I'm looking at a few tires for the winter here and have more or less narrowed them down to two albeit I'm accepting any other suggestions. Driving involves approx. 80% highway, 20% gravel/dirt/offroad (lease roads). I have a pair of stock tires now that have a decent amount of tread on them but will only be good for the summer, are not strong enough for any offroading and likely dismal in muddy situations.
1) Goodyear Duratrac
- Adequate for all year
- Could get studs put in for the winter to increase ice traction and taken out for the remainder of the year
- Not a dedicated snow/ice tire
2) Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT
- Dedicated winter tire, can use the other set for summer
- Might not even need to bother with studs
- Could have accelerated wear on the lease roads
Both are E-class, 10ply which means that they will be tough enough for any offroad use and towing later if I do any. Road noise isn't much of a concern for me. Price between the two is negligible. They are both studdable.
A bit of research led me here. This quote really stuck out to me:
Later in that article, they mentioned the Nokian WRG2 SUV which is an all-weather tire that they report performed better than some dedicated winter tires. (1) I'm not quite convinced as they don't specify what tires it beat and how much better it was and (2) I need to look further if they are strong enough for any lease road driving as most conventional winter tire are so soft I suspect the lugs may get torn off/shreaded.Recently, a new class of FOUR season tire has appeared. These tires from Nokian, Yokohama and Hankook, to name three brands, carry the mountain and snowflake logo, but their manufacturers also recommend them for summer use. They are marketed as All-Weather tires. From what the APA has seen, these tires use a hybrid tread that manages to meet the winter tire traction requirement in snow, combined with the harder compound more typical of a conventional all-season tire. The compromise? Ice traction is not covered by the snow tire standard, an unfortunate ommission that should have been corrected
I had also read somewhere that studs below certain temperatures were less effective than studless tires because of the way the compound works. This was on a random forum though so who knows what the legitimacy behind it is.
After all this rambling, does anyone have any feedback or suggestions? Opinions if you've ran either of these tires in the winter and the type of driving you do would be appreciated.