Best All-Season Tires: M+S vs Snowflake, What They Cover

This page answers one question: which all-season tires are worth a look, and what the label actually covers. Nothing here is "our pick": every tire is listed with what its maker printed on its own page on 5 November 2026, and every claim about performance is attributed to whoever made it. For summer, winter and all-terrain tires, see our best tires guide.

PulsCar publishes this guide and offers a free engine-sound check, which listens to an engine for 30 seconds; a section near the end says where it helps and where it does not. Every figure below names its source, read on 5 November 2026. 🟢 Official marks a regulation, an industry-body bulletin or a government agency page; ⚪ Maker's claim marks a company's claim about its own product, not proof.

All-season, all-weather and winter: three different promises

Three words do most of the work in tire shopping, and none of them is a legal category: the words "all-season" and "all-weather" do not appear in the text of 49 CFR 571.139 or 575.104 as we read it on 5 November 2026. The federal rule defines a "snow tire", and the industry fills in the rest. A March 2019 Modern Tire Dealer article, quoting a Continental tire product manager, divided the market into four groups: summer, a tire without the M+S symbol and designed for summertime use; all-season, which does not feature the three-peak mountain snowflake; all-weather, an all-season tire with the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol and marketed for year-round use; and winter, tires that feature the snowflake and are marketed for the winter season only. Those are an industry description, from one product manager, in one trade article. Makers draw the lines in their own product pages, and the lines move a little between them.

Consumer Reports, in its winter-tire guide updated on 1 October 2026, uses the same ladder from the test-driver's side. It says "we've tested nine all-weather tires, a subset of all-season tires that can nearly match dedicated winter/snow tires in winter traction." It adds that the tires "have the mountain and snowflake symbol on the sidewall, indicating that they meet industry traction requirements of winter/snow tires." Its engineers, it says, "routinely find dedicated winter/snow tires and all-weather tires have a measurable advantage over regular all-season tires." That is a statement by an independent tester, and it comes with a limit: Consumer Reports' ratings, the numbers behind it, are behind a member wall that we did not enter, so we can quote the finding and not the figures.

The three promises also differ in what the buyer gets in return. A plain all-season tire is built to be the tire you do not think about: quiet, long-wearing, good on wet roads, acceptable in a dusting of snow. An all-weather tire adds the snow test pass; General Tire says its all-weather AltiMAX365 AW "combines ride comfort, low-noise, dry, wet, snow handling, and excellent treadwear," and we found no independent figure for what an all-weather tire gives up on a dry road. A winter tire gives up a lot more for the best grip in the cold, and wears fast if it stays on in summer. Consumer Reports says of winter tires that "most of them have less grip on dry and wet roads than all-season tires" and that this is "reason enough to take them off come spring." General Tire, which sells an all-weather tire, goes further: "Keeping those winter tires on all year long is not recommended and will significantly reduce the tires treadlife."

What M+S really guarantees, and what the snowflake adds

The M+S mark is the older of the two. Woody Rogers, a tire information specialist at The Tire Rack, told Modern Tire Dealer in 2019 that it developed in the 1970s to tell aggressive tread patterns from older bias-ply tires with ribbed patterns, and that it is a design test: "M+S isn't a performance standard. It is merely a visual standard." He described the tread rule as at least 25% open space seen from above and a half-inch notch in one shoulder every so often. The industry bulletin that Modern Tire Dealer reproduces, Tire Information Service Bulletin Vol. 10, No. 7, says tires with the M and S marking "have been designed to provide better starting, stopping, and driving performance in snow conditions than non-M&S tires" and lists tread-geometry characteristics. In other words, M+S says what the tread looks like and what the maker designed it for. It is not a measured result.

The snowflake is a measured result. The Rubber Manufacturers Association published its definition in Tire Information Service Bulletin Volume 37, Number 3, copyright 2011; the PDF we read is hosted today by the US Tire Manufacturers Association (🟢, an industry body, not a regulator). It says tires designed for use in severe snow conditions are "recognized by manufacturers to attain a traction index equal to or greater than 110 compared to the ASTM E-1136 Standard Reference Test Tire when using ASTM F-1805, 2006 snow traction test with medium packed snow surface and equivalent percentage loads." Such tires are marked "on at least one sidewall with the letters 'M' and 'S' (e.g., MS, M/S, M&S, M+S, etc.) plus a pictograph of a mountain with a snowflake." The bulletin also draws the symbol: the mountain "shall contain three-peaks with the middle peak being the tallest," and inside it a six-sided snowflake at least half the height of the tallest peak.

The federal rule has since written its own version. Standard No. 139 (49 CFR 571.139, new pneumatic radial tires for light vehicles), as published by the Legal Information Institute and read on 5 November 2026 (🟢), defines a snow tire as "a tire that attains a traction index equal to or greater than 112, compared to the ASTM F2493 standard reference test tire when using the snow traction test on the medium pack snow surface as described in ASTM F1805-20 (incorporated by reference, see § 571.5), and that is marked with an Alpine Symbol specified in S5.5(i) on at least one sidewall." Two details matter for a buyer. First, the federal number is 112 against the ASTM F2493 reference tire, where the 2011 bulletin says 110 against the ASTM E-1136 one; we found no document that says the two are the same bar, so we do not claim they are. Second, section S5.5(i) says a tire that meets the definition "may, at the option of the manufacturer, show the pictograph." A maker does not have to mark a tire that passes, so a missing snowflake does not prove a tire failed the test, though a present one is a maker's statement that it passed.

What the snowflake does not cover is just as important. Les Schwab, a US tire retailer, writes that the symbol helps you identify whether a tire will provide traction on medium-packed snow, and that "These tires are not tested for braking and cornering on ice." The test measures snow traction on one surface. It does not tell you how a tire stops on ice, how it handles on a cold wet road or how long it lasts.

Finding the marks on your own tires. The 2011 bulletin describes the snowflake symbol as a mountain with three peaks, the middle one tallest, with a six-sided snowflake inside it, "placed adjacent to the M+S type designation." Michelin's manual says that on all-season tires the M+S designation "is molded into the sidewall." So: find the size line on the sidewall, look beside it for the letters M+S (or M/S, or M&S), then look for the small mountain with the snowflake. If you see the letters and no mountain, the tire is a plain all-season in the sense used on this page. If you see both, it is an all-weather tire. If you see neither, the sidewall carries no snow marking, and Michelin's manual says tires without the M+S notation are not recommended for winter driving in regions that experience winter conditions.

When all-season tires are not enough: what the makers themselves say

The makers of all-season tires are unusually direct about where the label ends. Their statements, read on 5 November 2026, are the most useful thing on this page, because they are written by the companies that sell the tires.

Michelin's replacement-tire owner's manual has a "Winter driving" paragraph. It says "Tires that meet the US Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) definition of snow tires are marked M/S, M+S, or M&S. On such tires, normally referred to as "All-Season" tires, the "M+S" designation is molded into the sidewall. Tires without this notation are not recommended for winter driving in regions that experience winter conditions." Then it adds: "Although All-Season tires are designed to provide reliable performance in some winter conditions, the use of four winter tires is recommended for optimal performance." That is the maker of the Defender2 and the CrossClimate2 telling owners, in its own manual, that four winter tires are the better winter setup. Note the word: Michelin's manual and California's chain rules call any M+S tire a "snow tire", while the federal rule keeps that name for a tire that passed the snow test. When a document says "snow tire", check which one it means.

Michelin's product pages repeat it model by model. On the Defender2 page: "The Michelin Defender2 is not a dedicated winter tire, so for severe snow or icy conditions, Michelin recommends switching to a winter tire like the X-Ice Snow+." On the Defender LTX M/S2 page, the truck and SUV tire: "For drivers who regularly encounter heavy snow, ice, or severe winter weather, Michelin recommends using a dedicated winter tire such as the X-Ice Snow+ for optimal traction and control." Even on the CrossClimate2, which carries the snowflake, Michelin's page says it is "suitable for all weather conditions, all year round, including if you drive in occasional winter conditions. But if you drive often on snow covered and icy roads at winter temperatures, Michelin winter tires could be a solution to consider."

Bridgestone's all-season buying guide says "all-season tires are capable in winter weather, but do not provide optimal performance when driving in more extreme conditions such as deep snow, freezing rain, and black ice." It tells shoppers in icy, snowy areas to "consider switching to Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires" for the winter season. General Tire, which sells the AltiMAX 365 AW all-weather tire, writes that "All-season tires are developed to perform all year round in MODERATE climates. But moderate is the key word." and that all-season tires "are not a replacement to winter tires that are specifically tailored to the conditions in places that experience cold winters and seasonal conditions like snow and ice."

Consumer Reports, on its all-season page updated 1 October 2026, quotes its tire program manager Ryan Pszczolkowski, who calls modern all-season tires "truly the Swiss Army knife of tires" and says: "They provide good year-round grip for most consumers, including modest winter/snow traction. Those living in areas where winter is harsh should look into all-weather or even dedicated winter/snow tires."

Read together, three makers and an independent tester say the same thing in different words: all-season is for moderate climates and modest snow; the snowflake raises the winter floor; and for regular snow and ice the answer is still a winter tire. If you regularly drive on snow-covered or icy roads at winter temperatures, plain all-season tires are not what the makers point to: Michelin, Bridgestone, General Tire and Consumer Reports all point to winter tires or, at least, tires with the mountain-and-snowflake mark.

The table is our summary of what those pages say. It is not a test result, and it cannot say which row your road is. What it can say is that none of the maker pages we read says plain all-season tires are meant for regular ice, deep snow or unplowed roads; a few use broader wording, such as Pirelli's "Confidence that lasts in all conditions" and Yokohama's "ready for anything", without naming ice or deep snow.

Should I buy winter tires, all-weather tires or plain all-season tires, and what does PulsCar have to do with it? PulsCar sells no tires and has no affiliate links on this page, so the answer comes only from the documents. If you regularly drive on snow-covered or icy roads at winter temperatures, plain all-season tires are not what the makers point to: Michelin, Bridgestone, General Tire and Consumer Reports all point to winter tires or, at least, tires with the mountain-and-snowflake mark. If your winters are mild, the makers describe plain all-season tires as built for that use. In between, the snowflake is the one mark that comes from a snow-traction test. PulsCar's free sound check listens to an engine and has nothing to say about tires, so it cannot help with this choice; your state's law, the marks on your sidewall and a tire shop can.

What the law says where it snows: Colorado, California and Quebec

Laws turn the label into a requirement, and they use the labels differently. We read official sources for three jurisdictions; other states and provinces have their own rules, and we did not read them.

Colorado. The state Department of Transportation's Traction Law page (🟢, read 5 November 2026) says that during a traction law, "passenger vehicles are required to have tires with 3/16" tread depth that are rated "all weather" or winter tires (mountain-snowflake icon or M+S or M/S) or carry chains or an approved alternative traction device." The law can be activated on any state highway, and on the I-70 corridor between Morrison and Dotsero, CDOT says the laws can be enforced between 1 September and 31 May. The same page lists a $100 fine and $33 surcharge for non-compliance, and a $500 fine and $157 surcharge if the violation results in the closure of a travel lane. Two other CDOT pages we read word the scope differently. A November 2025 news release (the date comes from its web address) says in one place that the law applies to all four-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles and in another that it applies to all non-commercial motorists, and prints a $50 fine and $17 surcharge; a February 2026 release repeats the 4WD or AWD wording. We used the current Traction Law page for the figures; this section is not legal advice, so read CDOT's page before a mountain trip, because the rules were updated in fall 2025.

California. Caltrans's chain-control page (🟢) defines a snow tire this way: "Snow tires have the designation "Mud & Snow" or an abbreviation such as "M-S," "M+S," or "M/S" marked on the tire sidewall. Tires without this designation are not considered snow tires. Snow tires must also have at least 6/32-inch (3/16") of tread depth (about 1/2 of the original tread depth)." Under requirement R-1, chains are required on all vehicles except passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks under 6,000 pounds gross weight and equipped with snow tires on at least two drive wheels, and under R-2 on all vehicles except four-wheel-drive vehicles under 6,500 pounds equipped with snow tires on all four wheels. Even then, Caltrans says that "to enter a chain control area, you must have a set of chains (one pair) for your vehicle in your possession." The National Park Service's Yosemite page (🟢) says that in R-1 "Mud and snow tires qualify as snow tires (look for "m+s" or similar designation on the wall of the tire), as long as the tread is still 6/32 of an inch deep or deeper," and that rental cars "are not exempt from chain requirements, even if they have all-season tires." In California, in other words, the M+S mark on a plain all-season tire is what counts, and the snowflake is not asked for.

Quebec. Quebec.ca's winter-tire requirements page (🟢) says the vehicle "must be winter-ready from December 1 to March 15." The requirement applies to vehicles registered in Québec, rental vehicles included, and non-compliance carries a fine of $200 to $300. The compliance test is the pictogram (the snowflake): "To be compliant, a tire designed for winter driving must be marked with the pictogram illustrated below or be studded." The page advises waiting until a few weeks after the end of the period "to install your all-season or summer tires," which tells you where plain all-season tires sit in the Quebec rules. We could not read the SAAQ (Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec) page, which answered with an access-denied error. Michelin's CrossClimate2 page lists its snowflake mark and says the tire is "Compliant with local winter legislation requirements." That is Michelin's statement on its own page, not a legal ruling, and it does not name a province.

Set side by side, the three sources treat the same tire differently. California and Colorado accept the M+S mark, with a tread-depth floor of 6/32 inch (3/16 in Colorado's words) that Caltrans describes as about half of the original tread depth. Quebec asks for the pictogram or studs. A tire that carries both the M+S letters and the snowflake, which is how the 2011 industry bulletin describes a severe-snow tire, meets the mark each of the three pages asks for, so long as the tread is deep enough. A plain all-season tire with only the M+S mark meets two of them and not Quebec's (on CDOT's current page; its news releases also word the scope as 4WD and AWD vehicles). If you are crossing between jurisdictions, check the mark on your sidewall before you check the brand.

Three typical situations

These are composite scenarios, not individual customers. They are built only from facts already on this page and contain no invented names, amounts or dates.

A mild-winter commuter. Snow is rare and the roads are cleared quickly. The makers' pages describe plain all-season tires for dry, wet and light snow conditions, and General Tire's page says all-season tires are developed for moderate climates. The deciding factors are the warranty terms, the size on the car and a set of four of the same size and type. Nothing on this page says the snowflake is needed here; it is not wrong to choose it, and the all-weather tires on the shelf below are marketed for year-round use.

A Colorado mountain driver on all-season tires. During a traction law, as CDOT's current page prints it, passenger vehicles need tires with 3/16 inch of tread that are rated all weather or winter tires (snowflake, M+S or M/S), or chains (its news releases also word the scope as 4WD and AWD vehicles). A plain all-season tire with the M+S mark passes the tire rule only while the tread is at least 3/16 inch deep, which is 6/32. Consumer Reports generally recommends shopping for new tires at 4/32, and warranties and wear bars end at 2/32. The numbers show the gap: a tire at 5/32 inch is still above Consumer Reports' shopping line and already below the traction law's 6/32.

Someone who drives into Quebec in January. The province's rule is a pictogram or studs, from 1 December to 15 March, and vehicles registered elsewhere are outside the requirement as Quebec.ca prints it. That is not legal advice for a driver crossing a border, and the SAAQ page that might say more was not readable. What the scenario shows is that M+S alone is not what Quebec means by a winter tire, and that Michelin's CrossClimate2 page lists the snowflake and calls it compliant with local winter legislation.

What to check on a tire before you buy: the criteria the documents give

The maker documents and rules we read, taken together, give the same short list; not every document mentions every item. None of it needs a test track. All of it fits on a sheet of paper in the shop.

1. The marks on the sidewall. Look for M+S, M/S or M&S, and look separately for the three-peak mountain snowflake. They are different marks (see the sections above), and the snowflake is the only one that comes from a snow test. If you drive where the law asks for one of them, check that it is on the tire in front of you, not only on a web page: the federal rule makes the Alpine symbol optional for the maker.

2. The size and the ratings your car came with. Consumer Reports' advice, on its all-season page: "We recommend sticking with the type and size that was originally fitted to your vehicle. (For those who want to increase performance, it's possible to replace all four tires with the next step up, often reflected by the speed rating, but never step down a class or speed rating.)" Michelin's retailer note says what a lower speed rating means in practice: that "its maximum speed capability is limited to that of the lowest speed-rated tire on the vehicle." How to read the numbers on the sidewall is a separate job; our guide to reading tire size covers it, and the tire information placard on your car (Michelin's manual: door jamb, fuel hatch or glove compartment door) and your owner's manual are where the car's maker gives its tire recommendations; check the size there and compare it with the tire in the shop.

3. The warranty, read as a contract. A "60,000-mile warranty" is a refund formula, not a lifetime. The terms below come from the makers' own documents and are the part of every page that is most often skipped.

What the table does not show is how many owners ever get a pro-rata credit. We found no document that counts claims. What it does show is that the number in the headline is a ceiling, that it is cut in half for cars with different front and rear sizes, and that all four makers tie it to rotation records or schedules. If you do not keep the records, you have bought a tire with a smaller warranty than the page said. Alignment matters here too: Michelin's list of what is not covered includes "Wear caused by mechanical irregularity in the vehicle such as wheel misalignment." Our wheel alignment guide covers how to tell whether you need one; a tire warranty will not pay for the car's problem.

4. The government grades, which say less than they seem to. Most passenger tires carry three U.S. Uniform Tire Quality Grades on the sidewall: treadwear, traction and temperature, set out in 49 CFR 575.104 (🟢). The rule says the section does not apply to "deep tread, winter-type snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires". For the rest, it defines a treadwear grade as a comparative number: "a tire graded 150 would wear one and one-half (1 1/2) times as well on the government course as a tire graded 100," and warns that relative performance "may depart significantly from the norm due to variations in driving habits, service practices and differences in road characteristics and climate." Consumer Reports adds that the maker assigns the grades itself: "The manufacturers grade the tires themselves for temperature, traction, and treadwear," and that a treadwear number "doesn't tell how long the tire will last." General Tire's specification page for the AltiMAX365 AW in size 235/40 R 19 prints a tread wear of 540, traction A and temperature A (UTQG 540 A A); this is the one size the page printed.

The traction grade is the one most often misread as a safety score. The rule says what it is: "The traction grades, from highest to lowest, are AA, A, B, and C. Those grades represent the tire's ability to stop on wet pavement as measured under controlled conditions on specified government test surfaces of asphalt and concrete." And, in the same text: "Warning: The traction grade assigned to this tire is based on straight-ahead braking traction tests, and does not include acceleration, cornering, hydroplaning, or peak traction characteristics." None of the three UTQG grades measures snow traction, and the rule excludes winter-type snow tires altogether. Michelin's pages add that "Government UTQG Ratings do not apply to light truck sized tires."

5. The maker's test footnote, not the headline. Several maker pages below carry a competitor-test claim, for example Michelin's "Stops shorter than 4 leading competitive tires in dry and wet conditions". The claim is only as good as its footnote, which says which vehicle, which size, how much tread was left and who the competitors were. We read the footnotes for three maker claims in the section on maker claims below. Reading one takes a minute and tells you more than the headline.

6. The price, from the same size page. The only price a maker page printed in our reading was Goodyear's, which showed a range of $180.00 to $440.00 for the Assurance WeatherReady 2 on 5 November 2026. A range that wide is the point: the price depends on the size. On a pro-rata warranty replacement, the Michelin, General Tire and Yokohama documents say the owner pays for mounting and balancing. Compare the same size at two or three sellers, installed.

7. A set of four. Michelin's manual says "the same size and type of tire should be used on all four wheel positions" and asks owners to check the vehicle manufacturer's manual before mixing tires, with extra attention on four-wheel-drive vehicles. Consumer Reports says of winter tires, which is the same logic, to always use them in sets of four. Fit the same size and type of tire on all four wheels and check your vehicle manufacturer's owner's manual before mixing.

8. The age and the date code. Michelin's manual says that while most tires will need replacement before they achieve 10 years, it recommends replacing "any tires in service 10 years or more from the date of manufacture, including spare tires," as a precaution, and that the date is on the sidewall as part of the DOT code. Pirelli, Michelin, BFGoodrich and General Tire tie their warranties to six years from purchase (General Tire words it as 72 months in service). Those are two different clocks: the manufacturer's recommended replacement age and the age at which a warranty lapses. Our guide on when to replace tires takes the age question properly.

The shortlist by situation: what each maker's page printed on 5 November 2026

This is a shelf, not a ranking. Every row below is printed by the tire's own maker (⚪). Michelin has six of the twelve tires; that reflects which US pages we could read, not a preference. Each row is a tire whose maker page we could read, grouped by the job it is sold for, with the printed warranty and mark. The order inside a group is not a ranking. Tires from Bridgestone (apart from its all-season buying guide), Continental, Cooper, Hankook, Nokian and Toyo are missing from the shelf because their US product pages did not load as readable text or answered with an error; that says nothing about those tires. Warranty figures are the makers' printed mileages; the conditions are in the section above. Sizes and prices change; the Goodyear range is the only price a maker page printed.

You want the snowflake (all-weather, one set all year). These three pages show the three-peak mountain snowflake.

You want a plain all-season with a high printed warranty (mild or moderate winters). None of these tires is shown with the snowflake on its own page; the Michelin pages show a Mud & Snow badge.

You drive an SUV, crossover, van or pickup. Michelin's LTX M/S2 and Latitude Tour HP pages say UTQG ratings do not apply to light truck sized tires.

You want an all-season for a sporty car. Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 shows a Mud & Snow badge and two tiers, 30,000 and 45,000 miles, and Michelin says it was the first all-season tire chosen by Chevrolet for the Corvette. Consumer Reports' tire page says of ultra-high-performance all-season tires that they "deliver high levels of dry and wet grip and handling but give up some light-duty winter traction." That is a trade in winter grip. For the record, the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 prints 45,000 miles, the lowest top warranty figure on this shelf; the makers do not say the two are connected.

You drive an electric car. Consumer Reports, in its buying guide, says that "choosing a conventional, not EV-specific all-season tire can provide improved poor weather performance and longer tread life, and cost less than the original equipment (OE) tires." Two maker documents we read point the other way on warranty mileage: Pirelli says the mileage coverage for non-ELECT tires will be honored up to 80% when they are used on electric vehicles, and Yokohama says its mileage warranties may be lower on electric vehicles unless the tire carries the EV mark. We did not read the test behind Consumer Reports' statement, because it sits behind the member wall. Read the warranty, and check your car's manual, before you change the size or type.

What this shelf leaves out matters. It does not include every good all-season tire, and it says nothing about the tires from the makers we could not read. It also does not say which of the tires above is best in your size on your car: no page we could read does.

What the snowflake costs: the warranty column

The shelf above lets you do one comparison from printed numbers: the highest warranty figure on each page. The three snowflake tires print 60,000 miles each (Goodyear, Michelin, General Tire). Of the nine plain all-season tires on the shelf, six print higher top figures: 65,000 for the Yokohama and the BFGoodrich V and W-rated sizes, 70,000 for the two Pirellis, 75,000 for the BFGoodrich H-rated sizes and the Michelin Defender LTX M/S2, and 80,000 for the Michelin Defender2. Three print less: 55,000 for the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S and Latitude Tour HP, and 45,000 for the Pilot Sport All-Season 4. Inside one maker, the cleanest comparison is Michelin's: the CrossClimate2 prints 60,000 miles and the Defender2 prints 80,000, both under the same Promise Plan.

Read that as a pattern in the paperwork, not as a measurement of how the tires wear. The makers write their own warranty terms and the conditions differ, and Michelin's CrossClimate2 page itself says the tire lasts up to 15,000 miles longer than four leading competitors (a ⚪ claim with a footnote). What the column can safely tell you is what you are being asked to accept on paper: if you move from a plain all-season to a snowflake tire, check whether the mileage promise falls with it.

Prices and cost per mile: the arithmetic you can do from printed numbers

We did not collect a price list, and no maker page except Goodyear's printed a price. Goodyear's Assurance WeatherReady 2 page showed $180.00 to $440.00 on 5 November 2026, depending on the size, and a 60,000-mile warranty. If the range is per tire (the page does not say), four tires cost $720 at the low end and $1,760 at the high end, before mounting and balancing. Divided by the 60,000 warranted miles, that is 1.2 cents and 2.9 cents per warranted mile. That is a way to compare two tires of the same size, not a prediction: warranty miles are a ceiling, not an expected life, and the Michelin, Pirelli, General Tire and Yokohama documents all reduce or void the mileage under the conditions in the section on warranties.

The proration formula is worth seeing once with numbers. General Tire's own warranty brochure gives a sample: a tire with a 60,000-mile warranty, bought at an odometer reading of 20,000 miles and presented for warranty at 65,000, has delivered 45,000 miles, so the owner pays 45,000 / 60,000 = 75% of the current price of a comparable replacement. The brochure's example assumes rotation records and even wear down to 2/32 inch. In General Tire's example a tire that delivered 45,000 of its 60,000 warranted miles still costs the owner 75% of a comparable new tire's price, and the brochure requires the rotation schedule to be filled in, so the rotation record is part of the claim.

What independent tests exist, and what they can and cannot tell a US buyer

A maker's own test is a claim. An independent test is a test somebody else paid for, ran and published. We looked for the second kind and found that the ones a US buyer would most want are the hardest to read.

Consumer Reports is the main independent US source. Its winter-tire page says it tests more than 40 tire models every year, buying, installing and evaluating about 800 tires every 12 months, with braking and handling on its track in Connecticut and ice-braking at a skating rink. Its all-season page says the scoring puts greater emphasis on safety-related aspects such as braking, hydroplaning resistance and handling, and that the tire's price is not part of the Overall Score. The ratings themselves, the numbers that rank one tire above another, are for members, and we did not read them. Everything we quote from Consumer Reports above is the public text on its pages. Its page for best all-season tires lists categories and tells readers to become a member to read the picks, so we can tell you the picks exist and not what they are.

Tire Rack, Discount Tire, Edmunds and the NHTSA tire pages answered our requests with a 403 error. We did not try to get around any of them. We therefore quote no Tire Rack result and do not describe its tests; a reader who has them open in another tab knows something this page does not.

ADAC, the German motoring club, published a test of 16 all-season tires on 24 June 2025 in the size 225/45 R17 (its press release, in German, was readable). It graded driving and braking on dry, wet, ice- and snow-covered roads and checked durability, fuel use, noise and sustainability. Only half of the tires could be recommended, four earned the grade "good", and four showed what ADAC called serious defects, and ADAC's text says they pose a safety risk. The best two, the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 and the Continental AllSeasonContact 2, both scored 2.3; the Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF 3 and Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 scored 2.5. ADAC's wet-braking comparison (80 km/h, about 50 mph, to a stop) is the sharpest number in it: the second-placed Continental stopped after a little over 31 metres (about 102 feet), while the Arivo Carlorful, joint last overall, was still doing 41 km/h (about 25 mph) at that point. For the driver ADAC added a plain caution: anyone going on a summer holiday at high temperatures, possibly fully loaded, or on a ski holiday where difficult winter road conditions are likely, should rely on pure summer and winter tires.

Auto Express, a UK magazine, published an all-season test on 25 September 2026 of eight tires. The overall scores in its results table were 100 for the Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF 3, which won, then 99.6 Michelin, 99.4 Continental, 99.3 Bridgestone, 99.0 Nokian, 98.2 Falken, 97.7 Linglong and 92.4 for the Tomket. The same table has the Pirelli in eighth and last place for snow braking (95.5, against 100 for the Michelin in first). Auto Express's verdict on the last-placed Tomket is blunt: "The false economy of a no-name budget tyre is once again exposed by our testing."

Three things limit what these tests tell a US buyer. First, they are European tests of European product ranges, sizes and vehicles, and the pages we read do not say which of the tested tires carry the snowflake; some are tires of the CrossClimate family, which Michelin markets with the 3PMSF marking, so do not read these as tests of plain M+S all-season tires. Michelin says so on its own US page: the CrossClimate tires sold in Europe "differ in design from those sold in North America," and the page adds that North America will continue with the CrossClimate2 for the next several years, while the European range moved on to the CrossClimate3. Second, the overall score blends many separate results: in the Auto Express table the overall winner was last of eight in one snow test, and the top five finished within about one point of each other, while the last was about seven and a half points behind the winner. Third, both tests were published in 2025 and 2026, and tire lines are revised often. What they do show is the shape of the market in those tests: a handful of well-made tires close together at the top, and a tail that is meaningfully worse. The takeaway for a US buyer is to find a US test of the exact tire in the size on the car, and to be wary of a tire nobody has tested.

Maker against maker: three claims that cannot all be the whole story

Four of the six makers on the shelf (Goodyear, Michelin, General Tire and BFGoodrich) print a test in which their own tire wins. The footnotes show why they do not add up to a ranking. Here are three, read in full on 5 November 2026. Each is a ⚪ maker's claim.

Michelin, on the CrossClimate2 page. Michelin's footnotes describe wet-braking tests from 50 mph "using tires buffed to 3/32" remaining tread depth" in size 235/55R18 on a 2020 Toyota RAV4, where the CrossClimate2 had an average stopping distance of 142.9 ft against 195.8 ft for the Continental CrossContact LX25 and 198.6 ft for the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady. The footnote names the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady, without the 2. A separate Michelin treadwear footnote, tested in size 235/60R18 on 2018 Honda CR-Vs, gives the CrossClimate2 an estimated life of 79,098 miles "versus the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady2 tire at 56,082 miles", and the same footnote names other competitors too, among them Firestone WeatherGrip and Toyo Celsius in other tests.

Goodyear, in its release of 20 August 2024. Goodyear introduced the WeatherReady 2 and said that, tested "against similar competitor products, including the Michelin CrossClimate2, Bridgestone WeatherPeak, and Pirelli Scorpion WeatherActive," it "came in first when testing for wet handling, wet braking and dry handling." The footnote says the tests were internal, in size 245/60R18, and that actual on-road results may vary.

General Tire, on the AltiMAX365 AW page. The page claims "Best-in-class all-around performance" based on internal tire test results in dry handling, wet handling, comfort, snow traction and ice braking, compared with the Firestone WeatherGrip, the Nokian WR G4 and the Toyo Celsius in size 205/65R16.

Read the three together. Michelin says its tire out-brakes Goodyear's earlier WeatherReady and outlasts the WeatherReady 2. Goodyear says the WeatherReady 2 beats Michelin's tire in wet braking. General Tire says its tire beats three others in its own test (Firestone WeatherGrip, Nokian WR G4, Toyo Celsius); Michelin's treadwear footnote names two of them (Firestone and Toyo) in a different test. The sizes differ (235/55R18, 235/60R18, 245/60R18, 205/65R16), where a car is named (Michelin's footnotes) the cars differ, the competitors differ, and the Michelin braking test was run with the tires buffed down to 3/32 inch while the other two footnotes do not say. None of the three claims is independent, and we did not average them. The honest reading is the one Michelin and Goodyear print themselves: "Actual on-road results may vary."

Which all-season tire should I buy for my car, and does PulsCar recommend one? No: PulsCar does not test tires, names no best one, and nothing on this page is our pick. The makers' pages we could read print top warranty figures from 45,000 to 80,000 miles, but every performance claim comes from the maker's own test, and the three claims we read use different sizes and competitors, and only some name a car. The independent US ratings are behind a member wall, and the independent tests we could read are European. What you can do is shortlist two or three tires in your exact size that carry the marks your winters need, compare their warranty terms and rotation conditions, and ask the shop what it sees on cars like yours. PulsCar's homepage says nothing about tires, so the free check is not a tool for this choice.

The traps: three ways an all-season buyer overpays or under-protects

Trap one: believing M+S means snow-ready. The mark is a tread-design label, and the industry specialist quoted by Modern Tire Dealer called it a visual standard. Only the Michelin pages on the shelf print a Mud & Snow badge; the other makers' product pages we read do not mention M+S at all, so the badge on a web page is not the mark on the tire. If your road or your state asks for the snowflake, check the sidewall of the tire in front of you.

Trap two: reading warranty miles as tire life. A 60,000-mile or 80,000-mile figure is a refund formula with conditions: all four warranty documents we read tie the mileage to rotation at set intervals, the rear tires get half the mileage on cars with different front and rear sizes, and Michelin's list of exclusions includes wear caused by misalignment.

Trap three: taking a maker's "beats the competition" headline as a ranking. The claims above name different competitors in different sizes, and they point in different directions. The footnote is the claim; the headline is the advertising.

Matching sets, all-wheel drive and what to ask the shop

The simplest way to waste money on all-season tires is to replace two and mismatch the rest. Michelin's manual asks for the same size and type of tire on all four wheel positions and, for four-wheel-drive vehicles in particular, sends owners to the vehicle manufacturer's manual. We read no vehicle maker's manual for this page, so we cannot say how any particular car treats a mixed set. What the tire maker says is enough to ask three questions at the counter: does my vehicle manufacturer's manual allow two tires of a different type or tread depth on one axle; how much tread is left on the two I am keeping; and what do the rotation records need to look like for the warranty. The matching rule is in criterion 7 above.

Pressure and wear belong to the tire too. Michelin's manual says to check the cold inflation pressure of all tires, including the spare, at least once each month and before every long-distance trip, and to check how the tires are wearing at least once each month. A tire pressure warning light has its own guide: see our tire pressure light guide.

Where a free sound check fits, and where it does not

A shop with a tread gauge, a quarter and ten minutes can tell you more about your tires than any recording.

Can PulsCar's free check tell me whether my new all-season tires are wearing badly? No. PulsCar's check is built to listen to an engine: you film it running for 30 seconds and get a free report in about 10 minutes, and its homepage does not claim to assess tires or tread. A tread gauge, a pressure gauge and a shop that can balance and align the car are the right tools for tire questions; see our wheel alignment guide. PulsCar's check answers a different question: a new noise from the engine. If the noise comes from a wheel or tire, or you feel a new vibration, a pull to one side or a bulge in a tire, inspect the car first and do not drive it to record anything. The same goes for brakes, steering and a flashing or red warning light.

What this page cannot tell you

We do not test tires, and this page ranks none. We could not read Tire Rack's tests, Consumer Reports' member ratings, the NHTSA tire pages or the US product pages of Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Hankook, Nokian and Toyo, so the shelf above is shorter than the market. The independent tests we could read are European, on other models and sizes. The warranty figures are the makers' own; we found no document that counts how often a claim is paid. Laws change: we read official sources for Colorado, California (Caltrans and Yosemite) and Quebec, and not the rules of the other states or provinces, and the Colorado law was updated in fall 2025. Prices change daily. A tire on this page may be discontinued or replaced by the time you read it. What this page can do is give you the criteria and the fine print, which are stable, and send you to the maker page, the law and your own sidewall for the rest.

Your action plan: now, this week, before the first snow

Now (10 minutes). Find the three marks on your tires' sidewalls: the size, the M+S letters and, if any, the mountain-and-snowflake symbol. Put a quarter into the grooves; if the top of Washington's head is just about flush with the tread (the quarter goes head down in the groove), Consumer Reports says you will need new tires soon. Michelin's manual says tires must be replaced at the 2/32 wear bars, and that a tire with a bump, bulge or crack should not be driven on until a tire professional has inspected it. Check the pressure with a gauge when the tires are cold.

This week. Decide which row of the winter table you live in. If you regularly drive on snow-covered or icy roads at winter temperatures, plain all-season tires are not what the makers point to: Michelin, Bridgestone, General Tire and Consumer Reports all point to winter tires or, at least, tires with the mountain-and-snowflake mark. If you drive in a traction-law state, read the state page.

Before you buy. Compare the same size at two or three sellers, installed. Read the warranty page of the tire you are considering, not the headline. Ask about rotation records, the rear-tire halving rule if your car has different front and rear sizes, and the tires you will keep if you are not replacing all four. Keep the invoice.

After you buy. Rotate on the maker's schedule and keep the record. Check the alignment if the tires wear unevenly. Re-check the pressure monthly. When the tread nears 4/32 inch, Consumer Reports' shopping line, start shopping again. If you drive under Colorado's traction law or California's chain controls, the tire rules need 6/32 inch (3/16), and the warranties and the wear bars end at 2/32.

Sources and documents

Each page below was read on 5 November 2026. Marks: 🟢 official text or an industry-body bulletin; ⚪ a company's own claim about its own product. Where a page carried no date, we say so.

1. 🟢 Federal tire standard: 49 CFR 571.139, Standard No. 139, new pneumatic radial tires for light vehicles (snow tire definition, Alpine symbol), and 49 CFR 575.104, Uniform Tire Quality Grading Standards, both as published by the Legal Information Institute
2. 🟢 Rubber Manufacturers Association, Tire Information Service Bulletin Vol. 37, No. 3, "RMA definition for passenger and light truck tires for use in severe snow conditions", copyright 2011, hosted by the US Tire Manufacturers Association
3. 🟢 Colorado Department of Transportation: Passenger Vehicle Traction and Chain Laws (undated); news release, November 2025; Presidents Day travel advisory, February 2026
4. 🟢 Caltrans, chain requirements (undated); National Park Service, Yosemite tire chain requirements (page dated as last updated 3 December 2025)
5. 🟢 Government of Québec, requirements for winter tires (last updated 5 October 2026)
6. Trade press and retailer: Modern Tire Dealer, The Evolution of Winter Tires, 22 March 2019, and the same article at Automotive Fleet, 25 March 2019; Les Schwab, What is the 3PMSF symbol (published 20 December 2022)
7. Consumer Reports public pages (ratings are for members and were not read): Tire buying guide, updated 1 October 2026; Best all-season tires, updated 1 October 2026; Best winter/snow tires, updated 1 October 2026; Understanding the UTQG system, updated 11 September 2026; Tires hub
8. Independent tests, European: ADAC, press release of 24 June 2025 on its all-season tire test (German); Auto Express, All-season tyre test: verdict and results by category, 25 September 2026
9. ⚪ Michelin: CrossClimate2, Defender2, Pilot Sport All-Season 4, Primacy Tour A/S, Defender LTX M/S2, Latitude Tour HP, and the replacement-tire owner's manual and warranty (undated; copyright 2022)
10. ⚪ Goodyear: Assurance WeatherReady 2 page (text copied from the rendered page in a browser) and the news release of 20 August 2024
11. ⚪ General Tire: AltiMAX365 AW, its specifications, the article What is an all-weather tire? (undated), and the Shield+ warranty brochure, effective 1 February 2025
12. ⚪ Other makers: BFGoodrich, Advantage Control; Yokohama, AVID Ascend GT; Pirelli, US limited warranty, effective 1 May 2026, P7 AS Plus 3 and Scorpion AS Plus 3; Bridgestone, how to choose all-season tires (undated)
13. PulsCar homepage (sound check terms)
14. What we could not read, and so did not quote: Tire Rack, Discount Tire, Edmunds and the NHTSA tire pages (403 errors); the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec page (403); Consumer Reports' member ratings; Cooper's US product pages (server error); the text of Quebec's winter-tire regulation on LégisQuébec (server error 502); CDOT's chain-law FAQ (not found); the US product pages of Bridgestone WeatherPeak, Continental, Nokian, Toyo and Hankook (script-built, not found, or no readable text)

Prices verified: 5 November 2026 (the only price printed on a maker page was Goodyear's range; no price list for tires) · Technical documents verified: 5 November 2026 · Reviewed quarterly

Saw a mark, a law or a figure that differs from this page? Email [email protected] with the tire, the state and the source.