Minerva Eco-Stud SUV winter tire review 255/55r18 109H XL

I haven't heard of Minerva Tires before.  Never saw them in any ads in the pages of my Car and Driver magazines, I haven't seen them advertised on TV.

A quick google search brings me to a web page that says....

"Minerva is a Belgian private label founded in 1992.
Originally distributed by the German groupContinental, Minerva tires are now produced inEurope and Asia."

Heck,  I didn't even know that Continental was German.

These were the tires that we have had on our 2011 q7 TDI for the winters of 2016/17 and 2017/18 in Ontario Canada.

We live just outside the city, and it's about 10 minutes into town.  Our roads range from windswept, hard pack, to track bare or clear.  Winter tires are usually installed mid November and come off by mid March.

During the 2 winters that we ran them, we covered approximately 24,000km of winter driving.  They seem to stop, turn, accelerate fine in the conditions that we used them.  Never got stuck, or hit the curb, or fender bender, spun or ditched the car in the 1st 2 winters.   After 2 winters with them, they currently have 8-9/32" of tread left, and are now on my wife's "new" 2015 q7 TDI for this winter.

I don't see these tires in any comparison tests, or any hard number data for these tires,  but they seem reasonably quiet, (no highway drone to complain of), and have adequate grip for the family hauler as we visit most rinks in SW Ontario during the winter as our kids play rep hockey and ringette.

I got these in December 2016 from PMC tire in quebec for $590 shipped and another $120 for installation and balancing locally