Tires Falken or BRIDGESTONE

I had Blizzak WS90s on my RWD BMW for all five years I owned it. My wife has an AWD SUV with all weather tires. She drove the BMW once in the snow and was shocked to find she felt safer in it than her SUV. The only real advantage AWD gives you in the snow is traction to get moving. Once you’re moving, which wheels are propelling you is much less important. What becomes important then is your ability to stop and maneuver. And that is dictated by your tires.

Falken Wildpeaks A/T3W. They are great in rain, mud, snow, and are not loud on the highway. A bit pricey though, about $220 per tire.

These Falkens were great in the snow and the very little dirt road driving I’ve done.

The Blizzaks are excellent on a heavier SUV (my old shitbox Wrangler) and served me very well last winter going between the mainland and Cape Breton

I have the Falken Sincera SN250 A/S and looking on Tire Rack, they seem to be a direct upgrade to your Laufenns for about $10 more each. Might be worth a try. I've found them to be quiet and absorbing of bumps and road weirdness. Also lightweight feeling.

Blizzak hands down. I get 3 winters out of a set no problem.

Bought a set of Blizzak WS90s two years ago and they have tons of tread left after two seasons. Wear obviously depends on how you drive, but mine have held up great for regular commuting and trips to the valley. Very good at handling deep snow, never got stuck.

Bridgestone - from a handling perspective they are great - from a road noise perspective - they are a bit loud. I won't buy them again, but I'm certainly not throwing them away.

Mine were down to 50% tread and didn't have enough traction on snow at ~20k miles. If you drive on serious snow, consider getting rid of them by 15 to 20k miles.

My Crosstrek Limited came with the same Falkens. They were performing poorly in the wet when only half worn. I replaced them at 23k miles when they had 4/32" before winter.