If you’ve got a light truck, SUV, crossover, or sedan, just being equipped with all-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive doesn’t mean you’re always going to be able to get through heavy snow or tough winter conditions – especially if your tires aren’t designed for that kind of weather and aren’t up to the job. That’s when the only thing that can really get you safely from point A to point B and back again is a set of purpose-built winter tires.

Winter tires have come a long, long way from the heavy, noisy, clunky “snow tires” or “mud grips” of a generation ago. Today’s winter tires are designed with an advanced rubber formulation that stays pliable at subfreezing temperatures for traction, and also feature an aggressive winter tread pattern with deep grooves to evacuate slush and snow as well as a dense pattern of sipes, hair-thin slits that dig into snow with hundreds of extra biting edges. They’re also designed to deliver the same kind of handling and road manners you’d expect with a premium touring or all-season tire, and are tuned to keep road noise to a minimum.

That brings us to the Nexen Euro-Win 600. Nexen covered all the bases with the design of this tire, but did they really hit the performance target with it? Let’s take a closer look with this Nexen Euro-Win 600 review.

Features and Benefits

Here’s some of what Nexen incorporated into the design of the Euro-Win 600:

• Innovative tread formulation stays flexible at low temperatures, yet is tough and durable enough for a 30,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty
• Pre-drilled for easy installation of studs, where permitted, for extra traction in severe winter conditions (ice, slush, deep snow)
• Compounds in the tread formulation shed snow and slush so it doesn’t stick to the surface of the tread
• Dense sipe pattern adds hundreds of extra biting edges for winter traction
• Directional tread pattern with deep grooves that easily expel slush, water to resist hydroplaning
• Block edges are designed for extra traction in deep snow or slush
• Tread pitch is computer tuned to help keep road noise low
• Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified

Pros and Cons

So, is this the right tire for your ride and budget? Before you decide, let’s take a look at the Euro-Win 600’s strengths:

PROS:

• Affordable
• Generous treadwear coverage
• Pre-drilled for installation of studs
• Good highway speed stability
• Good road manners and handling on dry pavement
• Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified

Unfortunately, no tire is perfect and that’s the case with this Nexen tire too:

CONS:

• Could be quieter
• Cannot be used when temperatures are consistently above 45 degrees Fahrenheit

SimpleTire’s view on Nexen Euro-Win 600 tires

When it comes to the Nexen Euro-Win 600, we’re especially impressed with the tread formulation of this tire. Yes, it’s flexible for traction, but it’s also durable enough to have a 30,000 mile limited manufacturer warranty (most winter tires don’t have treadwear coverage at all) and it’s designed to keep snow and slush from accumulating in the grooves or on the tread face itself.

The Nexen Euro-Win 600 does great on dry pavement, a performance area where a lot of winter tires tend to be a little clumsy and rough. It’s pre-drilled for installation of studs, which provides a definite edge when the roads are near-impassable and studded tires are the only thing that can safely get you through. We need to note here, though, that studded tires aren’t legal in all states and are only permissible during certain months in states where they are legal. Be sure to check state laws first.

And yes, the Nexen Euro-Win 600 could be quieter, but it’s already quieter than many of the winter tires on the market. Also, we need to mention that the Euro-Win 600 isn’t an all-season tire; even with its more durable tread formulation, this tire isn’t designed for temperatures above 45 degrees Fahrenheit, as it will start to wear prematurely. Tire manufacturers advise against using winter tires in warmer weather, for just that reason.

Vehicles the Nexen Euro-Win 600 is a good replacement tire for

Here’s just a partial list of vehicles that would be a good fit for the Euro-Win 600 from Nexen:

• Chevrolet Traverse
• Buick Envision
• Subaru Outback
• Hyundai Telluride
• Honda CR-V
• Toyota RAV4
• Nissan Murano
• Ford Edge
• Dodge Journey
• Chrysler Pacifica