Best winter tire out of these options only?

J

jalikaria24

Joined
Sep 23, 2017
Messages
433
hello all so i dont know much about tires but wondering out of these tires which is best for ice performance and longevity? i also heard some tires turn into a aggresive all season within half the thread of whatever. i dont want that. i want a full winter tire that whole way thru if thats possible. my city does a good job cleaning the roads so i will never get stuck in snow etc, the main problem is hard packed snow and or ice/slipperness so i guess i care msot about ice performance and ofc longevity
and sorry these are the best prices i can get locally, i dont want to order online as i need these asap
Michelin X ICE North 4 Tire -$310 cad
Pirelli Scorpion Winter -$290 cad
Continental WinterContact SI Plus - 281 CAD
Continental WinterContact SI - 262 cad
Continental VikingContact 7 - 250 cad
Pirelli WinterIce Zero FR $244 cad
Bridgestone Blizzak DM V2 $242 CAD
Michellin X Ice SNOW $240 cad


Please give me the best 3 options for ice performance and longevity and like i said i want it to stay as a winter tire all the way thru the thread!
thx!!




thanks!!
 
For ice and longevity:

1. Michelin X-Ice North with studs

Longevity to me means performance longevity. As a general rule, based on research done at the Swedish Transport Institute, studded tires lose much less ice traction as they wear and age, than do studless tires, as long as there is at least 1 mm of stud protrusion.
 
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SubLGT said:
For ice and longevity:

1. Michelin X-Ice North with studs

Longevity to me means performance longevity. As a general rule, based on research done at the Swedish Transport Institute, studded tires lose much less ice traction as they wear and age, than do studless tires, as long as there is at least 1 mm of stud protrusion.
Click to expand...

Studded tires are awful on anything other than ice at or near the freezing point, they tear up the roads, and they create dust. If studded tires are a must, the Nokian Hakka 9 isn't on the OP's list, and is the only studded tire worth using. Nokian puts a shock absorber in the studs, so they don't damage the pavement as much.

Are studded tires even legal where OP is?

Studless tires with chains are just as good, and you can use the chains only when needed.
 
Just to put anther angle:
Michelin X ICE North 4 is the newest
Continental VikingContact 7 - one year old, last winter was first season available

Not sure about the two Pirellis. The rest are old news.

Krzys
 
thanks for the replies! i actually dont want to run studded prefer studdless
secondly this is the wifes vehicle so diff options ahah
 
I have ran different versions of Blizzaks on our vehicles for many winters. And more than once they have prevented other members of my family and or myself from having an accident while other vehicles lost control and busted up tire rims on curbs, or side swiped guard rails, or cement walls. I had one set that were super soft when we had a warm day after I put them on for the very first season of use. And there was the feeling of driving on what a friend calls bubble-gum rubber. You could hear them sticking to the road and making a squish noise when making a 90 degree slow turn onto another asphalt street at an intersection. But the do have traction on ice, even the most slippery type of ice which is ice with powder snow on it. It is not anywhere like the traction you get from studs, but it is enough that if you are careful you will be able to maintain control and also not get stuck. You can not run them in warm weather. If you do you will wear them out. I do not have any experience with the other tires on the list, but the different versions of Blizzaks I have used all performed very good.

I have a brother who put a set (all 4) on his 4WD Ford 150 truck, and took his kids to a birthday party in the winter. The house the party was at had a long steep snow covered driveway. He drove up it and left his kids off near the house. The mother of the children of the house opened the door and said, oh you have a 4WD truck and were able to drive up our long steep driveway. He said, yes my truck is 4WD, but I have Blizzaks on it and just left it in 2WD. With the Blizzaks I did not need 4WD.

Besides not being able to be used in warm or hot weather without wearing out fast, it use to be said that only the first half of the thickness of the tread of a Blizzak is the special soft rubber. And that once you wear away that first half you should not use them as winter tires, but can use them for the rest of the year. I have heard that the latest version of Blizzaks have improved the rubber so they last longer, and can give winter performance when the tread is somewhat worn away which is an improvement compared to previous versions.
 
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Xice Snow or VikingContact 7 would be my choice. The Michelins are supposed to last a season longer because the siping and grooves go deeper. They claim that they work until 4/32 vs 5/32 for the others.
 
JimPghPA said:
I have heard that the latest version of Blizzaks have improved the rubber so they last longer, and can give winter performance when the tread is somewhat worn away which is an improvement compared to previous versions.
Click to expand...

I have heard this WRT the WS 90, newest of WS line. And it's not clear yet. He's talking about the DM V2, so different tire. Regarding the new WS90, TireRack says this:

the new Blizzak WS90 has 15% more block edges than the WS80 to offer more biting edges which aid in winter traction. Its multicell compound goes deeper into the tread, now 4/32nds of an inch instead of 6/32nds of an inch giving drivers even more miles of driving on this higher ice traction compound.
Click to expand...

So you threw the old ones away at 6/32nd's, and you can throw the new ones away at 4/32nd's - or where any other tire would have at least one more year.

I can appreciate people have had great experiences with Blizzaks. I know I have. But I have also had truly miserable ones, including nearly a whole season in northern Vermont because I didn't know I was supposed to throw them away at 1/2 tread wear. Some nail biters that year. Thanks Bridgestone! (/sarcasm).
 
I think users' point is that the difference between "multicell"/special coumpound and regular compund is night and day.
One looses perfromance not only due to lower tread depth but also due to change in formula.

Other vendors performance loss in more gradual with Michelin claiming that they are good for most of usable tread depth (4mm for snow?, not sure).
Bridgestone chose completely different path.

If one plans to reach the end multicell compound before end of winter driving one needs to secure replacements rather earlier. The availability of winter tires in February or later is rather sketchy.

This is why I do not like Bridgestone "multicell" approach. I know I will not have it when I need it the most.

Krzyś
 
Michelin will probably last longer, but the continental vikingcontact 7 is top of the heap for performance.

Really like them on our 2020 hyundai elantra. Handle better than the OEM in every way except noise yes even more traction in dry and wet than the OEM tires..
and the winter traction is amazing.

They also offer good feedback and any loss of traction is progressive not sudden.
 
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