I'm looking to get new all-season tires for two Japanese AWD passenger vehicles.

I've used Michelins for years on 2WD vehicles, but wondering if there are currently better or equivalent options now that I've gone all-AWD.

Most travel will be on dry and wet paved roads. Not a lot of snow, but some.

Some travel on unpaved Forest Service roads, but not weekly or even monthly.

Looking for passenger (not sport) performance, and better-to-excellent mileage.

Recommendations appreciated.

Why not just stick with what you know works?...

I run Michelins on my diesel pickups (Load range E) and Michelins on my rwd BMW (staggered width, low profile, high speed, yada yada). I ran Blizzaks on the Nissan Armada year round for 7 years. They were phenomenal tires for that application.

There are lots of good tires out there and some terrible ones.

Tests have shown that all season tires aren't any better than highway tires. The rubber's too hard to grip in snow and the tread doesn't do much either. The recommendation was to use good highway tires for longevity and if you have snow, put on real snow tires.
I believe that many winter wrecks are caused by people thinking their all seasons are snow tires. They aren't.

There are lots of good "all season" tires. I think the Yokohama Geolanders are good three season tires if your car uses one in the sizes the make. In the winter I run snow tires with their soft rubber compound.

A couple years ago I put studded snows on our van. What a difference! All seasons can't even start to hold on slick roads like these do.

All terrains really aren't. This is why I use mud terrain tires on my SUV and Pickup, and I have them siped when I buy them for better handling on snow and ice. Not as good as true snow tires as the rubber is too hard, but better then straight all terrains.

Typically, longer wearing tires are made of harder compound rubber and don't handle as well as softer tires. So you have to decide mileage versus handling over the life of the car.

I'd suggest surfing tirerack.com and sorting by consumer ratings.

tom:

I've spent time on the internet, looking at tire reviews and tire forums for the same advice, and what I see is all over the place. Some guy had good a good experience with one particular make of tire, and he'll stick with it. Multiply that by every single tire company.

This is one more stop on the internet, but it's one of the better forums, with a wide range of experienced people.

I once lived part of my life in the Rockies, so I know something about mountain driving on unplowed roads. I understand snow tires, and studded tires.

I know a lot of you guys have trucks and 3/4 ton SUVs. But I also know that you have passenger cars, too.

Most people have only 1 brand to comment on. They don't switch tires several times a year for comparison so they just say what they think about that 1 brand. You can get a feel for what doesn't work that way but not a lot of info on what's better. You get more usable info by searching for some good side by side test results.

I think all tires are a trade off in some performance characteristic.
Forest roads around here generally turn from slush ruts to ice ruts. The paved roads will be dry here, and the forest roads are a real challenge.
I run Tiger Paw all seasons in the summer, and swap to a set of blizzacks for the winter on my Outback. I run Michelin truck tires on my Tundra all year around. I have chains for both when it is ice and no guard rail time in the forest.

Yup! If you have real winter driving conditions, forget all seasons and get some real winter tires. For occasional use, get two sets of chains.

We've gone through several sets of Bridgestone Blizzaks, a set or two of Hankooks and I'm currently on a set of Nokian
Hakkapeliittas, pretty sure my wife's car is on Blizzaks. On most of the cars we've run them year round. Yes, I know you're not supposed to, but our winter driving conditions are over 1/2 the year and our summer temperatures are fairly mild. We get three years out of a set of winter tires, vs. six years for a set of summer and winter tires, and don't need an extra set of rims.

I haven't seen a huge difference in grip between the various brands. The one brand I'd suggest avoiding is the Hankooks as they seem to have the most tender sidewalls. You don't have to hit a pothole very hard to get a bulged sidewall.

...

FWIW, I rode big motorcycles for years in Japan and wanted the most tacky grip rubber compound I could find, The consensus among fellow riders worldwide was that Bridgestone tires best met that spec.

I rode Harleys and BMWs from 1000cc on up.

I absolutely did not want hard compound, figuring that with my history, I'd much rather have traction for my buck.

Our van is on it's 3d year with a set of studded Hankooks. The traction is great. I can't speak for the sidewalls, though, as we've never zeroed in on a big pothole.

If you really don't have much snow, then maybe just stay with all season but if you really want better traction, then I agree with those who have rec. dedicated snow tires. I have used Bridgestone Blizzaks and they are amazing.

We usually have more ice than snow. On ice, nothing really works well but studded snows are much better than all seasons.

Stick with Michelins.

+1 on the Blizzaks....

Snow tires cost more initially but not really in the long run since you're not wearing out your highways in the winter. It's worth the price to find a 2d set of wheels to mount them on so you don't have to pay the mounting charge twice a year. Store them out of the sun, of course.

Blizzaks are pretty darn good on icy conditions. Not much helps on actual glare ice but for ice/snow conditions, Blizzaks are amazing

All snow tires are definitely NOT created equal. I've run Cooper winter masters, Hankook winter I pikes and Firestone winterforce over the past few years. We get alot of snow here and I drive 35 miles one way to work at 5AM mon-fri so my snow tires get tested pretty thoroughly. That said, I wish I never bought the Firestones. They Sucked with a capital "S". The Hakooks were terrific in comparison and clearly the best of the 3. The Coopers fell somewhere in the middle. I'm running General Grabber AT2's on my jeep this winter and they're pretty dang good. Easily better in the snow than the Firestone winforce were. Of course the General's are winter/snow rated and have the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewall as well as being studdable.