Budget cuts have forced me to scrap the preferred plan of using the OEM rims with WINTER tires in the snow and purchasing new wheels and tires for next summer. Instead the OEM rims will be used all year...for the next couple years.

My question is, what truely is the best ALL season tire. Not something that is ok in a Kentucky snow...I need to be able to drive in an all-out Wisconsin snow storm. The catch is that I'd prefer not to give up much performance when summer comes back around...and of course low cost wouldn't hurt. Just looking for some suggestions / personal experiences.

I know you are all sick of the tires questions...but a little help is appreciated! :o

Pirelli PZero Nero 245/40-18's. I just bought a set of them 2 weeks ago. So far i've just been able to drive them on dry and wet roads. They are an ultra high performance all season tire, so you won't lose much performance on the dry. I'm loving them so far. Haven't had a chance to try them in the snow yet though, but I hear that they will do an awesome job on that too. I don't get much snow where I am, but I will comment on them better when I do. If you go to tirerack.com they have comparison charts for all of their tires. It's good reading. Just select ultra high performance all season and they will show a chart of all those tires rated against one another. Good luck.....

i don't think ANY all-season tires will be able to fight well against a wisconsin blizzard...

Pirelli PZero Nero 245/40-18's. I just bought a set of them 2 weeks ago. So far i've just been able to drive them on dry and wet roads. They are an ultra high performance all season tire, so you won't lose much performance on the dry. I'm loving them so far. Haven't had a chance to try them in the snow yet though, but I hear that they will do an awesome job on that too. I don't get much snow where I am, but I will comment on them better when I do. If you go to tirerack.com they have comparison charts for all of their tires. It's good reading. Just select ultra high performance all season and they will show a chart of all those tires rated against one another. Good luck.....

In the November 2005 Road and Track they review the PZero Nero M+S in the snow, and describe it as having a bias towards summer performance. I couldn't find the article on-line yet though.

I'm currently leaning towards the Toyo Proxes 4, since I've heard good things about them here.

the michelin pilots are pretty good, we really don't have seasons here in Aiustin but while I had them on my truck (lowered with 18s etc.) they were pretty decent, most noticably in crappy weather with my rwd truck with no weight ion the back :D but they're really proud of them too so you might want to look elsewhere if you don't want to spend a ton of money.

I bought the Avon All seasons and like them alot on dry and wet roads. I am going to try them this winter in Buffalo NY. The Avons are very highly rated at Tire Rack. Check them out.

Ok, first off, don't even think about buying Dunlop SP Sport 5000 DSSTs if you need them in snow. I made this mistake last fall only to find that they grip about as well as summer tires on snow. Seriously - even a light dusting was too much for these tires to handle.

I've since put on Continental ContiExtremeContacts in 245/40/18, and the A/S performance is much better. You definitely give up some dry traction with these tires, but the performance in rain and snow is excellent for a tire in this class.

What's "snow"?

-Kabong

get another set of cheap wheels and mount the snow tires on em, or you WILL kill yourself and possibly others. I would definitly get winter tires if I was driving my car in the snow

Nokian WR (replaced NRW as their snow tilted A/S tire)

Just get a set of cheap 17 inch rims with snow tires. They are definetly worth it.

I remember reading an article somewhere about how "all-season" doesn't mean that it is a good tire for snow, it just means its slightly better than a regularly patterened summer tire.

They're called NO SEASON tires, not all season !!! They do a poor job in all conditions.

There is probably no all-season tire that will handle well in an all-out snow storm in Wisconsin. I have PZero Nero's, and while they are probably among th better all-season tires, they are not as good as snow tires on a RWD car (which I drove for 20 years) or even as good as all-seasons on a FWD car (which I drove for 15 years).