And the all weather tire award goes to... ...you help me decide.

Winter is coming and its time to get winters, or perhaps some all weathers. I am in Canada and will see regular winter weather for the next 5 months. On previous vehicles i have always had winter and summers. The winter tires were usually a Blizzak or a X-Ice. Both never dissapointed with good ride, quiet and performed in the worst.

Fast forward to my 3rd gen currently sitting on 265/65/17 Firestone Destination LE2's. They went through winter last season and did not terrible (cold wet traction kinda sucked) but were still far from a winter tire.

Rather than dealing with two sets of tires all weather tires have peaked my interest. Having the 3PSF symbol the insurance is happy and more importantly should provide adequate safety in bad conditions. After researching a bunch Ive come down to a shortlist of Nikian Rotiiva AT, Rotiiva AT Plus, and the Geolander G015. All selection will be for a P metric tire, I have no purpose for a heavier duty tire. Going to an light AT tire for me will see some benifit on camping trips. The Firestone's havent got me stuck yet but but theres been situations where they could have done better.

These tires are all in the ~$800 ballpark for me and depending on the model I may be pushed into a slightly larger diameter (Rotiiva AT Plus @ 265/70/17)

So Gents and Gals, whats my best option here? Ive had Yokohama's in the past and fount them all round great especially for the price. Whats the big difference between the AT and AT plus. My 2 most important factors for the tires (aside from overall performance) is gas mileage and noise.

 

I've had the Rotiiva AT's on my last 2 vehicles(Renegade & Cherokee), and I'm probably putting them on my 03' Taco in the near future...

 

I’ll just leave this here.....
https://youtu.be/DWGLMqUSm0U

This is the Falken AT3W going up against an actual winter tire. Falkens are highly regarded as a good winter all terrain and they do pretty poor in the video.

I know you want to go with one tire year round but in your climate I think that’s a bit crazy knowing what you’re sacrificing. But if you insist on one, I just ordered some non studded Cooper M+S to mount up for the winter. I’ve read quite a few reviews of people running them as year rounders. They are SL rated and 39lbs with 15/32” tread depth.

Random picture.

 

I researched going to single set of year round all weather tires and had focused in on Nokian Rotiva AT, but from what I read and learned talking to a tire shop guy here, the Winter traction portion of the tread would be worn thru around 30K miles (48K kilometers); at my annual average mileage of 15K to 18K, I'd need to replace tires at the beginning of Winter every other year to keep what I feel is acceptable Winter conditions traction. In general I get 4 Winters from a set of Blizzaks, and 5 to 6 Summers from whichever "Summer" AT I decide to run. So far, I like the GY Adventure AT that came OEM on my truck...I'll see how well they hold up. Already picked up another set of mounted Blizzaks, I'll be swapping to them for the Winter in the next couple of weeks.

 

I ran the Geolandar AT G015 in snow (on road) and it worked well enough I bought a set for my wife's CRV. In deeper snow the Wildpeak AT3W (p-metric) was better. Nothing will beat a true snow tire which is why my buddies in Anchorage run Blizzaks. Consumer Reports rated the G015 snow traction and ice breaking as very good. The Rotiiva AT rated excellent and good respectively. Comparitively the Wildpeak received a very good rating in those two categories. *shrug*

 

I think Im convinced. Those falcons in the vid look to perform no better than my LE2's. Sticking with dedicated winters. Just in ratings and reviews wet and ice traction is a big compromise. now Blizzak or X-ice?

 

Either do the job...I've always run Blizzaks...well last 9 yrs any way; driven friends vehicles with X-ice and IMGOBO if there's any difference, it's negligible. I'd go with whichever you can get the best deal on.

 

I'm in New Jersey, but November-March, I run Blizzak DM-V2 265/70R16 112R since I found a brand new set for $630 shipped. They've been so good to me, I'm hesitant to try anything else.

EDIT: I've heard of TW members running the same tire in a 245/75R16 111R. Not only are they a bit cheaper, they're presumably better in the snow since the width is 7.5% thinner.

 

Slid these on today. Probably won’t match up to Blizzaks or new premium snow tires but I think they’ll far outdoo them in the deep soupy stuff or off-road. $515 otd installed with certificates from discount. And a $50 rebate card coming in the mail. Only ran around town but seem so much smoother and quieter than the Duratracs.

 

I’m going in to my second Fairbanks Alaska winter on Cooper AT3 4S’s. They were new last winter and did great. They have 25k miles on them now and so far so good though we haven’t gotten any really winter Alaskan conditions yet. Been fine in 2-4” snow and slush and muck, probably won’t get a real deep freeze for a couple more weeks but I’d be confident using these in most lower 48 winter conditions as is. Braking is my big concern but won’t really get to test it until it ices over and the hard pack gets established. So far they’re better at 25k than the stock Bridgestone highway tires on my wife’s CRV, but she’s getting her snow tires on tomorrow. I’m really hoping they’ll be adequate for me this winter as I don’t want to have to have two sets of tires if I don’t have to. I’ll be stoked if I can get two winters and two summers from one set and replace them every other fall (I drive around 25-30k miles per year).

Where are you in Canada? The Yukon is way different than the Great Lakes or Atlantic coast obviously, do you see more heavy snow or more ice events? Do the roads stay covered or are they cleared quickly? Does it stay well below freezing or does it mostly fluctuate at below and above freezing?

 

I'm trying Cooper AT3 4S for this winter (calgary AB) and its been good so far, I wouldnt drive out to the mountains in the dead of winter with them, but for my daily drive this year they have been doing well.

Those Nokians wear like shit, don't perform well get stupid noisy over time.

Nothing beats a true winter tire, I'd go Xice for durability, Blizzaks for performance.

 

If I had to go get winter tires tomorrow, I’d get the Cooper M+S’s or General Arctic Altimax’s, with studs. Blizzaks are good but I still prefer a premium studded tire.

 

Studs for -30 for sure. Tread compound starts to mean nothing at that point and metal matters.

I had Hankook studded, they did well the first year, but the tread got super hard fast, and the performance degraded quickly.

 

I’ve run the Hankooks before, wasn’t a fan. Had almost the same experience.

 

I’ve had two sets of Rotiiva’s now, on two different trucks. I’ll probably go with them again when the current set wears out. Have Nordmans mounted on another set of rims as dedicated winters. Have to say, I preferred the Rotiiva’s the first winter they were on the truck. They seemed to handle better right around freezing, than my snow tires, when you get a layer of slush under a layer of snow. If you’re going the route of a single all year tire, they’re a good choice IMO. Depending on how much you drive though, you’ll probably only get one winter out of them. They do seem to wear fairly quickly. Unlike the user above though, I haven’t found them to be noisy as they wear. I’m also not in a Tacoma anymore, so that maybe the reason why.

 

With the help of the comments and doing anout 40kkm/yr, i have pulled the trigger on some Blizzak DM-V2's 255/70/17.