I would recommend Cooper's Discoverer MS. We had them on a county work vehicle last winter. They were fantastic. They are the new style tread with many small sipes, soft tread compond and good size lugs. They are availble in 265/70/17 which is slightly taller then stock but may work.

 

I can't find the price on this tire... also heard its better to go with lower sidewall (less then 65 in our case) then higher for better snow traction.
anyway do you know whats the price on them...
as of now i'm leaning toward buying BLIZZAK or Open Country G02

 

I did a quick web search and found studded for $156/tire and $136/tire not studded.
My next choice would be a set of Nokian "Hakkapeliittas" for about $200/tire. I think the Coopers are made for maximum traction with likely a little more tread squirm and noise where as the Nokians are more performance oriented and a little nicer ride. I personally don't need "performance" in the snow and prefer the most traction. By the way, the website was www.tiresbyweb.com

 

yeh Performance is not my concern either... but most times roads r paved here and last thing i need is road noise... so i'm very concerned about road noise n comfort when driving on paved roads. Driving in deep snow would not be a common thing for me...

on another note... the price of coopers tire is more then i expected. coz as of now i'm getting toyo's for only 160 each and Blizzaks for also 155 each (installed prices)... they r fairly better tires... toyos open country G02 is nicely rated and even my local guy thinks i should go with them.... There's another brand called Continental Vikings for only 100 each.. so Cooper are definately out.. Thanks Anyway.

 

Reviving this old thread. Any further recommendations on snow tires?

Any comments on the Michelin X-Ice?

 

I have been using Blizzak's on the GX and I have seen a lot of snow and they are truly amizing tires. Stick like studs but quiet! Use to run Nokian's but this is my second set of Blizzak's

 

Check out the Toyos. I ride with those since 2001 and I love them, I did try the Michelin X-Ice prior to Toyos on my Pathfinder (they are awesome but I felt they degraded fast in the 2nd year) and prior to that; I had Blizzaks on my Grand Cherokee and I prefered both the Michelin and Toyos. Could have been the truck not behaving as well in the snow.

Side note, the owners of 2 Toyota and Lexus dealers in Montreal ride on Toyo Observe G02+ tires, I figured if they too agree, i'll stick to what works. Those tires were designed specifically with harsh Canadian winters in mind. They are not standard offering in the States, but you can order them easily through your dealer or any serious tire shop.

They were highly recommended in a review done by Protegez-Vous, our domestic version of consumer digest in Quebec. Nokians were highly rated too if I remember. I will scan the ratings if I can find the magazine.

http://www.toyocanada.com/products/OPATG02plus.asp

Cheers

Ben

 

Couple comments:

1) we have a torsen center diff, which is able to shift torque between the front and rear axles up to (IIRC) 100% when one end loses traction. What your SA was referring to is the "static" distribution of our torsen -- how it delivers power when no loss of traction is detected. 99% of torsens are 50/50 static. Ours, and some performance AWD cars like the Audi RS4 have the 40/60 model. This gives more of a "rear wheel drive feel" in normal driving conditions.

2) As others have alluded to, there's a significant difference between A/S or M&S (mud & snow) tires and a dedicated studless winter tire (like a blizzak). The primary differences are: tread pattern and the composition of the "rubber". Blizzak pioneered an "open cell" rubber that does a great job gripping ice -- much better than standard rubber. We've been running dedicated winter tires on our audi now for 5+ years and swear by it. Much better traction than my gx on cross-terrains...