I agree. What I was intending to say was that it's better to either get an all weather tire with good overall performance or dedicated winter tires. The WR-G4 scores pretty low in a lot of non-winter areas but still does not offer winter performance of a dedicated winter tire. The better "all weather" tires such as the Goodyear WeatherReady and Michelin Cross Climate score much better overall compared to the WR-G4 and probably are close or equal to it in winter conditions. Some of the better non-winter rated all season tires such as the Continental Pure Contact LS and General Altimax also do relatively well in the snow, probably close to the "all weather" tires.Careful...
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May be better than M&S, but aren't on the same tier as a winter tire.
I just bought a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2s for about $96/each and a set of wheels for $65/each. I'll keep wear off of my M+S all-terrains that cost more and have superior winter performance. Seems like a win-win.
Where did you find them for $96 each? I'm shopping for a new set of winter tires/rims as I just bought a new car, and it seems like the best I can do is ~$100 each for Blizzak WS80s (either 215/60R16 or 205/65R16), or ~$115 for the WS90s. I want to get the Nokian R2s but I'm having trouble finding them; seems like they're replaced by the R3s which are $140 each.
The Michelin Cross Climate plus seems to be the class of the field. They actually are rated as a winter tire (3 peak mountain snowflake symbol), but perform very well in all conditions. However, the are pricey, and for some reason not widely available except from tire rack.