Best Tires for the SEAT Altea Freetrack

I go to the Alps in the winter twice each year. This January I arrived during the first big snowfall for a few weeks and drove on the motorway behind snow ploughs and then when I got to my junction, drove 20km up and over the pass to the place I was staying. The tires exceeded expectation and easily as good as previous full winter tires I have had before. A week later in a blizzard, I drove to Geneva airport and back, an hour each way, and when driving over the same pass in heavy snow, the locals were stopping and some were putting on chains. I had to go stop start up the hill on freshly snow covered roads and the tires provided every confidence as they did going down the other side of the pass

I have now driven back and done over 2000 miles. They have been great in snow and also in the very wet condition in the past few weeks in the UK. They are not noticeably noisy, perhaps 5% less efficient than my last summer tires, and appear very stable. I expect them on the evidence of a few warmer days before going to the Alps that they may be slightly less precise in warmer weather, but the trade off is worthwhile, given the stability they have showed in difficult driving condition

Regardless as to how good the tires are, any tire will have a limit on snow, so even though I recommend these tires, you still need to drive with caution, but they provide the edge required when encountering snow and wet in winter conditions

Not run winter tires before, but after reading a few reviews on here thought i would try a set of these, living in north yorkshire the conditions can get wild , was very glad to have these on winter 2012-13 with the mass of snow we had and frosty days, the car felt safe, great to drive and bags of traction even in the snow and icy conditions we had that year, i live up a fairly steep hill and even with 3-5 inch of snow on the ground the car went up with ease, only got the car stuck for bit when i planted it on a compacted large snow drift, my fault for not realising but amazing where i could take the car . put them on last year but was a very warm winter, this year they are paying off again, will prob get 4-5 seasons out of them at the rate i am going.
not cheap tires but the road noise is good, feel in all conditions is excellent and would rather pay a little more for tires that are this good knowing that it could make the difference in getting home safe or not.

Purchased these with a 2nd hand Seat Altea 4 x 4. The previous owner had fitted at 29k in 2011. Two years later I have driven 16,000 miles and swapping them over a year ago, the tread is down to 3mm all round. As a summer tire snow grip was OK, but wet performance is poor. More concerning is that the casing is starting to develop hairline cracks inside the sipes and grooves. Would not buy these again due to rapid perish and questionable wet grip.

Good tire.price, the best choice.
I recommend for those looking for a good and cheap.