New Bridgestone Blizzak Ice Peak

[edyvw]

So, the sale that Bridgestone has on WS90 and DM-V2 is for a reason. Bridgestone is going to replace WS90 and DM-V2 (finally) with one tire, Ice Peak:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a...BlBCi2bVm5ethLdzOb_aem_vhLmUC_aEVcFkwCXRM64MA

 

[JoelB]

Man i expected this to be the WS100. Looks a lot more like the Michelin X-ice than the WS90 did. Likely quieter than the WS90 with that tread pattern. My only complaint about the tire really.

 

[fsdork]

It will be interesting to see how well they shed snow. From the limited photos available, it looks like the void spaces are on the narrow side, as compared to the WS90 and DM-V2. I look forward to seeing some testing.

 

[Rand]

Can anyone find a full size pic of the tire with tread?
I've tried 20 sites and the all have the stupid promo pic of sidewall only.
the car and driver one is best but its low res.

Edit:
found one

Tread Looks pretty busy(lower void area). Like the VC8 redesign of the VC7.. I'd have to wonder if it maintained its slush planing resistance
and other attractive qualities.. or they went all out on "instrumented measurable improvements" such as acceleration/stopping.

Time will tell.. but stopping 3ft sooner on hockey rink ice does not help if you go slush-planing into a 360 on the highway changing lanes.

overall - Excited about the new tires but time will tell.

For example here is the VC8(left) vs a VC7 Some people are saying the VC8 has lower slush planing resistance.. note the tread void sizes.

And here is as close as I could get an icepeak vs the ws-90

 

[SubLGT]

The Bridgestone official press release:
https://www.bridgestoneamericas.com...dgestone-launches-blizzak-icepeak-winter-tire

• Optimized Compound: Enhanced for added durability, the Blizzak IcePeak tire uses an optimized version of the same proven winter compounds found in the Blizzak WS90 and DM-V2 tires. The more durable compound is engineered to help provide improved wear life for multiple winters of use and rolling resistance, while maintaining superior traction in wet, ice and snowy driving conditions.

 

[Jmlo96]

I am curious how both Michelin and Bridgestone are putting a heavy emphasis on their ice traction. I'm curious if the stud-less ice and snow may eventually get re-branded as ice focused. I am sure part of this has to do with the new severe ice certification. It would be nice if we could adopt a standardized slush test as well. I recall the x-Ice xi3 tires I had years ago on my Cruze being abhorrent in the slush.

 

[IndyIan]

I am curious how both Michelin and Bridgestone are putting a heavy emphasis on their ice traction. I'm curious if the stud-less ice and snow may eventually get re-branded as ice focused. I am sure part of this has to do with the new severe ice certification. It would be nice if we could adopt a standardized slush test as well. I recall the x-Ice xi3 tires I had years ago on my Cruze being abhorrent in the slush.

I think its an easy metric to compete on, and easy to replicate and test on? Also ice optimized tires end up being very close to all-seasons in terms of noise, mileage, even wet grip, so they are pretty good tires for most winter drivers and driving. Tires optimized for slush are closer to the old "bad" noisy snow tires, with narrow contact patches, big gaps and square shoulders, which are a compromise on pavement running, but IMO have no equal if you are out before the plows are, or cutting across slushy ridges between lanes.

I run our old X-ice 2 as all-seasons and they are pretty good, just getting a touch noisy as they are getting down into the 6/32 range. I don't think 99% of people driving that car would guess they are winter tires? I forget they are winter tires. Even after some handling maneuvers, and some harder cornering, they don't do anything weird, especially down at this tread depth. I'm sure they would overheat on even an autocross course, but that's true of most all-seasons too.

 

[edyvw]

I am curious how both Michelin and Bridgestone are putting a heavy emphasis on their ice traction. I'm curious if the stud-less ice and snow may eventually get re-branded as ice focused. I am sure part of this has to do with the new severe ice certification. It would be nice if we could adopt a standardized slush test as well. I recall the x-Ice xi3 tires I had years ago on my Cruze being abhorrent in the slush.

The biggest issue is ice. Stopping is name of the game in winter.
With slush you can always drop speed a bit. Stopping in ice on other hand is always big deal. I had Michelin Latitude Xi2 on two vehicles. I personally would take them over DM-V2 any day, because they just do everything good. Were they better than DM-V2 in slush? Not really. Not to the point I care. Were they better in ice? Dramatically.
And I live in Rocky Mountains and ski weekly. So it is not like I don’t see deep snow.

 

[Oldswagon]

These seem to be going to a similar tread design as the Michelins. I am confident they will do better in testing and in the real world in many locations. However, with how varied road conditions and weather conditions are, I am not sure they will work better for my location.

I have run probably half a dozen sets of Michelins winter tires on various vehicles, which have seemed to run a similar ice tire design for some years. The issue I have with them is as they wear they are unable to evacuate snow effectively. With my truck the tire wear was very fast, on my cars it was usually good for 4 or 5 winters which was ok.

We often have new snow on top of icy/snow packed roads. Some roads are never bare asphalt all winter due to cold temperatures and poor road clearing. When the treads on a Michelin fill with the new snow they become absolutely horrible over icy/snow packed roads. I have found the tires with more open and deeper tread patterns evacuate the snow better and stop better when on a snow covered road over ice or snowpack simply because the treads don't get packed with snow.

 

[DirtyGary]

Feels like the ws90s didn't last too long. I bought a set in 2022 and I think they were new that year.

They've been good in extreme winter conditions but very lackluster in everything else.

 

[Rand]

Feels like the ws90s didn't last too long. I bought a set in 2022 and I think they were new that year.

They've been good in extreme winter conditions but very lackluster in everything else.

2019 they came out.
which is a longer 6-7 year cycle.
icepeak will be for the 2026 winter season

so 7? years.

Consider the ws-50 came out in early 2000's then we had the ws-60 2007
then 70 , 80


2003?-2019 we had 5 models introduced in 16 years.
now we are getting 6th (Icepeak) at year 23

 

[bdc101]

I was gonna say, I bought a set of WS90s in 2020. I thought they were great tires, used them for four winters and had plenty a couple more years left after I sold the car.

This was one of the early BMW X5s that had a stick shift and a mechanical AWD system that was rear biased -- this was the last year before the electronic center diff, so it was just a straight planetary gear differential which sent about two-thirds of the torque to the rear axle at all times. What a blast of a car to drive in the snow, and so much confidence once I put the WS90s on it. I had tried to get by with some Toyo all-terrains but it was night and day difference when I coughed up the cash for some real winter tires.

I will probably end up with a pair of these in a few years for the family rig.

 

[SubLGT]

........With slush you can always drop speed a bit. .....

Unless you are a driver in WRC ! Hankook is the tire supplier for WRC, and the snow/ice tire they brought to the recent wintry Rally Monte Carlo was criticized by many drivers for it's very poor performance in slush:

Hankook plans to introduce a new winter tyre in 2027 after the previous specification drew criticism from World Rally Championship crews at Rally Monte Carlo last weekend.

...drivers remained critical of the tyre’s ability to evacuate slush and provide grip. Reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier was the most vocal of the rubber after losing more than a minute in snowy and icy conditions to eventual winner Oliver Solberg.

“I’ve never seen that in my whole life, such a s*** tyre, unbelievable,” Ogier said during a stage end interview, before adding in the media zone, “for me it is not acceptable to get product like this in the world championship after one year of feedback, where we said that they need to work on that, and all that is done is a centimetre cut in the tyres.”

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news...in-2027-after-monte-carlo-criticism/10793832/

 

[edyvw]

Unless you are a driver in WRC ! Hankook is the tire supplier for WRC, and the snow/ice tire they brought to the recent wintry Rally Monte Carlo was criticized by many drivers for it's very poor performance in slush:



https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news...in-2027-after-monte-carlo-criticism/10793832/

I had once Hakook winter tires, and that was by far the worst snow tire I ever had.

 

[bdc101]

I had once Hakook winter tires, and that was by far the worst snow tire I ever had.

I've never used their studless tires, but I had a set of studded Hankook snow tires on an MR2 of all cars, and they were actually great in the snow. Only drove them a few times in snow but I remember them being great.

One thing that really affects studless tires is wear. They need to be replaced with much less wear than normal all-season tires (typically 5/32s instead of 2/32s!). I've been buying studless tires for almost 15 years now and have had close to 10 sets between all our cars, and have always been disappointed with their snow and ice traction after the fourth winter or so. Later on I figured out why -- I was just keeping them on too long. So I always have to ask, if you really weren't impressed with a set of studless tires, was it because they were used when you got them - or maybe just kept them on too long? Every set of studless tires that I have bought new has felt REALLY good in snow for the first several winters.

 

[edyvw]

I've never used their studless tires, but I had a set of studded Hankook snow tires on an MR2 of all cars, and they were actually great in the snow. Only drove them a few times in snow but I remember them being great.

One thing that really affects studless tires is wear. They need to be replaced with much less wear than normal all-season tires (typically 5/32s instead of 2/32s!). I've been buying studless tires for almost 15 years now and have had close to 10 sets between all our cars, and have always been disappointed with their snow and ice traction after the fourth winter or so. Later on I figured out why -- I was just keeping them on too long. So I always have to ask, if you really weren't impressed with a set of studless tires, was it because they were used when you got them - or maybe just kept them on too long? Every set of studless tires that I have bought new has felt REALLY good in snow for the first several winters.

Nah, these were just bad, from beginning to end.
Absolute junk.

 

[Rand]

IIRC @OVERKILL had some turd hankook winter tires on his ram.

 

[OVERKILL]

IIRC @OVERKILL had some turd hankook winter tires on his ram.

On the Jeep, and they were great in snow, just not great on ice.

 

[bdc101]

On the Jeep, and they were great in snow, just not great on ice.

I haven't personally found any studless tire that I would call "great" on ice, even when new. But I'm open minded about it and would love to hear about your experiences.

 

[OVERKILL]

I haven't personally found any studless tire that I would call "great" on ice, even when new. But I'm open minded about it and would love to hear about your experiences.

I've found the Michelin X-ice series very good on ice; certainly a lot better than other offerings. Not as good as studded of course, but probably as close to that level as you could get without the studs.