Snow tire recomendation

[bowtieguy]

I have an 2023 Equinox LT AWD. We get some really bad snow storms here in Western Massachusetts. My question is, I have an all wheel driver. This feature can be selected. Driving through snow, do you recommend driving with all wheel drive? That seems like a pretty simple forward idea, and if so, what kind of snow tires would you recommend?
And would you recommend snow tires all around, or just on the front, or just the back?
The reason for asking is, snow and ice can be spotty in some places, with traction demands slightly different on the front drive axles appose to the back axles. With all the electronics involved, and the stress loads different on some surfaces - front Vs Back drives, is my concern on snow tires.

 

[Hey Vern!]

I would use all wheel drive in bad weather conditions. I use it in the rain, sometimes. I would put the same tires on all four wheels. Maybe a Bridgestone Blizzak tire for the snow and ice. You may want to mount them on separate wheels, because they won't last long in the summer. You can buy an all season tire, if you want to use them year round. In that case, I would recommend Michelin.

 

[Hey Vern!]

Check out the Michelin cross climate. It's a 60,000 mile all season tire.

 

[ricklack]

I use AWD on snowy/icy roads and sometimes on wet roads. Can't beat it for confident driving in the winter especially. Snow tires on all 4 wheels is mandatory and most tire shops will not sell you 2 of them. With AWD all 4 tires have to be very similar in size and traction properties.

As Vern mentioned, I have used Blizzaks which are very good.

I also had Cross Climates on my 2013 equinox and they seemed pretty awesome but it was a limited time until I traded the car in. Cross Climates are all weather, not all season - which means they could be used year round. That was why I bought them for the 2013, I expected to run these year round until the car died. Unfortunately it passed before expected. I ran them August to December in Canada and on a trip to Florida in November with no issues in the warm weather. I did "some" limited driving in the snow

My favorite snow tire is the Michelin X-Ice. I've used them on 3 or 4 different cars and love them. They also wear like iron.