Need all season tire recommendations.

Looking to replace the tires on the 'ol Passat and need something inexpensive (~ $80ea or so) and good wet, decent snow traction as I am in SW-MI.

I just finished off a set of Fusion VRi's and was not happy with the wet/snow traction.

The car is a daily driver, so mileage & wet/snow traction are the most important.

Size is 205/55/16

Thanks for any input.

Kumho ASX

The Tire Rack or other tire sights have all kinds of info on traction capabilities.

In reply to iceracer:

Yeah, but I'm looking for real world feedback and the "consumer reviews" are hard to wade through and figure out who really to believe, being there are many factors that play into a tires performance. So many of the reviews are complaint types and the people seem to come across as the "whiney" types.

I've got the General Altimax HP's on my MPV. I like the aggresive unidirectional tread. I've got around 10k on them by now. They seem to be wearing fine. Very quiet tire. Good wet traction. Rates 97% as good as the best-in-class Michelins for way less scratch. Got mine through tire rack.

How much summer performance are you willing to give up for that winter traction?

The Falken Ziex has some snow capability, at least theoretically. The Sumitomo H4 has more snow capability, but its summer fun factor is lower than the Ziex.

Might you be best with a set of dedicated winter tires? Not necessarily something hard core like Blizzaks, but maybe the Dunlop Graspic.

I would be best off with a set of winter tires, but don't want to spend the money right now.

I really don't do any performance or spirited driving as I usually have a tool box and tools in the back of the car. Most all of the mileage is the commute to/from work and usually a 4hr round trip once a week.

I was looking at the Sumitomo's but the reviews for wet traction didn't seem to be good.

The General Altimax reviews seem to be good all around (at least the 1st 2 pages).

I am in the same boat.. I need new tyres for the saab. But being a higher performance car that might see some snow (not a lot) and about a month's worth of freezing conditions.. I can give up SOME winter use.. but not a lot

In reply to db:

Nokian WR. It's more like a snow tire with all-season capability than the other way around.

I am very happy with my Goodyear Eagle GT's in the same size. Very good dry performance, best tire in the wet I've ever driven on, and ok in the snow. Only problem I can see is that as of right now Tire Rack is listing them at $98 each. When I bought mine last year they were 80-85. 93celicaGT's suggestion of the Kuhmo's is another good one and right now they're only $78 a corner, but according to Tire Rack's testing they leave quite a bit of wet performance to the Goodyears.

Well, just perusing tirerack with your size and pricing, two do jump up, based on the survey results.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=Traction+T%2FA+T&partnum=065TR6TTAT&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes and http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+TRZ&partnum=065TR6TRZ&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

They are both cheap, have good reviews overall and good snow reviews. No personal experience with either tire.

db wrote: Looking to replace the tires on the 'ol Passat and need something inexpensive (~ $80ea or so) and good wet, decent snow traction as I am in SW-MI. I just finished off a set of Fusion VRi's and was not happy with the wet/snow traction. The car is a daily driver, so mileage & wet/snow traction are the most important. Size is 205/55/16 Thanks for any input.

Goodyear Assurance Comfort Tred. Seriously.

I keep saying: Continental DWS. It's a very nice tire under good conditions, and it's got best wet and snow traction of the all-seasons in Tire Rack testing, by a healthy margin. Not cheap but not expensive, either.

Well, I ended up with the General Altimax RT's. Hopefully I'll be happy with them.