Question All-Season vs. All-Weather Tires

I need to replace the tires on my 2007 Toyota Sienna. I currently have about 5/32" tread left on my Yokohama Avid tires. I have been happy with the Yokohama tires but think I might be better served by either an all-weather or winter tire. We just called our local Toyota dealership and asked what winter or all-weather tires they have and they do not carry any. Discount Tire has the Bridgestone Blizzak in stock.

We live in mid-Michigan and I drive my youngest to and from school everyday. It is a 32 mile round trip, so I drive at least 64 miles Monday-Friday. The roads are not salted/plowed before we leave in the morning and some of the roads will not be clear in the afternoon either. I also drive the kids to after school activities 3 days a week and trips to doctors 60 miles away a couple of times a month. Should I get a winter/all-weather tire or go with the all-season?

Dh also needs new tires for his Sienna. He drives about 10 miles roundtrip Monday-Friday. Would he be okay going with the Yokohama Avid?

We always put Winterforce tires on our van for winter.....also live in Michigan.

In my opinion, nothing beats a good set of winter tires. 'All-season' tires start to harden at +7C and you'll get a MUCH better stopping distance with winter tires. I've driven without winter tires (used to drive 100+ KM a day without), and got them when I bought my Corolla and couldn't believe I'd driven so long without them. Just paid lots of money to put them on my RAV4 and I'd pay it all over again-- we just had an ice storm that started while I was on the road and I couldn't believe how great my tires are (neither traction control or 4wd kicked in at all)... you could definitly tell who was driving without winter tires!

I've heard good things about all-weather tires, but haven't tried them myself. When I bought my winters, the guy tried to sell me a set of all-weathers, but as the car came with 'all seasons' I didn't really need all-weathers. I think if my all-seasons were going out anyway, I'd get a set of all-weather-- you'd need to replace them more often (obviously), but it would definitly save tire changing, storage, etc. And if you're in the market for two sets anyway (winter & all-seasons), all-weather may be the way to go.

I ordered Michelin X-Ice Xi2 from tirerack.com and I've been very happy with them. I also bought them with rims so I can easily change them for my all seasons at home and not have to worry about going to the tire place.

We live in Chicago with similar weather, but don't have the issue with unplowed snow. So, all-seasons have been the best compromise for us.

Lacking AWD and having a long drive in unplowed conditions, a set of all-weather tires would be a better compromise if you don't want to deal with swapping out every fall and spring and storing the other set of all-seasons.

CR calls all-weather tires as "Performance Winter" tires and their top rated models are the Nokia WRG2, Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 and Hankook Winter icept evo. The Pilot Alpin is also top of the small category at Tire Rack, but they don't carry the Nokian or Hankook for comparison. The usual tradeoffs with a top all-season tire are tread life, noise and dry road performance, but no so much as true winter tires of course.

Hello to all! I found this forum whilst searching for other stuff... I'm a dad of two boys (one 5yrs, one 5mos) and professionally I'm a race engineer and pro-driver and safe driver advocate... Enough for the intro

I've lived in the snow belt my entire life (Chicago and now SW Michigan); every car I've owned has had two sets of tires/ wheels: one for summer, one set for winter. As the above folks have stated there's no substitute for a proper winter-optimized tire on all four wheels!

Skeptical? Then find a friend or co-worker who has winter tires on their car and go for a test drive during the next snow fall; you will not believe the difference! It's like the difference between walking in snow wearing proper boots vs. your bedroom slippers...

Here's a nice write up from Car & Driver's last winter tire test where they address all-wheel-drive on all-season tires vs. two wheel drive and winter tires: caranddriver. com/comparisons/what-about-all-wheel-drive-page-8"]http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/what-about-all-wheel-drive-page-8

Here's one quote:

"Often cited as the transportation cure for winter climates, all-wheel drive is far from a silver bullet. In previous tests, we’ve discovered that an all-wheel-drive vehicle with all-season tires can outaccelerate either a front- or rear-driver on winter rubber, but that’s where the advantage ends. The additional traction of winter tires allows a two-wheel-drive car to outbrake, outturn, and generally outmaneuver its all-wheel-drive brethren. Of course, the unstoppable winter option that can impart visions of rally-driving heroism is the combination of all-wheel drive and winter tires, but possessing all-wheel drive generally sacrifices a rear-drive car’s handling balance in the dry, adds a couple hundred pounds, and comes with a fuel-economy penalty. That’s why our preferred choice is to buy a second set of tires to get through the winter—almost always cheaper than the price of all-wheel drive—while relishing the superior dynamics of rear-wheel drive the rest of the year."​

Here's my short blog articles regarding separationofcontrols. com/posts/how-to-drive-in-snow and separationofcontrols /posts/what-does-turn-into-the-skid-mean/ .

Hope this helps someone make the right choice when it comes to THE most important part of your car by far: the tire!

Best,
Rob Schermerhorn
Kalamazoo, MI