The Best Winter Tires in Canada

With superb traction, top-notch safety, and decent fuel-saving rolling resistance, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 is an overall winner for any winter driving you’ll be doing. 

Additional grip particles have been added into the rubber compound to give even more traction on icy roads, and is designed with tire siping, allowing the tires to move softer, wet snow out of the way like slush. It’s a great tire throughout the entire winter, especially those early-spring months where the roads are covered in slush and mud. 

Top-notch handling and the ability to keep these tires on the road regardless of the weather is well-worth looking into. 

Great tires for handling almost any weather or road condition winter can throw at them, Michelin’s X-Ice Xi3 winter tires are top of their line for anything you’d need to drive your vehicle through. 

With size options available for most vehicle sizes, and holding up especially well for wetter climates, this is the top-rated pick for trucks and larger SUVs. Regardless of what you’re carrying or hauling they hold up well for years. 

They’re quieter on dry roads than other non-studded winter tires, and tear through slush and wet snow without any worry of losing traction and hydroplaning, making the whole comfort and noise while driving a pleasant experience. 

Cornering stability and steering control is good, no matter whether the road conditions change between dry, wet, icy, or completely covered in snow.  

If you live in a province that gets an incredible amount of snow during the winter months, (looking at you Quebec), the Goodyear Nordic Winter Tires have you covered. 

Whether the snow is barely there or towering over seven-feet tall, you can’t go wrong with a good tire made to handle any snow condition or snowstorm. Being able to drive safely is a top priority and when you need that extra traction to push through the snow, these tires can do it all. 

Driving on dry roads don’t make these tires feel unwieldy, as most reviews have said they feel similar to all-seasons while the noise stayed pleasantly low – compared to most winter tires that can be terrible loud during the highway drives or drier days where there isn’t a lot of rain or snow covering the streets. 

Well known for being the top-rated winter tires in Canada, the Blizzak WS90’s are no stranger to Canadian winters, regardless of what the weather may be. 

If you’re looking for a comfortable, quiet tire that doesn’t lose traction from anything thrown at it, these are worth checking out. They’re studless and are developed for anyone driving sedans, coupes, minivans, and crossovers looking for a sturdy and effective winter tire. 

They’re relatively inexpensive compared to most other winter or ice tires and can effectively save you money in the long run as far as wearability and use are concerned. Lasting for a good five to six years, these winter tires won’t break the bank or let you down driving through any terrain – regardless of which province or winter weather you experience. 

Continental’s WinterContact SI tires are studless ice and snow winter tires developed mainly for anyone that drives coupes, sedans, minivans, and crossover vehicles. 

Enhancing traction on cold, wet, snow-covered, and icy roads these are top-rated winter tires for a reason. High-density multi-angled zigzag styled sipes increase the surface of the treads to bite into snow and slush, enhancing wet road and wintertime traction, while the Traction Groove Technology ridges provide additional 3-dimensional edges to improve braking traction in deep snow. 

A nice feature of the WinterContact SI tires is that once the tread is worn down to approximately 50%, a winter depth tread indicator moulded into the tread design lets you know that it’s reaching the end of its proper ability to provide beneficial traction in snow. It’s definitely a peace of mind knowing when to get your tires changed, instead of waiting until it’s too late. 

Firestone’s Winterforce 2 studdable winter tires are designed for couples, minivans, and sedans that are driving on mostly wet or slushy surfaces and need a traditional wintertime tire for traction on wet, dry, and snow-covered roads. 

Featuring a special cold-weather compound molded into a directional tread with deep grooves, wide notches, and open shoulder slots to swiftly and easily help move slush and water away from the tires, allowing more contact with the road while increasing traction and resisting hydroplaning. 

Certain sizes are available with added studs, increasing the traction and grip through more ice and snow if necessary, depending on your driving needs and what your commute entails. Whether you’re driving through wet mountain passes in BC, or through the early-spring slush that every province knows well, these winter tires have your back and worth looking into. 

An eco-friendly tread compound sports a larger contact patch for increased traction and handling on dry road surfaces. Hankook’s unique stiffness control contour theory technology stiffens the sidewall and adds a higher cornering performance than most other winter tires. 

If you find that you require studs for even better traction on snow-packed roads, there are 6 pin-rows that allow you to do so, for optimal winter driving. These tires are built to run more quietly through a special tread block pitch and have groove angles that work together to lower road noise. 

The handling and traction on the I*Pike RW11’s are smooth, with a comfortable ride no matter what kind of road surface you’re driving on, granting more control despite the weather. The tread life has been reported to be excellent and these last most drivers around five to six years, which is average or above average for studded/studdable winter tires like these. 

For those who have high-performance sports cars or any top-tier speedy car – the Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3’s are well worth looking into. 

Designed to enhance the characteristics of sports cars with an optimized profile that guarantees a longer tire life, these high-performance tires are built to keep fast cars on the road during most winter conditions. 

Best suited for more wet winter climates like BC, they have deep grooves on the surface that allow water to disperse more easily, including slush and wet snow. Designed to be more all-seasonal tires than fully winter ones, as most high-performance vehicle owners like to drive year-round, these use an innovative compound with specialized polymers that improve the tread rubbers mechanical, thermal, and dynamic properties. 

High-density 3D sipe technology improves braking performance and hard-packed snow traction. Internally the structure includes twin steel belts reinforced by spiral-wrapped polyamide that enhances thermal stability, making the tires less sensitive to air and road temperature changes. 

With a low price point and an excellent rating on driving through snow, and rating among the better studdable winter tires, Uniroyal’s Tiger Paw Ice & Snow are hard to beat. 

A unique winter tread compound was engineered to remain flexible and adhere to the pavement in very cold temperatures. Combining that with a directional tread pattern that features zigzag sipes and interlocking 3D shoulder ones, with wider lateral grooves around the tire that reliably deliver traction in snow, slush, ice, and every other winter condition. 

They are pinned all around to fit #12 sized studs if you need even more grip on thicker ice, deep or hard-packed snow, and can help if you hit a patch of black ice. Included into the compound is an added silica, allowing it to drive easily on the wet ground whether that’s slush or wet ice. 

One caveat of these winter tires that has been mentioned in a few reviews is that if you’re a more spirited driver is that the softer sidewalls flex more during harder corning maneuvers. Otherwise, if that doesn’t bother you these are an overall great purchase for the cost, driving on dry pavement is comfortable and smooth, and tread life appears to be good and decently long-lasting. 

MotoMaster might not be a well-known brand but they are highly rated, available exclusively at Canadian Tire as newer and relatively affordable winter tires. 

Like most winter tires these have tons of multi-angle sipes, for channelling away water and slush while simultaneously helping to bite deeper into ice and hard-packed snow. The center track of the tire has saw-toothed edges to increase its footprint on the snow, allowing for better stability, traction, and having a quicker response to acceleration so that you don’t spin out or lose control when starting or stopping your car, or speeding up on the roads. 

Tire noise is seemingly fine on dry and wet roads and is comfortable for long portions of driving (Hello, Canada) Wear and tear seems reasonable for most winter tires, lasting around five years. The tread compound is formulated with advanced silica and polymers to keep it flexible and able to handle the coldest temperatures. The directional tread and lateral grooves help the sipes expel more water to ensure you stay on the road.