Snow Tire Recommendations

This will be my first winter with my CX-9 Touring. I have purchased an extra set of rims and tire sensors. Now I need some recommdations on snow tires (not all season tires). I've always put 4 snow tires on my cars here in Vermont. My previous vehicle was a F-150 Supercrew. The first set of snows were Coopers, which wore out in the center very fast even though they were not over inflated. The next set were Winterforce snow tires, which I found excellent in slush. I know my choices are limited for the 18" rims. Any thoughts, comments, or recommdations would be appriciated.

Thanks.

VTHiker

try to find bridgestone blizzaks

Yep, the Blizzak DMV-1's worked pretty well for me in the limited snow action we got out here last year.

i got the lm-60 series blizzaks top of the line dude plus i work for bridgestone

A tire guy that I know has told me that he uses Hankook's. Probably will get a new set in December, or I might just wear these out and get new all-seasons when the time comes...we'll see.

Korean tires are of good value (bang for the buck), but not necessarily the best around.
I have used Kumho many times in the pass for my BMW.

Blizzak Winter Tires are da Bomb!

Hi all,
This was an original post from last winter (09) that I am finally postingwith our resolution see below.
Okay, it is that time of year and we are finally purchasing our dedicated winter snow tires. I have a 09 GT-AWD with 20" rims. With all of our previous vehicles (Jeep Grand Cherokee, Subuaru, Toyota Truck, we have always had studded tires. We live in Truckee, CA, a mountain/snow community, and I drive a steady 10% grade approx. 3/4 mile long, and other slopes on mountain roads daily. We also get the lowest temperature gradient in the nation, highs to lows, so we go from ice, snow, slush, etc. in a day.
I have finally convinced my husband to go from studded to non-studded tires for the Sexy-9 (he is getting studded tires again for our Cherokee, our last set lasted 5 seasons, and now we removed the studs and use the tires for summer), and our local tire shop convinced him to get 17" rims instead of 18", which is originally what I wanted. Anyhow, the best option for this size rim seems to be the BLIZZAK DM-V1 $130/tire), which are new this year, replacing the DM-Z3. We are going through our local store vs. tirerack.com as they will switch out our tires 2x/year on both cars free of charge.
UPDATE: I absolutely loved the BLIZZAKS! Drove all 09 winter and felt very secure. Stops quickly and no sliding, skidding at all. The Sexy 9 reacts responsively and handles the 10% grade with no problems. Had them on the car from Nov to April, and dont see much wear yet. I also loved not having the click-click-click of the studded tires. STUDLESS is definitely the way to go if you are on the fence like we were.
By the way, we did not get the TPMS and although the light was on the dash (I got use to it) it didnt bother me. When we switched back to our standard 20 tires, the TPMS activated right away, light off, no problems. I will post a picture of how it looks with the 17 rims soon.