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Last updated 10/16/2024 - Originally published 10/16/2024
Written by SimpleTire
In the tire industry, all-weather tires are a category that’s fairly new to the game and one that many drivers might still need to familiarize themselves with. Is there a fundamental difference between all-season tires (the most popular tire category) and all-weather tires? Yes, but the difference is a fairly simple one; all-weather tires feature tread designs, sipe patterns, tread formulations, shoulders, and internal construction that all are centered around delivering an edge in winter traction in snow and slush, which are the kind of weather and road conditions where many all-season tires fall short and can’t reliably get the job done. Other than that, all-weather tires are designed to fill a lot of the same expectations you’d expect for premium Grand Touring or all-season tires, meaning similar handling properties, extended wear, low noise, stable road manners, and comfortable ride.All-weather tires might not measure up to the same level of traction in snow and slush as dedicated winter tires, but remember that winter tires will wear quickly on warmer days and shouldn’t be used if temperatures are above 40-45 degrees F. That means if you have a set of winter tires, you’re going to have to have them mounted when winter gets rough, then dismounted again and stored someplace until next winter - and understandably, that’s a headache that many drivers just would rather not have to deal with.
That gets us to today’s comparison piece, with the General Altimax 365AW going head-to-head against the Kumho Solus HA32. Both tires are capable all-season designs from premium brands (with similarities and differences) and both offer dependable year-round performance, including traction in challenging winter weather. In this comparison, you’ll see us make reference to the SimpleScore ratings of these tires. If you’re unfamiliar with it, SimpleScore was developed by our team at SimpleTire to give you a quick, at-a-glance idea of a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We go through specs, customer reviews, and other data points and then distill that information into a numerical value from 1-10 for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore for each tire. For the General Altimax 365AW and the Kumho Solus HA32, the SimpleScore ratings shake out as follows:
General Altimax 365 AW
- Traction: 8.7
- Handling: 8.7
- Longevity: 9.0
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.7
Kumho Solus HA32
- Traction: 8.5
- Handling: 8.8
- Longevity: 8.9
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.7
Those SimpleScore numbers are a handy guide, but they’re also a 30,000 foot view that doesn’t give you a more detailed idea of what these tires are all about. To get those kinds of insights and a good compare/contrast perspective, we need to zoom in for a closer look at this product comparison:
General Altimax 365AW tires
With the Altimax 365AW, General presents a great one-tire solution for year-round traction and at a surprisingly affordable price. The Altimax 365AW is packed with advanced design features and innovations to help deliver that kind of versatility, along with handling and road manners that are first-rate and a refined and quiet ride. The Altimax 365AW has the tire industry’s 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) certification for severe winter service, chalked up to a system of circumferential and lateral grooves that divert and reroute water and slush from the tire’s contact patch, angled tread blocks with open shoulders and unique sinusoidal sipes that multiply the tire’s surface area and traction with hundreds of biting edges to slash through snow and slush.
Rigidity is one of the biggest factors in good handling and cornering, so a tire’s shoulders and tread can stand up to the inertia of hard maneuvers without deforming, and the Altimax 365AW boosts its rigidity with tie bars that link its lateral grooves and waved longitudinal grooves. The tread formulation of the Altimax 365AW is engineered to stay pliable and deliver traction in subfreezing weather when many all-season tires will harden and lose grip. It’s also a tread compound designed for durability and long wear; General covers the Altimax 365AW with a 60,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty. One feature we’ve always appreciated with General tires is their wear indicators molded into the tread, revealing the words REPLACE TIRE SOON when tread depth has worn down to a safe minimum. SimpleTire’s price on the General Altimax 365AW starts at $112.99 per tire.
Kumho Solus HA32 tires
Kumho wades into the world of all-weather tires with the Solus HA32. Designed for the conditions on European roads, the Solus HA32 has an innovative V-shaped directional tread with angled grooves that mitigate hydroplaning as they divert water and slush away from the tire’s contact patch. Its newly developed tread compound is enriched with pine resin for environmental sustainability, long wear, shorter braking distances, and good winter traction. 3D slope tie-bars boost rigidity, straight-line road manners, and cornering ability by connecting the tread’s center blocks. Another nice feature is the hourglass visual wear indicators molded into the tread, giving a driver an early heads-up as to when winter performance will start to fall off due to tread wear. 3D sipes multiply winter and wet-weather grip and help the Kumho pull in a 3PMSF certification for winter performance. Kumho stands by the Solus HA32 with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. SimpleTire’s price on the Kumho Solus HA32 starts at $97.99 per tire, making it a great option for anyone needing all-weather performance at an affordable price.
General Altimax 365AW vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on traction
How do the General and the Kumho stack up against each other when it comes to traction? With a SimpleScore of 8.7 for the General vs 8.5 for the Kumho, it’s pretty close. To be real honest, both tires have much the same design when it comes to tread features; dense networks of sipes, with angled and circumferential grooves, and both tires are 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rated for severe winter service. When the margin between SimpleScores is that tight and the two tires being compared to each other have such similar designs, it usually comes down to customer reviews. In this case, the customers are telling us:
ADVANTAGE: General Altimax 365AW
General Altimax 365AW vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on handling
With SimpleScores of 8.8 and 8.7 for handling, this one’s even tighter – except the nod goes to the Kumho this time. Both tires are designed for rigidity with tie bars across tread blocks and robust internal construction details. We note here, though, that the Kumho is also designed with reinforced shoulder blocks, helping to stiffen the tire a little more and resist the inertia of cornering, the kind of momentum that can lead to tread deformation and problems with control and braking. It’s a real squeaker here, but our call is:
ADVANTAGE: Kumho Solus HA32
General Altimax 365AW vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on longevity
In the longevity category, it’s a bit of an anomaly since both tires have identical 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage. The General takes the slight advantage here, though, with a SimpleScore of 9.0 vs 8.9 for the Kumho. Again, this is one where we defer to customer reviews since everything else about these two tires is so similar, and customers are telling us:
ADVANTAGE: General Altimax 365AW
When to use each
The Kumho Solus HA32 and General Altimax 365AW are both excellent all-weather tire options for dependable traction year-round. Like we said up top, all-weather tires can be a great alternative for anyone who has to get through tough winter weather every year, but doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of specialized winter tires. Winter tires use a softer tread compound that stays pliable for consistent grip at subfreezing temperatures (think the traction of a rubber boot vs. a hard-rubber hockey puck). Then that softer rubber formulation wears prematurely on warmer days. When temperatures get above 40-45 degrees, tire manufacturers recommend dismounting your winter tires and swapping them for all-season tires again - leaving you with the headache of finding a place to store them for the next nine months until winter comes around again. With a 3PMSF rating and true year-round performance, all-season tires are a great way around that; if that sounds like your situation, you can’t go wrong with the General or Kumho.
Which one should you choose?
Here’s where the rubber meets the road (pun intended there, sorry). Both the General and the Kumho are highly rated tires from premium manufacturers, both score very well in SimpleScore rankings, and both are standout performers with a lot to bring to the table. The Kumho and the General deliver uncompromising traction in miserable road conditions, but they’re also both very much at home on long interstate road trips, with quiet and refined ride quality and decent, composed road manners. Both tires offer capable handling and cornering ability with short braking distances and quick, light steering response (if maybe not up to what you might expect from a performance tire). So let’s get a look at prices while we’re at it: SimpleTire’s price on the General starts at $112.99/tire vs $97.99/tire for the Kumho. It’s not often in these comparisons that we get two tires that stack up this well against each other, so we’d just phrase it this way: if you can afford the General Altimax 365AW, that would be the tire for you. If you want to save a few bucks on the whole set, the Kumho Solus HA32 would be a great option. It’s our honest take here at the SimpleTire team that you won’t be making a bad call either way.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.