Tire choices have been well covered on the forums - try searching and you'll find hours and hours of reading. Mich LTX M/S is the only tire I've ever run for 8yrs now, and I've no complaints. I run them year round all over Alaska/Alcan Hwy/Northwest USA. I hit a huge chuckhole in Canada one time that split the sidewall on a new one (lost no air and still drove it home) and replaced under warranty. The rubber on the sidewalls tends to crack up after 4 yrs or so. I get around 60k mi. out of a set, and that is hauling camper 50% and pulling 5000# 25%. I rotate every 5kmi or so, and have no trouble keeping them balanced. The tread is well siped from the factory and I have decent luck on snow/ice which we have a lot of around here. There's probably better snow/ice specific tires, but for an all-season do-everything off-road/on-road this tire has done well for me. If you have a Costco or similar store, you can get them during a sale and let them balance/rotate for you for the life of the tire. Good luck..... and I thought buying 4 was bad!!!