Winter tires better than all weather tires?

[jaggers]

I want to get the tires on my fiesta replaced and I was looking for differences between all-season and winter tires. I came across this blog http://www.serviceplus416.com/maintenance-tips/5-reasons-to-switch-to-snow-tires-during-the-winter/. The blog says "it is optimal to switch to snow tires to really have a sense of security while driving through a winter wonderland."  Is this right? I used to think that all-season tires are better than winter tires because they can perform well in all conditions. Is it because of the better grip that winter tires are better than all-season tires? 

[alexp999]

Winter tyres as the name suggests work better in winter, than summer or all season tyres.

Summer and all season tyres go hard in winter from the cold and dont grip so well.

Winter tyres have an optimised tread pattern and compound.

In the UK, it is rarely worth investing in a set of winter tyres for the week of snow we might get. It depends where you live in the country and how bad the roads are.

The tyres on my ST are only designed for +5 deg C, but providing you don't drive like a moron they still work fine below 0.

[BOF]

A lot of that blog is wrong - ok, the author would probably argue that it is either badly phrased or incorrect terminology and that the author knew what was meant, but didn't manage to get the message across as well as they should have - so don't take it too literally.

Winter tyres and snow tyres can have two quite different meanings (as do M+S tyres): Real snow tyres (often termed 'Nordic' winter tyres) can be pretty bad on wet roads, so they probably are not optimal for typical UK conditions,  unless you are just putting them on and off, by the day, depending on weather that day. For typical UK conditions, for fitting throughout the colder months, you really want something that works on wet roads, and Nordic tyres aren't really designed to do that.

 

In my view, accepting that tyres may not be as good on snow or ice is a good trade-off for better wet performance in typical UK conditions, but wouldn't be such a good compromise in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe (in countries in which there are regulations on which tyres you are allowed in Winter or on snowy roads, the 'three peaks' symbol may be compulsory, so, if you are travelling abroad in Winter, you may want to research that - it isn't what the tyres are called, but the three peaks symbol that is vital for, eg, Germany).

The all seasons tyres are a compromise, but, particularly the more recent ones, are distinctly better than summer tyres in winter and better than winter tyres in summer, so, if you aren't going to change tyres in different seasons, they are worth considering.
 

[jaggers]

Thanks for all the info guys!

In short, Winter tires are the best for winter and the all weather suits all other climate conditions. I don't have plans to change tires in different seasons. So, I will stick with the all weather tires (y). Which brand would you suggest?