Best Tires for Driving on Ice: How to Pick Winter Tires That Stop Shortest

If you want the best tires for driving on ice, buy a dedicated studless ice and snow tire (or a studded tire if your state allows them and you see glare ice often), put four of them on the car, and mount them before the weather turns. That single decision does more for your stopping distance on ice than all-wheel drive, ABS, or any amount of careful driving. Below is how to pick the right one, what the actual ice-braking tests show, and the details that decide whether a winter tire still works in its third or fourth season.

The short answer: which tires stop shortest on ice

On ice, tire type matters far more than brand. In the 2026 Tire Rack test on a 2025 Toyota Camry, every dedicated winter tire stopped shorter on ice than every all-season and all-weather tire. The gap between categories was 10 feet or more from just 12 mph. The gap between the top winter tires was a few feet.

So the order of operations is:

1. Pick the category first: studless ice and snow for most drivers, studded for the iciest roads.
2. Then pick a model from that category that tests near the top on ice.
3. Then get the details right: four tires, correct size, correct pressure, enough tread, and not too old.

The models that keep landing near the top of independent ice tests right now are the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, Michelin X-Ice Snow, Continental VikingContact 8 (and its predecessor, the VikingContact 7), and Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 on the studless side. On the studded side, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 and Bridgestone Blizzak Spike 3 tested very well on ice in Finland’s 2025 Tekniikan Maailma test.

Winter tires best for stopping on ice (what the tests show)

Here are the numbers I trust, all from tests where the car, the ice, and the speed were held the same and only the tires changed.

Tire Rack, 2026: winter vs all-weather vs all-season on a Camry

Tire Rack’s “All-Weather vs. Winter Tires: The Definitive Test” (published May 2026) ran 10 tires in size 215/55R17 on a 2025 Toyota Camry, with testing done in near-freezing temperatures. Ice braking was measured from 12 mph to a stop:

• Best winter tire in the test: 38.7 feet
• Michelin X-Ice Snow (studless): 39.4 feet
• Continental VikingContact 8 (studless): 43.3 feet
• General AltiMAX Arctic 12 (studdable, run without studs): 45.9 feet
• Vredestein Quatrac (all-weather): 50.6 feet
• Michelin CrossClimate2 (all-weather): 53 feet
• Michelin Defender2 (standard all-season): 55 feet
• Michelin Primacy Tour A/S (grand touring all-season): 57.7 feet

Read that list again. The Primacy Tour A/S is a good tire. It had some of the best wet braking in the whole test (99.3 feet from 50 mph). On ice it needed about 18 more feet than the X-Ice Snow from a speed you’d hit rolling up to a stop sign. Tire Rack noted the closest all-season or all-weather tires were “10+ feet farther” than the VikingContact 8 on ice.

Snow braking from 25 mph told the same story. The X-Ice Snow stopped in 56.1 feet, the Blizzak WS90 in 57.3, and the VikingContact 8 in 59.3, while the Defender2 needed 84.5 feet and the Primacy Tour A/S 81.1.

MotorTrend and Tire Rack: two identical AWD RAV4s on a rink

In a test MotorTrend ran with Tire Rack, two identical all-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4s, one on name-brand all-seasons and one on name-brand winter tires, braked from 12 mph on ice. The all-season RAV4 needed 57 feet. The winter-tire RAV4 stopped in 34 feet (Tire Rack’s video gives the average as 33.7 feet). That’s 23 feet, or about one and a half car lengths, from 12 mph. In an 11 mph, 90-degree turn, the winter-tire car made the corner and the all-season car plowed straight ahead even with stability control working.

Acceleration over 60 feet was much closer (3.7 seconds vs 3.1), because AWD helps you go. It does nothing to help you stop. That’s the trap a lot of AWD owners fall into: the car pulls away from a light so well that it feels like it has grip it doesn’t have.

Tekniikan Maailma, 2025: studless vs studded in Finland

Finland’s Tekniikan Maailma runs one of the most respected winter tire tests in the world. In 2025 it tested seven studless and seven studded tires in 205/55R16 on a VW Golf. Same car, same ice, same procedure for both groups. Ice braking distances:

• Studless best: Michelin X-Ice Snow, 45.6 m
• Continental VikingContact 8: 47.1 m
• Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 and Falken Winterpeak F-Snow 1: 47.9 m
• Goodyear UltraGrip Ice 3: 50.2 m
• Studded best: Bridgestone Blizzak Spike 3, 32.3 m
• Kumho WinterCraft Ice Wi32: 33.1 m
• Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10: 33.9 m
• Continental IceContact 3 (studded, slowest of the studded group on ice): 42.5 m

Two things jump out. First, the best studded tires stopped about 12 to 13 meters shorter on ice than the best studless tire. Second, studs are not magic by themselves: the slowest studded tire on ice was only about 3 meters better than the best studless one. Overall, the magazine ranked the VikingContact 8 and Hakkapeliitta R5 tied for first among studless tires, with the Hakkapeliitta 10 the best tire of the whole test, and noted that the top studless tires are now nearly as good overall as studded ones once snow, wet, and dry roads are weighed in.

Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports does its ice-braking evaluations at a skating rink, and its winter tire Overall Score leans on snow traction and ice braking. In its 2025 ratings (as reported by SlashGear), the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 was the top winter tire for cars and crossovers, with the Michelin X-Ice Snow and Continental VikingContact 7 right behind it. For performance cars the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 led, and for SUVs and light trucks the Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV took the top spot.

Why the rankings shuffle between tests

In an earlier Tire Rack studless ice test, the Continental VikingContact 7 stopped from 12 mph in 28.7 feet, the Blizzak WS90 and Yokohama iceGUARD iG53 tied at 30.4, and the older Michelin X-Ice Xi3 took 32.2. In the 2025 Finnish test the Michelin X-Ice Snow beat everything studless on ice. Different years, sizes, cars, and ice temperatures move the order around by a few feet. Don’t chase the single winner of one test. Pick from the tires that keep showing up in the top group, then decide on ride, noise, price, and availability in your size.

Winter tires stopping distance: why the rubber and tread matter so much

A winter tire stops shorter on ice for four reasons, and knowing them helps you shop.

1. The compound stays soft in the cold. All-season and summer rubber starts to stiffen as temperatures drop toward the 40s. Stiff rubber can’t conform to the tiny texture in an ice surface, so it skates. Winter compounds use more silica and softer polymers so they stay pliable well below freezing. This is the main reason a winter tire grips better even on cold, dry pavement.

2. Siping gives thousands of biting edges. Sipes are the thin slits cut across each tread block. When the block flexes under braking, the sipes open slightly and each edge bites. More edges means more grip on ice. Bridgestone, for example, says the Blizzak WS90 has 15% more block edges than the WS80 it replaced, specifically to stop shorter on ice. Modern 3D sipes also lock together so the blocks don’t squirm too much on dry roads.

3. The surface manages water. Ice is slipperiest right around freezing, when a thin film of meltwater sits on top. Studless tires use porous or textured compounds and fine sipes to wick that film away so rubber can touch ice. That’s why a tire can feel great at 10°F and worse at 30°F on the same road. Glare ice near 32°F is the hardest test for any tire.

4. Deeper tread for snow. Winter tires are molded with deeper tread than most all-seasons. In snow, the grooves pack with snow, and snow grips snow better than rubber does. That matters more for snow than for bare ice, but most winter roads give you both in the same mile.

Studded vs studless: which is best for driving on ice

Choose studless if you mostly see packed snow, slush, cold wet pavement, and the occasional icy intersection. That’s most of the snow belt. Studless tires are quieter, legal everywhere, and in Tire Rack and Consumer Reports testing the top studless models are excellent on ice.

Choose studded if you regularly drive on glare ice: untreated rural roads, mountain passes, frozen-over two-lanes in Montana, Minnesota, Alaska, or northern New England. The Finnish data above shows the clearest ice-braking advantage, roughly 30 percent shorter stops for the best studded tires.

The trade-offs with studs:

• They’re louder, and on dry or wet bare pavement they can be no better (or worse) than a top studless tire.
• They wear grooves in roads, which is why most states restrict them. Washington, for example, allows studded tires only from November 1 through March 31, and the State Patrol can ticket you starting April 1. Some states ban them outright. Check your state DOT before you buy.
• A “studdable” tire like the General AltiMAX Arctic 12 is sold with empty stud holes. Unstudded, it tested at 45.9 feet on ice in Tire Rack’s 2026 test, behind the top studless tires but well ahead of every all-season and all-weather tire. Studs have to go in before the tire is driven on, so decide at purchase.

Winter vs all-season stopping distance on ice

Here are the two cleanest side-by-side results, both from 12 mph on ice:

• RAV4 AWD test (MotorTrend and Tire Rack): all-season 57 feet, winter 34 feet.
• Camry test (Tire Rack 2026): Primacy Tour A/S 57.7 feet, Defender2 55 feet, CrossClimate2 53 feet, X-Ice Snow 39.4 feet, best winter tire 38.7 feet.

A good winter tire stopped roughly 30 to 40 percent shorter than a typical all-season on ice in these tests. Stopping distance also grows with roughly the square of speed, so the gap in feet gets much bigger at 30 or 40 mph than it is at 12. Testers stay at low speed on ice because the rink runs out of room, not because the difference stops there.

Where all-weather tires fit

All-weather tires (all-seasons that carry the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol) like the Michelin CrossClimate2, Bridgestone WeatherPeak, and Vredestein Quatrac landed between the two groups on ice in Tire Rack’s 2026 test: 50.6 to 53 feet, compared with 55 to 57.7 for the regular all-seasons and under 40 for the best winter tires. On snow the WeatherPeak was close to the winter tires (58.6 feet from 25 mph), and on wet pavement the all-weathers beat every winter tire. The Quatrac stopped from 50 mph in 93 feet versus 129 for the X-Ice Snow.

That makes all-weather tires a reasonable pick if you get a few snowy weeks a year and mostly bare roads. If ice is the specific thing you’re worried about, they’re not the answer. They’re a compromise, and on ice you can measure it.

How to read the sidewall: 3PMSF, M+S, and the Ice Grip symbol

M+S (mud and snow) is a tread-geometry marking. As Tire Rack puts it, it’s based on tread pattern geometry and makes no guarantee of performance, and plenty of ordinary all-seasons carry it. On its own it tells you almost nothing about ice.

Three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) means the tire passed a snow traction test. The USTMA and Rubber Association of Canada standard requires a traction index of at least 110 against a reference tire rated 100 (112 when the 16-inch reference tire is used) in ASTM traction testing on medium-packed snow. It measures snow acceleration only. Braking, cornering, and ice are not part of the test. Every real winter tire has it, but so do all-weather tires.

Ice Grip symbol (a mountain with an ice crystal) is the one that’s actually about ice. To earn it under ISO 19447, a passenger tire has to brake on ice at least 18% better than the ASTM F2493 reference tire. It started in Europe and is just reaching North America. In Tire Rack’s 2026 test only the Continental VikingContact 8 carried it. Plenty of good studless tires would likely pass but simply haven’t been certified yet, so treat the Ice Grip symbol as a plus, not a requirement.

The practical rule: if ice is your concern, the tire needs 3PMSF and should be sold as a studless ice and snow (Nordic) winter tire or a studded tire. Don’t confuse a “performance winter” tire with an ice tire. Those are built for cold, wet, and snowy pavement at higher speeds. The Vredestein Wintrac Pro+ in Tire Rack’s test was strong in the wet but only middle of the pack on ice.

How to choose the best tires for driving on ice, step by step

1. Be honest about your roads. Mostly plowed and salted roads with occasional ice: a top studless tire. Regular glare ice, rural or mountain driving, or long cold snaps: studded (if legal) or the best-icing studless tire you can find in your size.
2. Buy from the top group, not one test. For studless: Blizzak WS90, X-Ice Snow, VikingContact 8, Hakkapeliitta R5. For studded: Hakkapeliitta 10, Blizzak Spike 3 (check availability in your size). For trucks and SUVs, look for the SUV or LT version, such as the Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV.
3. Buy four, always. Two winter tires on one axle and all-seasons on the other gives you an axle that grips and one that doesn’t. With winters only on the front of a front-driver, the rear steps out under braking or in a turn. Consumer Reports, Continental, and Transport Canada all say sets of four.
4. Stick with your car’s size, or go narrower on a dedicated set of wheels. Keep the overall diameter within spec so speedometer, ABS, and stability control stay accurate. Many owners buy a second set of steel or alloy wheels so the swap is quick and the tire beads don’t get chewed up by twice-a-year mounting. If you go that route, check bolt pattern, offset, and center bore. Our Chevy 6-lug wheel fitment guide walks through how to read those numbers.
5. Check the date code. The last four digits of the DOT code on the sidewall are the week and year the tire was built (“4225” means week 42 of 2025). Don’t accept old stock as “new” when you’re buying a tire that depends on soft rubber. Rubber hardens with age and heat cycles even if the tread looks deep.
6. Order early. Consumer Reports’ advice is to shop before the first frost, because shops stock up in fall and popular sizes sell out once snow falls.

Tread depth and age: when a winter tire stops working on ice

A worn winter tire can be worse on snow than a fresh all-season. Here’s where the lines fall:

• New winter tires are molded with deeper tread than most all-seasons, so check the new-tire depth for your model and measure against it.
• 6/32 inch: Tire Rack calls this safe, but beginning to lose snow and slush traction and hydroplaning resistance.
• 5/32 inch: Tire Rack’s point where snow and ice performance drops off. Many winter tires have winter wear indicators (snow platforms) molded in the grooves. When they connect across the blocks, you’re there. Transport Canada says not to use tires worn close to 4 mm (about 5/32 inch) on snow-covered roads.
• 4/32 inch: Consumer Reports recommends shopping for new tires at this point. Its tests show a significant drop in grip after it, especially in snow.
• 2/32 inch: the legal minimum in most states. A winter tire here is a slick in a snowstorm.

Some winter tires use a special ice compound only in the outer part of the tread, with a more conventional winter compound underneath. That’s another reason a winter tire’s ice grip often fades before the tread looks worn out. Measure with a tread gauge, not a guess. They cost a few dollars at any parts store.

Age matters too. A five- or six-year-old winter tire with decent tread has usually lost some of the softness that made it good on ice. If you press a thumbnail into the tread and it feels hard compared to a new one at the tire shop, believe it.

Tire pressure in the cold

Tire pressure drops about 1 psi for every 10°F drop in temperature, a figure NHTSA service bulletins and Continental both use. If you set your pressure in a 70°F garage and drive out into 0°F, the tires are about 7 psi low. Low pressure squirms the tread, kills steering response, and can trigger the TPMS light on the first cold morning.

1. Use the pressure on your door placard, not the max on the sidewall. Winter tires use the same placard pressure as your regular tires unless the tire maker says otherwise.
2. Check pressure cold, ideally outside or after the car has sat in the cold for a few hours, not right after a drive.
3. If you check in a warm garage, add about 1 psi for every 10°F the outside temperature is colder than the garage.
4. Check every couple of weeks through winter. Cold snaps pull pressure down fast.

When to put winter tires on (the 45°F / 7°C rule)

Put winter tires on when temperatures consistently drop below about 45°F (7°C), not when the first snow falls. Nokian, Continental, and Transport Canada all use that 7°C line. Below it, all-season compounds stiffen and lose grip even on dry roads, and a winter tire’s softer rubber starts to earn its keep.

“Consistently” is the key word. Look at overnight and early-morning lows, because that’s when you hit frost on bridges and black ice in shaded corners.

Take them off when temperatures are consistently back above 45°F. Soft winter rubber wears fast on warm pavement and gives up wet and dry braking compared with a good all-season. In Tire Rack’s 2026 test, the X-Ice Snow needed 129 feet to stop from 50 mph in the wet, versus 99.3 for the Primacy Tour A/S. Running winters through July costs you tread you’ll want next January and costs you stopping distance on summer roads.

If you live where studs are legal, the stud window may be shorter than the cold season. Washington’s is November 1 to March 31, for example, so plan your swap around that date as well as the thermometer.

Storing your off-season set so it’s still good on ice next year

Ozone, UV light, and heat age rubber. A winter tire that bakes on a hot garage wall all summer comes back harder in the fall.

1. Clean the tires and let them dry before storing them.
2. Mark each tire with its position (LF, RF, LR, RR) so you can rotate at the next install.
3. Store them in a cool, dark, dry spot, away from furnaces, water heaters, electric motors (ozone), and direct sun. Tire storage bags help.
4. Mounted on wheels: stack them flat or hang them by the wheel. Unmounted: store them upright and roll them a quarter turn every month or so to avoid flat spots.
5. Before reinstalling, check date codes, tread depth, and look for cracking in the sidewalls and tread grooves.

If you’re already doing your own oil changes and fluid checks, the swap fits right into a fall maintenance day. Our DIY car maintenance basics for older cars covers the rest of that list. Torque lug nuts to spec with a torque wrench and recheck them after a short drive.

Driving on ice even with the right tires

Good tires shorten the slide. They don’t cancel physics.

• Brake with ABS, don’t pump. Press hard and hold. The buzzing pedal is normal. On older cars without ABS, squeeze the brakes to just short of lockup and ease off if the wheels lock. If your pedal already feels soft before winter, sort that out first: our guide to a soft or spongy brake pedal covers the common causes.
• Look and steer where you want to go. In a front-end slide, ease off the throttle and brakes slightly so the front tires can roll and regain steering.
• Triple your following distance. The test numbers above are from 12 mph. At 35 mph you need several times that distance even on great tires.
• Watch the hard spots: bridges, overpasses, shaded corners, intersections polished by idling cars, and any road right around 32°F.
• Keep the rest of the car winter-ready. A weak battery that won’t crank at 5 below leaves you stuck no matter what tires you’re on. See our list of signs you need a new car battery.

Common mistakes that make good winter tires stop longer

• Buying two winter tires instead of four.
• Running last decade’s winter tires because the tread “looks fine.”
• Setting pressure in a warm garage and never checking it again.
• Buying an all-weather tire and expecting winter-tire ice grip.
• Buying a “performance winter” tire for a car that sees mostly ice.
• Leaving winter tires on all summer and arriving at next winter with a worn-down set.
• Trusting AWD to stop the car. AWD helps you go. It does not help you stop or turn on ice.

The bottom line: for driving on ice, a dedicated winter tire on all four corners is the biggest safety upgrade most cars can get for the money. Pick a model that keeps testing near the top on ice, keep it inflated, keep the tread above 5/32 inch, swap it on at 45°F, and it’ll stop you a car length or more shorter than an all-season, starting from a speed you’d barely call moving.

Sources

Test figures are quoted as published by each tester. Results from different tests use different cars, sizes, and ice, so compare tires within a test, not across tests.

• Tire Rack, All-Weather vs. Winter Tires: The Definitive Test (May 2026)
• Tire Rack, Testing Studless Ice & Snow Tires on the Ice and Dry Roads
• MotorTrend, Are Snow and Winter Tires Worth It? (RAV4 ice test with Tire Rack)
• Tire Rack, All-Season vs. Winter Tires: The All-Wheel Drive/Tire Connection (video)
• Tekniikan Maailma, Paras talvirengas 2025 (Best winter tire 2025)
• TyreRanker, Tekniikan Maailma 2025 studless results table
• TyreRanker, Tekniikan Maailma 2025 studded results table
• Consumer Reports, Best Winter/Snow Tires (updated Oct 2026)
• SlashGear, Consumer Reports’ top-ranked winter and snow tires
• Tire Rack, What is the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake Symbol?
• Tire Rack, What is the Ice Grip Symbol?
• Tire Rack, How Much Tread Depth Is Enough?
• Transport Canada, Using winter tires
• Nokian Tyres, When should you put on winter tires?
• Continental, Buying winter tires (pressure and sets of four)
• NHTSA service bulletin on tire pressure and temperature
• Bridgestone, Blizzak WS90
• WSDOT, Washington studded tire deadline

For more maintenance and repair guides, see the Car Maintenance Hub.

Featured image: car tire on a snow-covered road, photo by Jiří Dočkal via Pexels (Pexels License). Inline images via Pexels: Erik Mclean, Efrem Efre, Maurice Engelen, and Christina & Peter.

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