It would be great, at least in theory, to swap your summer tires for a set of dedicated winter tires every time the temperatures drop and then swap them back when things warm up. That’s how you get the best performance from your car year-round, and with better grip comes better safety. For a lot of us, however, changing tires is annoying, and not everyone has the space to store four extra tires they only use for half of the year. Which is where all-season tires come in, offering balanced year-round performance in a tire you can leave on your car until it’s time to replace it.
Unfortunately for anyone looking to figure out which all-season tire would be best for them, there are so many tires to pick from, and they won’t exactly let you take a few sets for a spin to see which one you like best. The good news is, our friends over at Consumer Reports still have the budget to test tires so you don’t have to, and they recently put together a list of the all-season tires they recommend. Let’s take a look at the tires that made the cut.
Best all-season car tire
If you’re just looking for a basic all-season tire for your car, according to Consumer Reports you’re going to have a hard time doing better than the Nokian Tyres Remedy WRG5. With prices pushing $200 each, they aren’t the cheapest tires you could buy, but at the same time they aren’t the most expensive, either. They also probably aren’t the tires you’re going to want on your Chevrolet Corvette, but in testing they demonstrated very good hydroplaning resistance and ice braking, as well as excellent snow traction.
So even if you live in an area that typically gets a good bit of snow every winter, you’ll likely be able to get away without buying a separate winter tire without sacrificing much on the safety front. More or less, you should be able to just buy them and forget about them until it’s time to buy a new set of tires. They should also be pretty quiet, comfortable and offer good rolling resistance, which will help you get better gas mileage.
CR Predicted Treadlife: 50,000 miles
Best all-season SUV tire
While the principle is the same, if you have an SUV, you’re going to want tires that are designed for your car’s higher ride height and extra weight. And according to Consumer Reports, the best all-season tire for your SUV is the Michelin CrossClimate2. With prices in the $250 range, the CrossClimate2 is definitely not a budget tire, but it’s also one of those tires that’s so much better than most of the competition, it’s probably worth spending more up front instead of trying to cheap out and getting a tire that doesn’t perform as well.
The Michelin CrossClimate2 is also one of those tires that’s gotten so popular, even people who aren’t tire nerds may have heard of it. Because it really is that good. If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money, but if you just aren’t sure CrossClimate2s are worth the premium, know you get excellent snow traction and ice breaking, as well as very good scores in every other category that Consumer Reports tested. At the very least, it’s worth considering an upgrade to the Michelins, if only because of how long they lasted in CR’s treadlife testing.
CR Predicted Treadlife: 95,000 miles
Best all-season truck tire
Like SUVs, trucks also tend to be heavier than cars while also riding higher and handling a little differently. As a result, they also need tires that were designed with truck stuff in mind. If you plan to do much off-roading, you may want to look at all-terrain tires, since they’ll offer better grip after you leave the pavement. But if you just need a regular tire for a truck that isn’t a regular off-roader, Consumer Reports says the one to get is the Continental TerrainContact H/T.
Like the Michelin CrossClimate2, the Continental TerrainContact H/T will probably run you close to $250 per tire, and that adds up fast, especially when you have to also have them mounted and balanced. But in addition to offering excellent snow traction, Consumer Reports found the TerrainContact H/Ts also do an excellent job at keeping noise levels low, something truck tires often struggle with. Further testing also found the Continentals offered very good dry braking, ice braking, and handling were also very good.
CR Predicted Treadlife: 70,000 miles
Best all-season high-performance tire
In theory, it doesn’t make much sense for tire brands to offer high-performance all-season tires. After all, they’re supposed to be great in the corners, not great at everything. But tire technology has come a long way, and these days, you actually can get high-performance tires that don’t need to be swapped out when the temperatures drop into the 40s. They might not be quite as good as a set of dedicated summer tires, but you can leave them on all year long, and for some people, that’s exactly what they want.
According to Consumer Reports, if you want a high-performance all-season tire, you’re going to want to go with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 plus. With prices around the $175 mark, they’re cheaper than many of the best summer performance tires, but still offer excellent dry braking and very good performance in every other category CR tested except for rolling resistance and ride comfort.
CR Predicted Treadlife: 50,000 miles
