Winter tires for 19" wheels

[PDX-Y]

Our first ski season is coming up with the new Y and it's time to decide on winter tires for our 19" wheels. I'm hoping someone has been down this path before. Note that Oregon regulations require "three peak" 3PMSF tires in chain conditions, so that's a firm requirement to avoid a ticket. And we want them on all season, so studs are out. Some quick research has identified the following products that seem to meet requirements. Any comments?

• Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 (this is what Tesla sells)
• Pirelli P Zero Winter
• Continental VikingContact 7
• Continental ContiWinterContact TS830 P
• Michelin X-Ice Snow
• Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4

Our local Costco stocks the two Michelin tires, so there's a natural draw for those to avoid having to order them.

 

[oculi]

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3

 

[JimmySure]

1/ Have you checked if your local Costco has them in stock? The ones in Seattle area are completely sold out.
2/ Surprised you don't have the Vredestein Wintrac Pros on that list. Despite no officially review by TireRack, lots of positive reviews there and here on the forums.

Some good discussion in this recent thread: MYP in Wisconsin winters/ I need help with tire/wheels

 

[Schoo1]

You've listed different segment tires in your list so the question will come down to what you want from this set of tires? the best snow/ice performance at the expense of some handling feel or good snow/ice performance while keeping some good handling feel?

I don't want to explain this for all the tires you've listed so I'll limit it to the 2 Michelins since you're more inclined to them being at Costco:
Michelin X-Ice Snow - Studless winter
Michelin Alpin PA4 - Performance Winter

You'll get better overall handling performance from Performance Winter tires vs Studless winter tires, but you'll tend to get much better snow/ice performance from Studless tires vs Winter Performance tires. Further proof of this is you can check out the speed ratings of each tire: the Studless X-Ice snow only comes in H rating (good for up to 130 mph) vs the Winter Performance Alpin PA4 is Y rated (good for up to 186 mph). Now, no regular consumer in North America needs a tire that goes up to 186mph, but tires that have this rating typically have much better handling characteristics as the tire is built for more sporty applications.

 

[Adirondack_D]

Have had the Michelin X-Ice on at least 4 other cars with different size tires. In my experience the offer the best balance between ride comfort and handling in the snow. I have a set of 4 X-ice on order from Tirerack this week for my model Y. Good Luck!

 

[MY2Ski]

I ran the SottoZero3's from Tsportline with their 19" wheels on Mt Hood and was very happy with them. 79 days of skiing and living most of the winter in Govy and skiing at Meadows. MY is an awesome care in the snow, especially with good studless snow tires. Make sure you have good mud flaps and PPF in the lower rear doors otherwise they will get sandblasted.