[stevehecht]

I'll be moving to Santa Fe in January, 2015 and I'm trying to decide whether I'm better off with UHP A/S that do well in winter and snow conditions (like Conti DWS) or with a high performance winter tire (like Michelin PA4, Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3, or Dunlop 4D)?

The winter season in Santa Fe extends for 60 days from mid-November to mid-February. During that time it will snow approximately 15 times and of that, 12 times it will be light snow and three times will be moderate snow (on average). There will be snow of some kind every 4th day in the winter, but the rest of the time it will dry or light rain. Since it tends to be very sunny there is usually a quick melt and not a big ice or slush problem. During the winter the average high temperature is in the 40s and the average low is in the 20s.

Can I safely assume that the A/S Conti DWS will perform better on dry roads than the winter performance tires, even the new Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4?

Would you play it safe and go with performance winters?--or would you go the other way towards performance and get an UHP A/S that isn't as good as the Conti DWS in snow (I like the Hankook Ventus S1 noble2).

Safety in snow for those 25% of winter days or better performance for the 75% that are clear? Or can I get the best of both worlds with the PA4s?

Important factoid: I will be driving a RWD 328d.