with winter around the corner the thoughts of snow tires have been on my mind lately. well that and i'm selling off everything besides a set of wheels with kumho xs tires. not something i want to drive in snow and ice. at any rate the tire rack has some information but i was curious if anyone on here has direct experience. a few that caught my eye are the bridgestone blizzak ws-60, goodyear ultra grip gw3 and michelin xi2. comments, suggestions and opinions welcome

by the way, these need to be 195 55 15

 

Well, the first thing to ask yourself is whether you want tires in the "performance snow" category (e.g. the Goodyear tire you mentioned) vs "studless ice and snow" (WS-60 and Xi2). Performance snow tires will give you a bit better ride characteristics, especially on days that aren't quite as cold. Studless ice and snow will give you the maximum grip on ice and snow and in bitter cold. I generally prefer studless ice and snow tires, because I live in a city that experiences harsh winters and I want the maximum grip. Performance snow tires may be better if your winters aren't quite as harsh or if you put a high priority on handling. I think of performance snow tires as being sort of in between the studless tires and all-season tires, in terms of handling as well as snow/ice capability, if that makes sense.

Also, if you prefer the performance snow tire category, the Tire Rack has the Blizzak LM-22 and LM-25 on closeout in 195/55-15.

Incidentally I'm a bit surprised you would want snow tires in the Portland area, which averages only six inches of snow a year (which is not much) - most folks there ought to do just fine with all-seasons - but maybe you like to drive to the mountains to go skiing...? Just curious.

 

exactly, mountain driving. plus i'm only keeping my wheel set with kumho xs tires. sold the all seasons and {now selling} the sport maxx wheel set. since i need something for winter and could run the XS from march to october i'm really only needing another set for the november to end of feburary period. the goodyear seems like a good choice since it offers great rain performance, decent dry weather handling and pretty decent snow traction. i've found that my LSD also greatly increases snow traction. the other top contender is the xi2 from michelin. both seem to have great reviews. also, i considered the closeouts but the 22s are 2004 stock. personally, i would rather spend $15 more per tire to get a newer casting.

do you have any idea if the "performance" snow tires really are? is it just marketing? is there something to it?

 

My impression is that they're not really "performance tires" in the sense that you would want to be screaming around corners on them, but rather, that they offer better handling (particularly in days that aren't bitter cold) than the "studless snow and ice" tires, even though they wouldn't handle as well in the same moderate conditions as a good performance all-season (e.g. Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position).

 

The idea behind a performance winter tire is that the majority of them will come in speed rates H and above and will give you decent grip on wet and dry during the winter months -- and certainly good snow traction as well (some are even branded with the mountain and snowflake symbol, which qualify them as special snow equipment for those states that require chains and such things during the most extreme snowfalls).

However, they do sacrifice a little bit of snow traction in order to achieve those higher speeds and traction on wet and dry (in comparison to studless ice & snow tires). So as stated previously, you need to ask yourself if you want a tire that will give you good wet and dry traction during the winter months, or a tire like the Blizzak, the Xi-2 and the new Continental ExtremeWinterContact that will give you the best available traction in the snow.

 

i've narrowed it down to the goodyear ultragrip gw3 in 195 55 15, the dunlop winter sport m3 in 205 50 15 and the yokohama w drive also in 205 50 15. my last bit of curious george with these choices is just where they fall compared to the blizzak in snow and ice? as far as i know all 3 have the snowflake symbol and are marketed as a direct winter tire. part of the reason i choice a bit more performance is my climate. most of our winters are fairly light. they just happen to be too much to run the kumho xs year round.

do you have a personal preference or any data behind the best of those 3 cooper?

 

Which Blizzak, the LM-25 or the WS-60? The LM-25 would be the performance one, the WS-60 the studless ice & snow.

My choice would be between the Dunlop 3D and the LM-25. Since the Dunlop is not available in 195/55-15, I would definitely go with Blizzaks. The 3-D zig-zag sipes and the high silica compound provides superior snow traction when compared to the Goodyear.

And, as an added bonus, it is also on sale at The Tire Rack, since Bridgestone is replacing it with the LM-60.

Winter tires