My two cents about tires with XL option. Don't buy any tires with XL option except you are commuting every single day with a full trunk of cement and five workers with tools sitting inside or so. That could be a reason for thinking about XL option. Otherwise, you will get a discomfort of riding. While tire selection you have to clearly understand what load index is recommended for your car by manufacturer. Better not to buy index lower and higher than recommended. An example: My car needs load index 96. My neighbor's car is also needs index 96. I ordered pretty ancient model VRX 215/60R17 96H, he ordered DM-V3 215/60R17 100S XL. Later he asked me if I have a riding discomfort. I said no, everything as I expected. For his part he told me about riding discomfort. The feelings kinda remind as though you are riding an asphalt roller. The reason was: 96 versus 100 XL means 96 versus 103, where XL option added 3 points. Basically he exсeeded recommended index for 7 points. That means 165 kg per wheel the car has more. Considering that the load index 96 is defined by car manufacturer and already includes ~30% reserve of weight from max permissible car weight (⚠) we add another 165 kg per wheel. So, having tires with 103 index worn on the car instead of 96 and commutng alone or with wife you should definetely feel a discomfort of riding in particular a stiffness of suspension if comparing with summer tires. But winter tires must definetely not be stiffer then summer ones by subjective feelings. 😀 That's the point.