told me that they were having some issues with wear... bridgestones just never impressed me for the price, as there was a BFG G-force in the mix that was always as good...
I've run a couple of sets of Hankook Ice Bears: 225/40/18's on the stock MS3 wheels - My primary winter setup. The car performed wonderfully. Aside from being a plow at some points (my car is lowered), the traction control + LSD + snow tires made for a flawless snow driver.
Enkei Raijin 18x8, BF Goodrich g-force comp AS 2 plus
I may try these next season. I'm currently on my second season with a set of Hankook W404's, and I've been very happy with them. The dry handling/performance most likely falls short of the iPike's, but I believe the W404's provide a bit more snow and ice traction, which was my main concern.
Coming back from Whistler on Thursday, a 5 hour stand still... The tires worked great on ice / snow.
I have the same tires on my Golf, we had 15\" of snow last week and the car behaved wonderfully. I only got stuck once, in my driveway because I was snow plowing. I've taken my car up to Mt. Baker a few times and was able to drive on snow and some ice.
those look decent I have hancook snow tires myself but a different model. They are loud, ride quality sucks, I can spin the tires without trying (not a good thing) and I can't turn hard with them but they are great in the snow which is all that matters
I would not buy Hankook or Kumho again, personally... not for daily-driver tires anyway.
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