And the others...
There are many other brands that offer tires for vans, including Hankook with its Dynapro I*cept, I*Pike RW11 and, especially, RW10 Winter I*cept X without studs created for icy roads, Lauffen with its I FIT Ice (a by-product of the South Korean manufacturer Hankook), Kumho Road Venture AT52 and GT Radial with its Adventurer AT-AW (manufactured in various parts of the world, including South Carolina).
Add to that Maxtrek, Rovelo and/or Ridgetrak AT, but the lack of published studies or tests prevents me from giving an opinion on these less common products.
What is important, however, is to note that more and more manufacturers prefer to produce approved tires, especially if they are off-road. I'm thinking of products like the Falken Rubitrek AT Wildpeak, General Altimax Grabber AT-2, Nexen Grappler and the brand new Roadian HTX2, or the brands that advertise in off-road magazines and boast the winter pictogram.
The only problem is that these manufacturers don't seem to have any experience with winter tires. They certainly haven't driven those big, wide, very aggressive tires that may have a lot of grip in the snow but can become very slippery on ice (not having enough sipes to create a suction effect) or on soft snow or slush - experiences I've had in the past. I recommend more "real" winter tires in such cases!
(I would like to thank the agencies that provided me with information on the tires of the manufacturers they represent and especially the team at Pneus premier Choix in Laval (especially Étienne) for their help in my research).
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