Inexpensive All-Seasons

*Thread update. Bought a good set of all-season Cooper tires and a set of wheels from DT to use during the winter

Pricing out a set of all-season tires for my new Stinger GT AWD (19" wheels) so that I don't ruin the Pilot Sport 4 tires this winter (or just die from lack of traction) 

Knowing that I am just looking for something decent to get through the winter, and have a budget of around $600 - what would you guys recommend? How cheap, is too cheap? Discount Tire near me has a few options under that price, but they are Nankang? Never heard of it, but for a winter beater tire does it matter?

Sizes are 

F - 225/40/19

R - 255/35/19

Can you find Nokian Z-Line A/S in sizes that work?  They are not terribly expensive from what I can see (online retailers), and you have a very reputable brand known for bad-weather tires.

I use Hercules tires on my daily/beaters.

Just put a set of 235 50 18's on my truck for $300 installed.

Also will it damage the Pilot Sport 4 tires to have them stored in my garage over the winter? Really don't want to put them in the basement (finished, kids playroom etc)

I have been running some inexpensive Falken Brand Tires in my fleet and have been very happy with them.  These were Prius, Focus and Avalon purchases so I am not sure how well that will translate to Stinger.  

The other option I am thinking about is getting a whole package from TireRack (discount code anyone?) 18" square set up with proper snow tires, this is quite a bit more (1200+)

Question there - they can install the tires without the TPMS sensors, or for an additional 200 bucks can put TPMS sensors in there. Can I skip  them and just drive it with out TPMS sensors, or will this trip some other issue with the computer? I don't mind a warning light etc

I've never used them in the winter, and haven't had them on my truck for about 5 years now and it's never been a problem

FSP_ZX2 said:

Can you find Nokian Z-Line A/S in sizes that work?  They are not terribly expensive from what I can see (online retailers), and you have a very reputable brand known for bad-weather tires.

These are super cheap on Wal-Mart's website. I was tempted to buy them for my Cobalt SS.

Pepboys has a sale going for Kuhmo's. Buy 3 get 1 free on the Ecsta 4XII was a pretty good deal, and they're rated well on Tire Rack's website.

Sumitomo HTR Enhance L/X. Outstanding tires, great traction in all situations including rain,  mud,  and snow. Probably not the bottom in pricing but still fairly cheap. My current set has about 40k on them and should be good for another 20k+.

I'll be buying these again. 

Thinking about going this route

tirewheel by _Storz_, on Flickr

tirewheel by _Storz_, on Flickr" />

Storz said:

Question there - they can install the tires without the TPMS sensors, or for an additional 200 bucks can put TPMS sensors in there. Can I skip  them and just drive it with out TPMS sensors, or will this trip some other issue with the computer? I don't mind a warning light etc

My dad just puts a piece of tape over the warning light on the dash.  TPMS wasn't worth the $200 for him.  He said he's been driving cars for 60 years without TPMS and doesn't need a dummy light to do the job for him.

Update time, if you buy a set of tires off of ebay directly from Discount Tire right now you get an instant 100 dollar savings, so I bought a set of Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring tires in 225/45/18, Cooper is also offering a $70 rebate right now. $332 bucks shipped to my door (not including the rebate)

Ordered those and then went up to my local Discount Tire and ordered a set of the wheels pictured below, everything will get mounted up Friday. While not as good as an all out snow tire, these are going to be way better than the Pilot Sports that came on the car. Now I can save the nice tires for summer time fun only!

I had a set of those on my Subaru and they are great tires. Quiet, great rain traction, and good enough for most weather winter traction (though they were swapped for blizzaks for the real part of AK winters). 

Why all seasons? It’d be same price and WAAAAAYYYYYY better to get non studded general Arctic max. Then have two sets of wheels. 

_ said:

Why all seasons? It’d be same price and WAAAAAYYYYYY better to get non studded general Arctic max. Then have two sets of wheels. 

There just isn't enough snow to warrant driving snow tires on pavement 90% of the time for the occasional snowy road. I've driven all-seasons my entire life in this part of the state and always done OK. 

When Ilived in NC I had a ZHP with summer tires and one time got stuck in a snow storm, it was not fun haha

IMG_0557 by _Storz_, on Flickr

In reply to Storz :

Snow and ice?   Some parts of the country place no premium on snow and ice traction then Nankang are fine. You see a lot of them on new buses and trucks. 

If ice and snow driving conditions get bad in the winter  I’d spend the money to mount up a set of Blizzacks  by Bridgestone.  

All mounted up, I think it came out pretty good! Will be a great winter setup

2018-10-17_07-06-10 by _Storz_, on Flickr

1" too small if all you cared about was looks, but considering this was a utilitarian purchase i'd say it turned out looking pretty darn good.