Tires Pirelli or Nokia

Nokian's are essentially the best you can buy. If it's anything related to winter driving, the Finns know how to do it.

I'm running Nokian WRA3 on my Fiesta ST during cold periods. They've got me through a few years of deepest, snowy Bavarian winters.

Been absolutely great, no complaints about them.

I have the hakkapeliitta tires for winter on my CTS-v's, best damn winter tires you can get.

I dislike the Conti's very much, always have. I had Pirelli P7s previously and absolutely loved them and will be going that route once I'm due.

FWIW, I have a 2012 SEL (not 4-motion), still with the original Scorpion Verde tires at 43,000 miles. They still have a few miles left before they need replacement (probably this summer). As far as winter performance, here in San Diego the only issue we really have is rain, and I've never noticed any issue, even after last winter's record rainfall. YMMV.

I went with Nokian Entyre 2.0. They handle really great, balanced out with no vibrations, and are quite quiet. If you get stuck driving in the rain these tires handle great in wet conditions as well. I've had them on for 40'000 and I'm still at about 70%. Good tire for lots of miles.

I am very impressed with the traction on Ice and Snow its amazing.

I just want to add my 0.02$ on this, I recently bought my first Nokian tires every to put on our new Explorer and I can honestly say in the 3000km's we've driven in the last month that they are hands down the best winter tires I've ever experienced. Time will tell how much performance will be lost as they wear down and how long they will last but to date, color me very impressed. Mine are studded and the ice performance is outstanding fwiw.

I have had a few Pirelli tires. The only Pirelli tire I was ever impressed with were the Rosso's and the Corsa's. One thing to mention is Pirelli mileage warranties have always been inflated (as well as many other companies). Do not expect 50k out of these and track every rotation and do them on time. With other Pirelli performance all season tires they were good for the first 1/3 of tread then got borderline undividable in snow and heavy rain. More noticeable than other competitors when worn. One thing to note is I have always liked the Pirelli sidewall stiffness compared to Michelin and Continental.

Mine came with Pirelli Cinturato P7s and I hate them. They spin, hop, don't like to change direction but they do hold air and they are quiet. To their credit, they did not get worse in the cold however they weren't any good in the snow or ice.