I have a Honda Crosstour AWD running 225/60 R18's that is in need of some new tires. I live in the Midwest, last season was one of the top 10 snowfalls on record, and it seems to be that way about every 3 years or so. I currently have Nokian WRG3's on the car and have monitors tire pressures and rotated them every 5k miles resulting in about 42k miles of life out of the rated 50k. I have had Nokians the last few sets of tires on a couple of vehicles and they are great in snow, good in wet, ok in dry. Tread life in hasn't been great but the G3's have been the best so far, and the WRG4 are supposed to improve that again. That added traction in the snow and ice has gotten me out of a bind more than once, which is why I am looking at All Weather rated tires instead of All seasons. I do primarily city driving so tire noise isn't a big concern.
So I think I have things down to 2 options, some Nokian WRG4's from a local tire shop, or Michelin CrossClimate 2 from Costco. The Nokian's do come with free oil changes but I do like to DIY on my oil changes so it's not a huge value add unless I'm super busy, the local shop is also a one stop shop for mount, balance and align. The bad news is the Nokian is about $275 more after comparing apples to apples (With rebates factored in) best I can.
I am curious to what you guys would do in this situation? Both tires are mountain snowflake rated, same rated tread life, similar performance all around from common metrics. The CrossClimate2 has a traction rating of B but my understanding this is due to how it's tested rather then an indicator of actual real world performance.
So I think I have things down to 2 options, some Nokian WRG4's from a local tire shop, or Michelin CrossClimate 2 from Costco. The Nokian's do come with free oil changes but I do like to DIY on my oil changes so it's not a huge value add unless I'm super busy, the local shop is also a one stop shop for mount, balance and align. The bad news is the Nokian is about $275 more after comparing apples to apples (With rebates factored in) best I can.
I am curious to what you guys would do in this situation? Both tires are mountain snowflake rated, same rated tread life, similar performance all around from common metrics. The CrossClimate2 has a traction rating of B but my understanding this is due to how it's tested rather then an indicator of actual real world performance.