Year-Round Rollers: Best All-Season Tires – The Truth About Cars

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Not all of us need to install a different set of rubber the instant Old Man Winter pokes his head around the corner. While parts of the continent grumble into their coffee about that days forecasted high (*raises hand*), wide swaths of the population can run the same tires year-round, particularly if its the family daily.

Especially if its the family daily, in fact. Your author argues at length, much to the annoyance of his family, that a car owner should emphatically not cheap out on tires. Theyre the only things touching the road, after all. Ponying up a few stray bills for an off-brand whose rubber compound has the flex of an oak tree is a terrible idea. And dont get me started on the propensity of certain people to buy second-hand tires full of frozen water and weeds.

Here are some good all-season tire suggestions, presented in alphabetical order, sourced from the crew at TireBuyer.com.

(Editors note: As noted above, this post is meant to both help you be an informed shopper for automotive products but also to pay for our 90s sedan shopping habitsoperating expenses. Some of you dont find these posts fun, but they help pay for Junkyard Finds, Rare Rides, Piston Slaps, and whatever else. Thanks for reading.)

Advantage T/A Sport tires, featuring H- or V- speed ratings, are what BFGoodrich calls Grand Touring All-Season tires. Theyre marketed at the drivers of sedans, minivans, and small crossovers looking for all-season traction in dry, wet and light snow conditions. BFG promises some fun with this tire, but your author believes that word is best reserved for their high performance line.

The tire features an all-season tread compound molded into a symmetrical design, allowing easy cross rotation to resist irregular wear. The tires continuous center rib creates constant contact with the road. Their 3D Active Sipe Technology provides an increased number of biting edges for improved wet and light snow traction.

Pros: Great brand, reports of long tread life

Cons: Only one size greater than an 18-inch diameter

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According to the company, this tire is designed to provide year-round traction, even in light snow (we would put the emphasis on light for this and all tires on this list when it comes to the fluffy white stuff).

The TrueContact Tour features a tread compound containing temperature-activated functional polymers, a snazzy way of saying theyve baked in components that will aid tread life and fuel efficiency. This compound is molded into a symmetric tread design that provides for the ability to rotate tires (you do rotate your cars tires, right?) and help maximize tread life. The tread pattern is also said to be optimized in a bid to reduce noise. Those heavily siped tread blocks should provide the additional biting edges necessary to enhance traction in rough weather.

Pros: Plenty of common sizes for the family car segment

Cons: Massive ECOPLUS badges brands you a nerd

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The RT in this tires name doesnt stand for retweet, no matter what social media might try to tell you. Here, it refers to Road Touring, an activity for which this tire is uniquely designed. Altimax is Generals flagship line, so theyve thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at this hoop in an effort to grab some of the everyday all-season market share.

According to the company, these tires feature a Twin Cushion Silica Tread Compound that places a high-density all-season top compound for year-round traction and long wear above a low-density foundation compound that absorbs road vibrations to promote a comfortable ride. Circumferential grooves and Generals anti-slip sipe design technology increases the number of biting edges to enhance traction on slippery roads.

Pros: Enormous selection of sizes, positive reviews from a healthy sample size

Cons: Not exactly the sexiest tire on sale

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The tire you see here is one of Michelins entrants into the green arena, with fuel economy being at the top of this tires mission list. Without too much details, the company is touting its EnergySaver construction and a special type of tread rubber as features that keep this tire cooler, thereby increasing fuel efficiency and technically reducing CO2 emissions.

Its continuous tread pattern (read: traditional three-rib design) allows for a good footprint and a shape that maximizes road contact. This latter attribute should be a plus for grip and acceleration, activities which benefit from greater amounts of rubber being pressed into the macadam.

Pros: Excellent real-world reviews, frequent rebates

Cons: Michelins are expensive

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Pirelli knows a thing or two about making things that go around. While most of the world associates the brand with high performance rubber thanks to their involvement in Formula 1, they also do a more than passable job of manufacturing all-season tires. In a fantastic blitz of marketing, theyve foisted the mighty P-Zero name upon it for good measure.

All of the sizes are 18-inch diameter or greater, save for a single Mercedes spec 17-incher. It should surprise no one that most of the suggested applications for this Pirelli are expensive luxury machines, such as Audi and Jag and the aforementioned Merc. But, hey if you can convince your better half to agree to a set of these for the Camry, more power to ya.

Pros: Good looking tires sized for big-wheeled cars

Cons: Warranty stretches only 45,000 miles

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Sounding for all the world like an after-dinner drink or fancy perfume, the Versado Noir is a touring all-season tire designed on the comfort end of the spectrum. Rigid outside tread blocks give a quieter ride, while those wide and straight grooves improve water drainage and reduce the chance of hydroplaning. There is a higher sipe density on the inside tread, another feature that helps when the weather turns foul.

The placement of those sipes is far from random. Without a clear shot to the edge of the tire, road noise is funneled away, meaning these tires will allow drivers to hear their passenger carping about the music selection. Whether this is a good thing or not is up to you.

Pros: Big 75k-mile warranty (on H-rated hoops)

At Cons: V- and W-rated examples have a shorter warranty

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[Images by the manufacturer; Lead image: Volodymyr Plysiuk/Shutterstock.com]

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Year-Round Rollers: Best All-Season Tires - The Truth About Cars