Tires MICHELIN or BRIDGESTONE

Allround great tyre with an actual chance to work in snow etc.

The Blizzak we have are 9 years old, but they are still in a good condition. We drive about 10k km/yr. So I guess the extra price you pay for top brand winter tires is for durability. I know there’s also comfort and noise level difference between good and less-good tires, but again I don’t feel any difference.

We have a set on a Crosstrek and they're fantastic

We have them on our crossover and they're excellent all year in Anchorage weather. Many of the responses comparing them to all season tires are misguided. The "all weather" tire is a different type of tire from an "all season" and they perform relativley close to many dedicated snow tires. They are a true year round tire for Anchorage weather. Never had an issue going anywhere around the state in winter including up to the ski hills in all conditions, running up to Fairbanks, or down to the Kenai.

It does depend on what and how you drive as well if you have an awd vehicle and a reasonably decent driver you should be good to go? If it's only 2wd I might lean toward separate snow tires, but they're probably fine for a front wheel drive car as well. For awd - I'd go for the crossclimates. I'd buy again if I were buying for our CUV today. I might even put them on my truck if they were available in truck sizes. Unfortunately the truck size crossclimate only shares the name, but not much else.

Just for a comparison from actual testing data I found that was done on the same car, same day, same track for snow braking distance from 20mph to 5mph:

Summer tire 120.9 feet

All Season tire 44.8 feet

CrossClimate2 36.8 feet

Winter Tire 34.7 feet.

The Crossclimate is about 5% different from the winter tire like the Blizzak, 30% better than the all season, and about 3.5 times shorter braking distance than the summer tires. Acceleration tests were similar on snow.

My personal experience is similar that I'd guess they're about 90% of the way to a winter tire vs a summer tire. And you don't have to swap them twice a year.

I run Blizzaks on my XC70 in the winter, and it's a utter MONSTER in the snow. I've embarrassed 4WD vehicles with good tires on snowy forest roads. I went into the mountains early season last year with just the all-seasons on after a minor snow event (a couple inches, plows had been through) and skidded slightly off a plowed gravel road onto a soft shoulder. Never would have happened with the Blizzaks, I'd just been lazy and hadn't put them on yet - they got put on later that afternoon. I don't notice much of a gas mileage hit that the winter fuel blend doesn't mostly account for anyway.

Michelin x-ice are pretty nice. Used my last set for 5 or 6 seasons. Had been so long since i bought them. They did a little RND

I highly recommend bridgestone Blizzaks, basically the best of the best. Any modern car with AWD and winter tires will be fine in the snow.

I once drove down birch road on a bad ice day with my blizzaks on, EIGHT cars had slid off into the steep ditches some in chain reactions to others getting stuck or losing traction, even a tow truck was already stuck, but I was able to idle on through with plenty of traction on blizzaks. They are cheaper than a deductible and physical health and safety is priceless. If you can afford them buy them.

I think my defenders only have 65k - but they were considerably less expensive.

The rears have Michelin pilot supersports on them and theyre terrible.