All weather tires in Chicago

[steveinarizona]

My daughter got an Alltrack and she lives in Chicago. She does mostly local driving on city streets including downtown areas. My first thought was to get her snow tires and wheels and change them out twice a year. Now I am wondering about just changing out the allseason tires that came with the car for allweather tires which have the snowflake and are winter rated. The best one, according to the reviews I have read, is the Michelin but it isn't currently being made in the Alltrack size. From what I can see, there is currently only one that fits the Alltrack: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/vredestein-tires.jsp As one can see, it gets good reviews.

Grand Touring All-Season
(340) |Reviews (307) Details & Pricing
Size: 205/55R17
Load Range: XL
Serv. Desc: 95V
UTQG: 400 A A

So...I am wondering what you all think of that as an option.

Thanks.

 

[Carstart]

I just posted to another thread on this. I also live in the Chicago area. So far so good but I can't comment on snow and ice traction yet.

https://www.golfalltrack.org/threads/what-do-you-think-of-the-oem-falken-205-55r17-tires.1209/

 

[Nokian]

I found this to be a rather informative and helpful article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/business/driving-snow-ice-winter.html

 

[Jackson61]

I put a set of Vredestein Wintrac Pro on my Porsche Cayenne. Absolutely impressed. Stopping traction is a massive safety improvement. No problem climbing or starting out in almost all conditions. Noise is no issue. I live in Pennsylvania and we are getting a great opportunity for real world experience. I have also owned Michelin X-ice Xi3. They are fabulous as well. I believe in them. When I lived in Northwest Indiana (Chicago area), I ran them on a 2011 Golf TDI year round. I was never unable to make it to work and drive around Chicagoland.
I drive an Alltrack every day, and will change out the tires to the Vredestein as soon as I get some miles out of the OE tires. I am going to go with 225 55 R-17s.

 

[rudechem]

I have a set of Bridgestone Ecopia All Seasons on my S. I also live in Chicago and do a lot of driving on my commute. They have performed ok this winter with all the snow. I only got myself into some trouble on the street that I park on since I had to dig my way out of my parking space. The tires did ok on wet but not so well on moderate slush. I think i'm going with the Vredesteins next time though. The Ecopia's are a bit noisy on the expressway but they are ok for being moderately priced. I don't think they are worth it for next time but Firestone has them in stock all the time.