Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3

Bottom Line

If you want to keep your performance car sure-footed in snow and ice -- without settling for slow, squishy snow tires -- experts and owners agree that the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 is the best tire for the job.

Performance

Far sportier than severe-winter tires. Experts recommend the Pilot Alpin PA3 for drivers of sports cars and performance sedans who travel on cold, clear roads. It handles spectacularly (for a winter tire) in test after test, and it rarely hydroplanes. "Sports-car responsiveness on dry roads in winter," Car and Driver concludes after testing the Pilot Alpin PA3.

Owners are equally enthusiastic in their feedback. "Your car drives like it is on summer tires," raves one BMW wagon owner from Toronto at TireRack.com. A Chicago driver reports that unlike regular snow tires -- which get squirmy at highway speeds -- the Pilot Alpin PA3s "easily handle speeds WELL in excess of posted speed limits here in the U.S."

That said, reviewers caution that this is not an appropriate tire for regions that experience severe winter weather. Still, it beats other performance winter tires in one harsh-winter test. It plows through snow with ease and brakes very quickly on ice.

Comfort

Quiet and extremely comfortable. Experts and owners agree: The Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 delivers an extraordinarily comfortable ride.

It's quiet, too. In a leading expert test, the Pilot Alpin PA3 rates just average for noise -- but no other performance winter tire in the test is any quieter. According to owner ratings at TireRack.com, it's the quietest winter tire you can buy: "As quiet as my all weather tires," as one Lexus owner puts it.

Durability

Long-wearing, but treadwear warranty is 'tricky.' According to owner ratings at TireRack.com, the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 is one of the longest-wearing winter tires you can buy. "I just removed these tires after their third winter, thinking I would be replacing them," writes one Massachusetts owner after 33,000 miles. "They still looked so good I measured the tread depth and found they still averaged over 7/32 [of an inch] so I will be getting a fourth winter out of them."

Unlike most winter tires, the Pilot Alpin PA3 carries a 30,000-mile treadwear warranty. But Canada's Automobile Protection Association warns that the warranty "requires the tread to be worn nearly to a banana peel" -- just 2/32 inches -- "before you can collect." That's too worn, experts at TireRack.com say. They recommend removing winter tires when they have 5/32 inches of tread left.