... the shop is always pushing the "snowflake rated" tires.

Excellent suggestion, IMO. I would also recommend considering the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady, which is a mid-priced, 60,000 mile, "snowflake rated" tire; it's what we currently have on our Outback. The traction difference in snow between a typical all-season M+S tire and a snowflake-rated (a.k.a. "all weather") tire is significant.

 

I think you are over buying on the Eagle Enforcer. That's an all season performance tire for government/LEO vehicles. The Assurance Weather Ready, All Season, or Max Life is the more "realistic choice", at a fraction of the price.

 

I like Nokian tires. I had a WRG2 on a C5 Allroad and was impressed. I like the Nokian Entyre I have on my Mazda 3 and also the Nokian Outpost APTs I currently have on my Gen5 Outback. I don't live in snowy places so I can't attest to the snow performance but Nokian is a Finish tire brand so I'm sure they know what they are doing when they design an All-Season tire with snow capabilities.

 

WR G4's will get my praise every single time over anything else. I absolutely adored them on our 2017 Outback.

 

Thanks. Thats what I ended up going with.

 

@kristen.hallock check out Nokian Encompass, equivalent performance to the WRG4 but at a much lower price, exclusive to Discount Tire and now Tire Rack.

For your location and winter driving, I agree that 3-peak is the better choice. Nokian One is a great tire but not 3-peak; WRG4 and Encompass are 3-peak. Nokian offers a money back guarantee, so if you do choose one of those and don’t like it no risk.

Good luck!

 

I looked up the encompass - they dont have my tire size listed on the nokian website - 225/60/R18. I know sometimes other sizes can be OK, but I am not sure how that works exactly.

 

I ran Nokian Hakkapelitas year round on my last Jeep GC. Wore great, not overly loud and unreal winter traction. Nokian makes great winter tires, imho.

 

I have a set of Firestone Weathergrip tires on my wifes Outback and I really like them, they are winter or snow rated but they have a 60 or 65000 warranty, they ride nice as well.

 

Nokian One is about 450 for a set @ walmart right now and the WRG4 about 550. Good time to buy.

 

An easily overlooked spec is tire weight.

On Gen 5, if your OE was Bridgestone Dueler, the weight per tire was 26 Lbs for the 17" (base thru premium) and 27 Lbs. for 18" (limited).

When I was shopping a couple months ago, the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady tire was 30 Lbs. The >15% increase in weight was too much for me. I wasn't interested in adding stopping distance due to the increased mass.

The math may prove it to be minimal, but I'll take everything I can get in the sloppy conditions that 3-peak/snowflake tires are designed to handle.

(The Nokian WRG4 mentioned several times above - and in other tire threads - is nearly identical in weight to the OE 18"/limited. Note that it's not made in the stock 225/65/17 size of the lower trims....you'd have to go down to a 55 sidewall ratio.)

 

vredstein quatrac pro. a real 4 season but not like a winter snow tire. smooth and quiet both summer/winter.
I have some pictures in the FS section .

a similar tire is General 365. I have those also. amazing tires for the northeast weather.