Best Tires for Volkswagen Passat

I'm currently running Nokian eTyer02's A/S <700/AA Rating> on the stock 17''s. With regard to our marvelous New England weather (CT) in the winter- It's either going to be (Bridgestone)Blizzacks, (Nokian) Hakkapeliittas, or (Gislaved) NordFrosts. All on my stock wheels. I used to be a huge Goodyear and Continental Fan. Things changed. Getting older with two in college I sharpen my pencils often to get the absolute best while keeping as much $ in my pocket.

Purchased four new Continental PureContact Tire 215/55R16XL 97H from Walmart in Yorktown for $107 each - installed on OEM 16x7 Catalunya wheels at 109242 miles.

Everybody has their favorites based on dynamic values i.e., cost, grab & release, noise, and/or life of tire. I just completed a modified Cannonball Run with my daughter on her Spring Break from college. Near the end of our 2,300 mile run we arrived one night in Niagara Falls with 34 degrees and slick rain. When we left the following day we cruised south to NYC via Wyoming County NY which was 78 degrees and sunny. We made it to NYC a day later in pouring rain. My Nokian enTyers were superb! Quiet, all weather dominance, and (Subjectively) a slow wear rate. The OEM Continentals had a firmer sidewall and turned in great fuel mileage but the Nokians earned my loyalty with how quiet they are.

Replaced the OEM Hankooks with Michelin Premier A/S; much improved wet and dry traction and far less road noise. The Hankooks were crap.

I have had two sets of Michelin Premier A/S on my Passats and I swear by them. They wear extremely well and perform excellent on wet and snow/ice. On both sets, I've gotten well past the tread wear rating.

Had the OEM Bridgestones until ~28k miles. They were ok, squirrly in wet especially as they aged, not great in snow. Replaced with Continental PureContact w/EcoPlus. Had them until about 70k miles. Great tires, handled everything better than OEM and one of the best wet tires I have ever owned. Good in snow and a solid dry handler as well. Still had 5/32 but decided to get rid of them now and get use out of a new set through the winter and for the next 2 years of ownership until I plan on parting ways with the car. Now have had the Pirelli Cinturato P7 for a few months and 4k miles. I would rate them more or less equal with the PureContacts when they were new but I would give a slight edge to the PureContacts all around, they seemed slightly more sporty while not giving up much up in ride quality. They are both quiet and good performance grand touring tires that fit the character of the stock Passat very well. Very similar tires with the P7 having what seems to me to be a slightly softer sidewall compared to the 2 previous tires where those did not show any squatting in the sidewall around 32-34 psi. If I was to do it again I would buy the Continental PureContacts. I just liked them a little more than the Pirellis but you really can't go wrong with either. I am certainly not upset I tried the P7s and still think it is a nice tire.

I recently went through this with my 2012 Passat with 18s on it. I decided to try something different. I did the BF Goodrich Comp 2 A/S tires. Very reasonably priced, Z rated, and has extremely good ratings for dry, wet and snow. So far I am very pleased.

The Kumho's aren't that bad in noise, until you get to the halfway point, then it starts to get noisy.

Vw has used crappy American Goodyear Eagle LS-2 back on the mk4 and b6 passat days. So crappy VW issues a TSB for abnormal wear rates.

Riding on Pirellis Cinturatos P7 now. IMO best tire for the Passat. The hankooks had no grip even in very light snow. Rain driving was scary, loud on highway. I couldn't risk driving my family with them.