Stock All Season Hankook tires in snow?

Anybody out there have any experience driving the stock all season Hankook tires in snow?

In the grand scheme of tires, they're not horrid. They're for sure better than Bridgestone EL400's.

However, honestly, I don't think they'll be able to handle Ontario's winters. On the Jetta, I replaced the Hankooks with Michelin MXM4s because in all areas, I found the Hankook's performance to be very meh. The difference is night and day. For example, last night I was driving in 3" of snow/slush with no issues, my girlfriend's car which still has Hankooks was definitely having a much harder time accelerating.

Consumer Reports says the MXV4 (older version of the MXM4) are the best all-season grad touring tires. However, A LOT of people on Subaru message boards recommend Nokian WRG2. I'm planning on putting WRG2s on the Passat as they excel in slush and that's mainly all the Passat will ever drive in.

Nothing however will beat a dedicated set of aggressive snow tires. Altimax Arctics, Nokian Hakka Rs, and Blizzaks (realize that Blizzaks only truly excel for one or two seasons) are all excellent choices. Mount them on Steelies and justify the upfront cost that both sets will end up lasting twice as long compared to one all-season set.

I dont' have any first hand experience yet but everything I have read is they are poor at best..

I am getting the Michilin Alpin PA4's installed tomorrow. I will be testing them and the passat this weekend. heading up skiing and they are expecting 12+" of snow.

there's no logic in testing all season tires on snow esp these hankook's being designed for low rolling resistance. i just got snows (blizzark ws-70) last week and enjoyed my drive in snow yesterday in NJ. the tires offered solid grip when i was driving at regular weather speeds but the car handling in snow wasn't as good as i expected it to be (its more because of the lower weight than the car i drove in snow before - a 1998 bmw 740il which is atleast 1000lbs more than the passat). i need to re-evaluate my driving style in snow lol...

the reason i put snows on the passat is because i like to drive at "normal" speeds along with some "common sense" in poor weather rather than overly cautious and being a prick on the road. michelin mx4 will suffice if you are on awd, but fwd/rwd cars need snows to drive "normally"

Had 5cm worth this morning. I only have about 14,000km on the tires.

They are junk IMHO.

Regards

I don't expect the Hankooks to perform well at all in the snow. All seasons are for all seasons except snow, in my opinion.

We'll probably try to keep the Passat parked during the winter when there is salt on the road. We have other vehicles to drive instead - may as well keep the Passat nice as long as possible.

Our snow vehicles will be the Mk4 with snow tires and the F-350 with 4WD.

Just last night I was stuck for 5 hours in the nor'easter that hit NJ on my commute home . Conditions were horrible with up to 5 inches of snow on the roads and the hancooks did great ! Kept me straight and gripped the snow just fine for an all season tire .

I managed to get home from work okay in the Nor'Easter (2010 Jetta on original Hankooks with 52k). But I wouldn't try it again. These tires are less than average in the snow.

Next snow storm I will drive my SUV which has AWD and snow tires!!

Get the optimo 4s they're great in the snow. I have a set on a Focus and its good in the snow.

quadrun1 said:

I managed to get home from work okay in the Nor'Easter (2010 Jetta on original Hankooks with 52k). But I wouldn't try it again. These tires are less than average in the snow.

Next snow storm I will drive my SUV which has AWD and snow tires!!

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Any all season tire with 52k on them isn't going to perform good in the snow . On the other hand mine most likely did good because they only have 2k on them .

I might roll the dice and ride these oe hancooks this winter., but I'm kinda nervous about having the ball and chain rolling around in the snow on these ice skates.

Just put on 16" steelies and Nokian Rs. I've used the Nokians for several years and highly recommend them. Except--the first set they installed this time were junk. Road force measurements of 50-70 on all four and they thumped like crazy. Got a new set yesterday, road force 7-24 and it now drives very smooth. Turns out Nokian had moved most of its production to Russia and my tire guy blamed the Ruskies...Anyway, make sure you're happy with any new tires you buy. It's worth the money to road force balance IMHO.

Also, I ordered the steelies from the dealer and was quoted $68 each. Got a call a week later informing me that the parts guy quoted the price for four emergency spare wheels (!) and that the wheels were actually $98 each. After a discussion I got them for $78.