Performance Winter Tires

Performance snow tires for mild winters

If winter comes and goes in your area -- rainy or dry roads most days, with bouts of snow and ice -- a good performance winter tire will keep you ready to handle any road condition, experts say. These higher-speed-rated tires are designed to keep performance cars sure-footed in cold weather, not as a workhorse for harsh winters. Prices shown here reflect the smallest size readily available; performance cars and performance winter tires often use larger rims than nonperformance cars.

The Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 (*Est. $155) is the two-time winner in this category. A longtime favorite of owners who post reviews at TireRack.com, it also earns kudos from experts at TireRack.com, Car and Driver magazine and a major consumer testing agency. The PA3 is best for "traction in the alpine regions for which it's named while maintaining sports-car responsiveness on dry roads in winter," Car and Driver says.

The PA3 isn't a severe-winter tire -- get the top-rated Michelin X-Ice Xi2 (*Est. $100) if you live in Fargo, Car and Driver says -- but it's sharper than the Xi2 on cold, cleared roads (wet or dry). Compared with all-season tires, it "immediately makes you feel like a better driver in snowy conditions," Car and Driver says of the PA3.

Owners at TireRack.com say the PA3 is excellent on ice, even better on snowy, wet or dry roads, and it is quiet and comfortable to ride on -- judgments borne out in other reliable independent tests. One owner says the PA3 allows him to take unplowed back roads to avoid traffic -- in a rear-wheel-drive BMW convertible, in Denver.

A solid runner-up in several reviews is the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D (*Est. $105). Customers at TireRack.com say it's just as good on snow and ice as the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3, but not quite as good on cold, bare pavement. TireRack.com experts mention the Dunlop right alongside the Michelin as "very good options" for performance cars in winter. In another independent test, the Dunlop finishes with no real weaknesses, but it's a little noisier and a little less confident on both dry and icy roads than the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3.

A former winner, the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60 (*Est. $170), has slipped in the ratings. TireRack.com experts still call it a top pick, but owners there now give better ratings to nine other performance winter tires. The Blizzak LM-60 does an outstanding job on snow and ice in one major consumer test, but with poor dry braking and only fair-to-average scores on most other measures, it drops to the bottom third of the performance pack.