How much better are Bridgestone blizzaks?

[avacado11]

The added weight towards the rear of the car because of the hybrid battery in your car could be a big factor (under the rear seat.)

I'm currently using the DMV2 based off the WS-80 and they handle any sort of snow really well. WS-90s are supposed to be better with winter traction in every way. The big kicker is these tires suffer in every other category possible other than the raw snow performance. So if you're in an area where lots of snow is common and won't be plowed right after, I'd totally spring for the Blizzaks.

Side note, I really wanted to try out the VC7 but the price won out on the blizzaks. The Goodyear UltraGrip Ice WRT were my favorite snow tires of all time. The Generals Altimax Arctics I hated the most.

Maybe it is the battery weight that’s throwing things off. But it doesn’t really snow a lot in my part of town due to how the wind blows, and the plows are pretty good at clearing the ground when it does, so I don’t need something extreme at the cost of dry performance. When it does snow hard I end up driving my truck anyways, but with my Honda being FWD a good set of snows is more important than ever. I’ve been lucky these past few years but as of late we’ve been getting snow at the most random times during the day and I’ve been caught a few times this season. I can only assume it’ll get worse next year.

I can’t remember all of my snow tires other than the ones that sucked. I’ll try to see if there’s any deals out there. The current labor rates are draining me. My trusted Indy is charging $160 to mount & balance 4 tires these days.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Consider cost but also consider that if you are doing a lot more travel, the X-ice Snow is the only one that actually has a treadwear mileage warranty that I know of.

Both my kids are on VC7's. One with an AWD CRV the other on a FWD Forte. I find both of them excellent in the snow and ice. When I got them it was based on reviews and prices. I made them go try all the stuff (start/stop/swerve and stop etc) in a nice open snowy icy parking lot. Their friends tried in their Grand Cherokee's and other vehicles, none had snows and got stuck. The CRV I wanted the X-ice Snow but the VC7 was on sale where I was able to get 4 new TPMS sensors for the winter wheels and all installed for less than the X-ice. My daughter drives that and goes out when her friends can't leave the parking lot (or are to scared). My sons are 2 years older on the Forte. He picked up his friends to go to class, they were stuck at the bottom of icy parking lot with a Forester (but it was on worn all seasons).

My only experience with Blizzak was WS80. They worked very well in snow and ice. Dry they were squishy and not great handling for my use. Wet they were OK but noisy. At 7/32" they were not great in snow or ice anymore. At 6/32" the multicell was gone and they were horrible, worse than all seasons on other cars I drove.

Altimax Arctic 12 on my sons old CRV were very good. His comments, "it's no fun, it doesn't slide, you need to really try to slide". I found that to be true in that vehicle.

I have had many sets Nokians and all worked well for me, same with old Gislaved's. Original Altimax Arctic on the Sequoia were awesome for my use and confidence and lasted a long time. That thing went through Blizzards no issue.

My Accord is on Goodyear WinterCommand Ultra. They work well in snow and ice, not noisy, seem good in dry and wet but I haven't pushed them to extreme. It's my DD commute and road trip ride. I won't buy them again as they have a slight vibration I can't get rid of after 3 balancing's including road force. I won't pay again tossing good money at them. Not bad shaking but an annoying vibration at highway speed. The VC7's and Conti WinterContact Si on the other vehicles don't have that problem for me and balanced correctly the 1st time.

For me unless tests and prices at the time show Blizzaks to be that much better, I won't buy them again. The performance drop off was horrendous as compared to other brands I had that wore to that point or further.

 

[krzyss]

My summer set of Goodyear assurance tourings were 11/32nds new. And my last set of 225/55/17 federal snow tires were 13/32nds.

All mine were 10/32 or less.
Apparently different class of tires.

Krzyś

 

[OVERKILL]

My last experience with Blizzak's was ages ago on my M5, so definitely not the best benchmark. I had iPike RW11's for the last several years on my Jeeps and they'd been getting progressively worse on ice and this season they were downright scary to the point where I had to swap them out, despite still having a massive amount of tread left.

We've had excellent luck with the Michelin Latitude X-Ice Xi2 on the RAM and our previous Durango, but they had the new X-Ice Snow available for the Jeep, so that's what I went with and have been extremely happy with them. Ice traction is phenomenal, they are predictable, have good bite, good dry manners, good wet manners and just are an all around excellent winter tire. I'd definitely buy them again.

As somebody else mentioned, I think you'll find any new tire an improvement at this juncture, it may simply be that those were improperly stored and the compound is now hard.

 

[SubLGT]

Consider cost but also consider that if you are doing a lot more travel, the X-ice Snow is the only one that actually has a treadwear mileage warranty that I know of.

The Michelin mileage warranty is a sales gimmick. To exercise the mileage warranty, the tread depth has to be at 2/32" or less, and you have to provide documentation of when the tires were put on the car and taken off the car every year.

Michelin Warranty Information | Michelin

We want you to be 100% satisfied with your Michelin tires. If you have questions, then view our Michelin Warranty Information and the Michelin Promise Plan.

www.michelinman.com

To maintain coverage under the limited warranty for treadwear, MICHELIN® winter tires require documentation of the timing of the installation and removal of the tires each winter. Winter is defined as the period beginning no earlier than September 1 of a given year and ending no later than April 30 of the following year.

 

[edyvw]

I currently have a set of Continental VikingContact7 on my ‘17 Honda Accord hybrid size 225/50/17. They’re at 8-9/32nds on the front and 6-7/32nds rear. New tread depth is 10/32nds. So these tires are currently between 60-80% life remaining. I purchased them used so I’m unsure how they are at 10/32nds. They’re 2019 production tires.

They fall short of my expectation for snow traction. They act closer to an all season than they are winter tires.

Now I’m not sure if it’s just due to the car being light weight or if it’s the tires. Traction off the line is decent. Nothing to write home about but I have to very gently feather the throttle to not feel TC kick in. Not a big deal, my concern is with braking. Even light braking they will break grip and start sliding. Nowhere near a crappy all season but much more sliding than I’d expect out of a snow tire. Dry traction isn’t all that great either.

Ive had Nitto, Firestone, Toyo, General, Hankook, Federal, Cooper, and Dunlop snow tires on other vehicles and they had great traction(atleast more than these continentals). I’m thinking about just biting the bullet and getting a set of blizzaks due to how much more I commute now, but the price premium is something worth considering.

Are blizzaks noticeably better than something like Hankook i-pike or General Altimax?

I had VC7, and now I have WS90.
Overall, I would say VC7 is a better tire. It is more rounded.
In snow, I would say both are the same. VC7 is, IMO much better in dry. Probably equally good on ice.
Where I think WS90 is just slightly better is wet. Do not get me wrong, VC7 was excellent for a winter tire in wet, but WS90 is just a bit better.
The only reason why I do not have VC7 now on BMW is that they are some $50 more per tire after the Costco discount on WS90. And they are definitely not worth that difference, considering that WS90 are excellent product anyhow.

I ski twice a week. I went through all kinds of conditions with both tires. I would not think for a second whether I could go through a blizzard with either of them here in the Rockies.

 

[edyvw]

Maybe it is the battery weight that’s throwing things off. But it doesn’t really snow a lot in my part of town due to how the wind blows, and the plows are pretty good at clearing the ground when it does, so I don’t need something extreme at the cost of dry performance. When it does snow hard I end up driving my truck anyways, but with my Honda being FWD a good set of snows is more important than ever. I’ve been lucky these past few years but as of late we’ve been getting snow at the most random times during the day and I’ve been caught a few times this season. I can only assume it’ll get worse next year.

I can’t remember all of my snow tires other than the ones that sucked. I’ll try to see if there’s any deals out there. The current labor rates are draining me. My trusted Indy is charging $160 to mount & balance 4 tires these days.

Oh man, you won't be happy with Blizzaks.
Go Michelin X-Ice snow.

 

[AmBeRnEcTaR]

A big issue with snows is-the lighter the car is, with a large contact patch, the worse the snow traction is. Tire Rack is a good place to look for narrower, smaller diameter wheels, and taller sidewall snows, to see what fits. As long as they clear the brakes & inner fender liners, I run the narrowest, highest profile, smallest diameter snow tire & wheel I can. I can do things in snow & ice with a FWD manual transmission econobox that an AWD with all seasons can only dream about!

This^^^^^^^spoken for truth...

 

[edyvw]

This^^^^^^^spoken for truth...

Yep. Always narrowest possible.
BMW
Summer:
225/45 R17 (moving to 225/40 R18)
Winter:
205/50 R17

Atlas:
Summer:
255/50 R20 (will move to 245/60 R18 once I wear oit these tires).
Winter:
235/65 R18.

Tiguan:
Summer:
235/50 R18

Winter:
215/65 R16.

 

[AmBeRnEcTaR]

Yep. Always narrowest possible.
BMW
Summer:
225/45 R17 (moving to 225/40 R18)
Winter:
205/50 R17

Atlas:
Summer:
255/50 R20 (will move to 245/60 R18 once I wear oit these tires).
Winter:
235/65 R18.

Tiguan:
Summer:
235/50 R18

Winter:
215/65 R16.

I agree, taller sidewall, narrower footprint, agressive tread pattern, and adjusting tire pressure for the type of snow you're in.

 

[Rand]

I went with 215/65r17 for the xice snow on the forester vs 225/60r17 stock.

I prefer slightly narrower but no need to be extreme.
I run 35psi all 4 corners. stock is 33/32.

The Michelin mileage warranty is a sales gimmick. To exercise the mileage warranty, the tread depth has to be at 2/32" or less, and you have to provide documentation of when the tires were put on the car and taken off the car every year.

Michelin Warranty Information | Michelin

We want you to be 100% satisfied with your Michelin tires. If you have questions, then view our Michelin Warranty Information and the Michelin Promise Plan.

www.michelinman.com

I found previously with DT they take good care of you they will pro-rate it even at 3/32 or 4/32 and accepted my service log for dates.

Now if you are replacing at 6/32 it might be an issue. If I get my money's worth out of them and like them.. IMO they didnt owe me anything.

Unlike the defenders I had on a 2010 accent that wore out in 20k miles. (the michelin xice 2's on same car wore better )

 

[BrainThicknessVariation]

My un-scientific opinions…

My wife and I try to buy the best snow tires that we can for all of our vehicles. We both have to go to work no matter the weather (I’m a full-time cop and call firefighter, she’s an EMT and call firefighter) and winter can be absolutely brutal here in the mountains of northern Vermont. Combine that with an uphill driveway that’s treacherous even when plowed, and we can’t afford to not buy the best tires.

This year we put Blizzaks on her AWD Edge Limited. It’s my first purchase of Blizzaks. The car had studded iPikes previously and those were excellent. However we both agree that the Blizzaks are superior. I was driving her car just this morning in 9 degree weather on twisty slush-covered roads where I wouldn’t dare attempt to go with anything less than an excellent tire, and the grip and handling were phenomenal.

I’d put Blizzaks right up there with my past favorite tire that I ran on several vehicles, the X-Ice.

My 4Runner, which is obviously mechanically superior to the Edge for winter driving, has Geolandar studless snows on it, again a model of tire I’d never used before, and those are excellent as well.

I like Tyrereviews.com.

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