This “problem” was specifically addressed with the WS90. They last about 20% longer than the WS80.
Any true winter tire is going to suffer massive treadlife degradation in hot weather.
Blizzak WS90
- Thread starter faramir9
- Start date
This “problem” was specifically addressed with the WS90. They last about 20% longer than the WS80.
Any true winter tire is going to suffer massive treadlife degradation in hot weather.
I have a friend who says "Blizzaks have bubble-gum rubber. You can't run them in the summer, but they have enough traction to climb a telephone pole with."
It's probably less about compound and more about the "less is more" siping on the WS90 to increase the block stiffness.
It is definitely compound too. WS80 had that tricky lateral ice handling we talked about. That is specifically addressed with WS90.
Been running Falken EuroWinter 449 on both a Porsche Boxster S and BMW 328i manual trans rear wheel drive cars. Seem to be good value getting me through light to medium snow for many years. Have never failed me during winter 20-mile (each way) commutes over many years here in the Midwest. Don't drive if snow so deep and likely to scrape the underbelly due to clearance. Very good in wet and cold dry conditions too, but a bit noisy.
It's still the swiss cheese multicell compound on the 1st half on the WS90. More stable tread blocks help with lateral handling.
SUre. But there was definitely a change in the compound. Could be that they addressed dry properties too
OP here. Thanks for all the advice. This has been an entertaining thread. I did not buy the WS90 even with $110 off at DTD, which expired Sunday.
Tire prices are just plain insane these days. This might be the first winter since 2017-18 that I get by with all-seasons. (That year had brand-new Conti TrueContact on a Corolla.) Will keep looking through the cyber-Monday week sales. But it looks bleak. Not that long ago, Black Friday was a great time to shop for tires. DTD, Sam's Club, etc. This year not so much.
Tire prices are just plain insane these days. This might be the first winter since 2017-18 that I get by with all-seasons. (That year had brand-new Conti TrueContact on a Corolla.) Will keep looking through the cyber-Monday week sales. But it looks bleak. Not that long ago, Black Friday was a great time to shop for tires. DTD, Sam's Club, etc. This year not so much.
Get something cheaper, Cooper, Hankook etc. Check Firestone.
At least here in Canada the WS90 is probably the cheapest premium tire. $30-40 per tire less than the X-Ice Snow.
$119 for a WS90 in 205/65R16 is "insane" ? With the $110 discount the price would have been $91.50 each, which is an excellent price for a premium winter tire.
I was tempted to try some Sailun WSL2's as they are still available under $100/tire in Focus size atleast. They test well in Europe and seem to be quite committed to the N.A. market. My WS80's are still in the swisscheese compound except for the very inner edge on the rears so I'm going to run them out. I did drive my buddies car with new all-seasons yesterday in the snow and 6-7/32 WS80's still are better than those atleast.
Yeah, much cheaper than body work or injuries that are more probable with all seasons during winter.
I was tempted, but you have to add tax and installation to get the OTD price. As I said, my frame of reference was from several years ago, pre-inflation, when DTD especially had great holiday sales and tire prices in general were far lower. Plus I had a Corolla with 15" wheels then.
OTD price for the WS90 would have been $460-$470. (With the added frustration that the instant discount brings the pre-installation price just below $399, so no 5% discount for using the DTD card.) That is likely as good a deal as you will find on a top-tier winter tire, but man....tough on a working stiff.
Still looking.
You have Hankook available in that size pretty cheap.
yes I remember eating a curb once because of that.
Was a simple slow turn at a redlight.. got green and was making a wide left about 15mph and unpredictably lost lateral traction and was unable to regain.
It was on just the smallest amount of that snow-snot slush.. where its been salted then blown over and refreezing.
since there was only sidewalk and snow covered grass behind the curb made snap decision to turn into the curb and go over it.. the 245/70r17 went right over no damage.
I was thinking it was better vs the sideways hit into the curb possibly damaging wheel/balljoint/wheel bearing etc.
speed around 5-8mph max at that point.
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You made the right choice. I ended up doing over 5K worth of damage to the evo when I slid sideways into a curb like that. Same speeds too but on the other side of the curb was a light pole so I figured the sideways curb hit was the lesser of the two evils. Rear end slid into the curb first then the front slid and hit it right after. Broke everything on the passenger rear side and the wheel and lower control arm on the front.
There have definitely been a lot of tire price increases over the last 2 years, perhaps adding up to 25% or more to date.
Exclusive: What's Ahead for Tire Pricing and Tariffs
Pricing actions were frequent in 2021, and more have already rolled into the new year,. Analyst John Healy says on average those price hikes resulted in a 20% increase over 2020 prices. Interestingly, he says the cost to build an average tire went up 24% in 2021.
www.moderntiredealer.com
That tread pattern has me wondering what would be the ptopper orientation for the placement of each of those tires on all four wheels. I mean look at it, the way the sipes on the side with the narrow strip are angled there can only be one direction of installation to get water to leave the tire. And if you want to make it symmetrical so that the narrow strip is on the inside of both sides, or on the outside of both sides, there's no way you could mount that so that water would be leaving the tire properly for all four tires.That Conti looks like a DWS for snow/ice.
