The Best High-Performance Winter Tires

"I always have a Blizzak, a Michelin, and a Nokian in my suggested tires," says Jay, and he steers his customers who want to tip the balance towards performance away from the "soft and squirmy tread" in aggressive Blizzaks and Nokians, to the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4. Michelin tells us that the Pilot Alpin PA4 is a European snow tire and not every retailer will have it, but we've found it widely available at most major outlets. In addition to Jay, Tire Rack and their customers love Pilot Alpin PA4 snow tires, coming out on top both in performance testing, and in customer ratings for the performance snow tire category.

Michelin is a well-trusted brand when it comes to performance tires, so it's little surprise the company offers a performance winter tire that has been developed to meet the needs of enthusiasts who may encounter snow on their drive. The Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 is designed for ultra high performance sports cars, sedans, or coupes and offers performance in freezing temperatures, snow, and ice.

These snow tires also offer low rolling resistance to enhance fuel economy and are manufactured using eco-focused methods, wearing Michelin's Green X branding. They are designed to deliver secure driving year after year in wintry conditions. Helping the tire remain more flexible in low temperatures is a full silica-based, sunflower oil-enriched Helio Compound tread rubber. Enhancing acceleration, braking, and handling are Michelin's high-density Stabiligrip 3D sipes.

Internally, this tire's structure includes twin steel belts that have been reinforced by the company's FAZ technology, which places spirally wound filaments of polyester cord under the tread to combine stable feel, confident handling, and high-speed capability with ride comfort.

These radials meet the industry's severe snow service requirements and are branded with the Alpine Symbol.

Pirelli's P-Zero has long been a standard bearer for ultra high-performance summer tires, and after debuting the P Zero Winter at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, it finally became available for North American customers in early 2021. Despite being a performance oriented snow tire, the Pirellis carry severe snow service certification, and are branded with the Alpine Symbol.

What makes these some of the all-around best winter tires is an asymmetrical tread pattern with deep grooves and wide channels to move water and slush from under the snow tire; high-density lateral siping for increased traction in slippery conditions; and cool brickwork-pattern outboard to provide more biting service, with a resulting increase in contact patch.

P Zero Winter tires are only available in 19-inch and up sizes, at sometimes eye-watering prices, and there isn't much feedback on them yet, but what we've heard so far, along with the technology and Pirelli's reputation, suggest they may have a winner.

They're not a sporty tire designed for autocross, but if you own a car, SUV, CUV, or minivan and are looking for a tire built for maximum winter grip and safety, then the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 is an excellent choice. AutoGuide Commerce Editor David Traver Adolphus has bought two full sets of the previous model Blizzak WS80s (and another set of WS60s before that) for his personal vehicles in snowy Vermont, and reports they offer unbeatable grip and braking in the worst conditions.

Developed specifically with a winter tread for cold and icy weather, the WS90 features a flexible rubber compound that increases traction during these conditions. And it boasts additional block edges that decrease stopping distance when you’re driving through snow, sleet, or even on ice. That means more control and a safer drive in wintery conditions.

With the WS90, you just aren’t getting great winter tires—you’re getting ones that are going to last longer and drive further: Bridgestone uses a stiff tread pattern that reduces uneven wear to help increase the life of your tread, giving you more winter driving and fewer headaches.

So, if you need winter tires built to last longer, you’ve found it in Bridgestone’s Blizzak WS90.

One of Dunlop's two offerings in the performance winter/snow tire category is the SP Winter Sport 4D, developed for sports cars, coupes, and sedans that come straight from the factory with low profile tires mounted on larger diameter wheels. These snow tires will provide traction on dry, wet, slushy, and snow-covered roads. Sporting a motorsport-derived silica-plus tread compound, these tires deliver high levels of grip especially on wet roads and in low temperatures.

The compound on the SP Winter Sport 4D is molded into a directional tread, sporting long V-shaped grooves that help prevent hydroplaning. The tread also is designed to maintain good traction on wet and slush-covered roads. To help generate better footprint pressure distribution while enhancing snow handling and cornering grip is the tire's Sipe System, which combines Dunlop's 3D sipe technology with transverse sipes, creating independent micro-blocks.

Internally, this tire's structure includes twin steel belts reinforced by Dunlop's JointLess Band (JLB), optimizing the contact patch shape while minimizing deformation at high speed. These snow radials meet the industry's severe snow service requirements and feature the Alpine symbol.

Bridgestone's entry in the performance winter/snow tire category is the Blizzak LM-32, designed for sports cars, sporty coupes, and performance sedans. This tire was originally introduced in sizes for the Aston Martin Rapide sports sedan, but has since become available in a wide range of sizes, geared towards owners who want to main their vehicle's sporty appearance during winter time. These tires provide traction on cold, dry, wet, and snow-covered roads.

Its tread compound features unique polymer technology, designed to enhance cold weather traction. The compound is molded into a directional design, which combines hydroplaning resistance on wet and slush-covered roads with confident grip and braking traction in cold wintry conditions. Helping promote dry and wet road handling are rounded shoulders, while stepped independent tread blocks featuring Lamellen edge effect sipes boost the number of biting edges, improving grip in snow and on ice. As a result, the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-32 is able to combine winter traction with H-, V-, or W-speed rated capability.

Like the best winter tires in this segment, the Blizzak LM-32 is branded with the Alpine/3PMSF symbol.

Just by looking at it, you can see what makes Goodyear's Ultra Grip 8 Performance one of the best high-performance snow tires. Resembling a sporty all-season tire, it's an aggressive pattern that lacks the tall tread blocks and deep grooves of tires built for deep snow.

What it does offer is a directional tread pattern and optimized polymer blend and silica winter tread compound designed to remain flexible and provide maximum grip in cold, wet conditions. Nevertheless, it also has enough room in the tread to cope with snow and slush and where a summer tire often has an open center section, this snow tire has a saw-shaped center rib designed to provide grip on snow and ice.

At time of writing, availability for this winter season was limited, so shop around for the best deals.

We've been big fans of Continental's summer high performance Touring Contact tires for years, and they're standard equipment on many high-performance luxury cars. So there were high expectations for high-performance snow tires with a similar name when they appeared almost 10 years ago.

You can see from the tread pattern that these snow tires combine elements from pure snow tires—like deep, wide grooves between the center tread blocks and heavy siping in a dual-density material—with the broad, rounded shoulders of performance tires. The center blocks are extra stiff to grip snow and ice, and the big channels get through messy slush and evacuate water.

Both these elements are aggressive, and the result is a tire popular both in Northern Europe and Canada with luxury and sports car drivers. The downsides are a short lifespan and high price in a tire that still among the very best performers in the category, but may not offer the same value proposition as some competition.

Vredestein may be a bit of a dark horse in North America, where our market is dominated by a few major brands. But the Dutch brand is popular in Europe, and the Wintrac Pro high-performance snow tire has been a hit since it was introduced in 2018. Jay says they're an "outside the box" pick for people looking for a great price-to-performance ratio.

If Vredestein is known for anything here, it's making tires in hard to get sizes, and that's true for their performance snow tires, as well. Many brands don't sell anything under 18 or even 19 inches, but Vredestein Wintrac Pro snow tires are available in 118 sizes from 205/50 R17, to 265/35 R22.

Don't think you're giving anything up in performance, either. The Vredesteins (which were styled by Giugiaro!) use a directional resin- and silica-enhanced tread pattern with broad shoulders with high-angle sipes optimize handling in snowy or icy conditions for superb cold wet and dry road handling; and horizontal sipes in the center tread blocks for grip on snow and ice.

Reports from Europe are universally positive, praising performance comparable to high-performance all-season tires on clear roads. Don't expect to get endless miles out of them, however, and like other high-performance snow tires that prioritize wet and dry grip over handling in snow, they won't be your first choice if you're driving on uncleared roads. But if you want something different, with great road feel in many sizes, these are an excellent choice.

Yokohama is not known as a big player in snow tires. With five models, they're much better known for their Advan summer rubber, as well as their mud-terrain and off Geolander tires. That makes their BluEarth Winter V905 an intriguing choice, especially if your carbon footprint is as much of a concern and your contact patch.

These winter tires feature and all-new end-locked high-silica rubber compound made with orange oil, which aids in keeping them flexible across a wide range of temperatures. Big directional grooves and a directions tread evacuate water and slush effectively, and triple 3D sipes grip onto snow and ice.

To improve fuel efficiency, the Yokohama BluEarth Winter V905 is built with thin, high strength steel belts to keep weight down to 24 pounds in the 18-inch tire, and the silica tread material lowers rolling resistance. Anyone who regularly equips high-performance tires, winter or summer, knows your fuel economy usually suffers for the sake of performance.

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What is the Alpine Symbol?