There’s another thread on this somewhere where I shared some thoughts on this.
Michelin Defender IMO not good on ice and snow
Cooper AT3 good in snow not great on ice (wear is minimal but won’t buy again—too much winter in MN)
Goodyear Wrangler AT w/ Kevlar good ice and snow
Goodyear Duratrac great ice and snow
Although TireRack has a high ice and light snow rating on the Defenders, they’re still not really an ideal tire for places that get a lost of snow and ice. You probably are better off with any of those last choices you mentioned but for places that don’t get a lot of snow and ice, those Michelin defenders are hard to beat if you want something that’ll do fairly well on the frozen stuff, but still run as a great street and summer tire for those that want a nice riding, quiet and long-lasting tire that also handles very well in heavy rain storms.
Even though I am crazy about my Defenders, they probably wouldn’t be my first choice or even my second or third choice if I lived where you did or practically anywhere up north that got hit with a ton of snow each winter. Pretty much any good full-blown A/T tire will work good in light and deep snow but for ice, you just can’t beat a good snow tire, whether it was one of those typical studded ones, or if it was the non-studdable snow tires which is probably what I’d be running to begin with if I lived in that kind of area.
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