I hear you badass. Mine is a daily commute to work as well. My first HHR was a 06 LS with touring tires, no traction control or ABS. I didn't get stuck once in the five years I had it, and we can get alot of snow here. Having traction control and ABS now sure helps alot.

 

Biggest issue with Snow for mine was when dealing with hills, and compact snow on hills and you have zero momentum.

When my wife first had the car and we were just dating, it got stuck in a little freezing rain/snow and took some work to get it out and on hills it can be a bit unstable (ass end comes around if your not too careful.

 

I just buy a cheap 4x4 for winter driving.

 

My experience with the michelins so far have been good in the snow for the first couple years. I avoided driving in snow that was over 6 inches. The first winter the tread was around 95% and the second winter tread was probably between %50-75. As far as the hills, I just turn the TC off and that did the trick for going from a stop up an incline.