Tires GT Radial or GENERAL TIRE

Currently running GTRadial Chamiro UHP1 tires and am about to install my 2nd set. They are CHEAP and almost as good at the Direzza Star Specs on my Porsche. I was shocked I got 20k miles out of them, they grip really well and don't get greasy easily at the track.

I have General Grabber AT2 on my XC70 ...I also recommend going with 16s, more sidewall means less likely to bend a wheel.

For a budget snow tire I have been using these now for 2 years and love them:

I love my General Grabbers and AT2's. They are a little rough on the street but an awesome tire off-road. The AT2's get stuck in the mud very easily though. I've had the AT2's on my daily for 4 years now with little wear and I drive an average of 14,000 miles a year.

I live in Maine... as you can expect we get plenty of snow/ice. Never needed studded tires unless I was driving on a giant sheet of ice i.e. frozen lake. I run General Altimax Arctics on my 4Motion Passat, about $80/tire in 16" sizes.

I have heard good things about GT Radials... I use "Road Hugger GT Eco" (aka Kumho something or other) and they have been great. Low noise, (relatively) good grip for being low rolling resistance.

check out General Altimax Arctic tires, Im on my 3rd season and they have plenty of life left to them and made my E30 a champ in the snow.

I bought a set of GT radial Champiro with the expectation that it will be just a crap daily driver set. They actually have really good grip for non race tires. Seriously, so much so that when I put the front set on and went to autocross, it caused my car to spin out because the front had more grip than the rear.

Put my 16" golf oem rims and general artimax tires on last night. So far very happy with the road noise and handling even in 60 degree temps here in NJ.

I have the Generals on my jetta. I don't think they're as good as the Michelin MXV4s that came on the jetta (those tires were the greatest in the world). But they are close and for half the price.