Which winter / snow tire?
 

I am looking for some advice on winter tread. We live in Central Indiana and drive mostly on plowed roads. Certainly some deeper snow driving, but most of the streets have been plowed. Many remain snow packed and or icey. Mix of city / interstate driving, so need something that handles at speed. Current tread on the LS is Primacy MXV4.

Last winter I was fortunate to have been able to park the LS and drive another car - not so this year. I purchased a set of used OEM rims this weekend - need to start thinking tire choice. I have looked at the Tire Rack reviews and am considering the Dunlop Wintersport 3D, Michelin Alpin PA3, or Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3. All seem to be a viable compromise between performance and winter driving.

I would appreciate your thoughts and recommendations.

I think I read more winter tire reviews than Michigan has road salt. I just had a set of 17" Michelin X-ice Xi2s mounted on my second set of wheels. I had less concern about performance and more concern for the mixed clear-ice conditions we get on I-96. Then there's my steep driveway. The Xi2s did great on my RWD Dakota last winter.

My main winter driver will be the Subie, but both cars need to be winter capable.

I just ordered four Michelin X-ice Xi2's from Tire Rack this week in the 245/45/18 size. I think the Blizzak, PA3 or X-ice will all do the trick. I'm partial to Michelin. The Alpin PA3 is V rated (149mph) vs T rated (118 mph) for the X-ice, but the load rating is the same for both. I'm assuming the extra cost of $50 per PA3 tire can be attributed to the higher speed rating. Some of the reviews of the Blizzak complained of road noise, so I counted them out.

Of all the tires on tirerack and from others pesonal experience which tires seem to be and are rated the most quiet?

Winter tires and quiet usually don't go together. I figure that's one of the prices I have to pay to live in a 4-season paradise.

I just ordered my winter tires a few days ago. Got a set of Blizzaks and some new cheap wheels to use for the winter. I'm going down to 17's for the winter set, just because they cost so much less. I would use the factory 18's, but I don't want the chrome taking that much abuse from salt and stuff.

I was able to find a set of used 17" OEM wheels for $300. one of the 4 had some road rash, so swapped it out for the one on my spare.

Depending on the size tire, I would recommend either the Dunlop M3 or the Dunlop SP D3. They both have a proven record. Do keep in mind there are two grades of winter snow tire - high performance snow tires and traditional snow tires. The traditional snow tires typically have speed ratings lower than H and will usually offer better traction but will have soft sidewalls and feel a little "squirmy" on the road. The ones with at least an H rating will handle better but give up some grip. The Bridgestone Blizzak line is highly regarded however the special tread material is only available in about the first 50% of the tread depth which I dislike since it is that special material that gives much of the traction benefit . . . I have never had good luck with Goodyear snows and some of the Michelins are okay. I hope this helps . . .

Andrew

Thanks Andrew - I am looking to avoid "squirmy" on the road. All of the tires mentioned in my original post are at least H rated. My question (concern) is if these "compromise" tires will perform significantly better than my Michelin Primacy's... The dunlops have pretty positive reviews in Tire Rack - any direct experience with them (or the Michelin Alpin series) on an LS would be appreciated.

Thanks

The X-ice and Blizzaks have a proven track record.

There is a vid on tirerrack comparing about 3 or 4 different winter tires.

Personally I think Caddyowner has picked the best tires ,XI2.

LOL I'll let you know in about 3 months. I had the current generation Pilot Alpin on my MKZ and wasn't all the impressed when on ice or mixed ice / dry. Maybe it was the tires, maybe it was Ford's AWD system. The tires did fine on snowcovered roads, though. The tires were markedly noiser and rougher on dry pavement than the stock Michelin Energy tires. (I bought the Pilot Alpins only because they were sold out of the Xice for the winter.)

I was really impressed with the XI2 on my Dakota, but that vehicle is not a good indicator for noise and roughness because that was the natural state of that truck. However, the grip was great, even with RWD and no limited slip differential. Of course, the truck also didn't have traction control or ABS.

I bought my AWD Subie this summer and it has a set of GY TripleTreds with only about 8K miles on them. I've read good things about these tires and have been very impressed with their rain traction. I'll see how they do through this winter.

The Blizzak WS70 was introduced just this summer and replaced the WS60 in the majority of passenger car sizes. It is a substantial redesign from the WS60 and doesn't really have a track record.

The Blizzak WS70 and the Michelin X-ice Xi2 have a visually identical tread design -- it's almost eerie to see them side by side. The WS70 with its wider lateral tread channels is a bit more aimed at snow performance and has a slightly higher noise level on dry pavement. The X-ice Xi2 with it's narrower lateral tread channels is a bit more aimed at dry weather performance and has a slightly lower noise level and sharper handling.

There are at least two different Blizzak series for passenger cars. The Blizzak WS series is the heavy duty winter tire and the Blizzak LM series is a performance oriented winter tire.

Any of the higher rated winter tires with the mountain/snowflake symbol should be fine. I recently bought a set of Blizzak WS70 tires mainly because I squeezed seven winters and 25,000 miles out of a set of Blizzak WS50 tires which were the most incredible winter tires I've ever driven on.

Equipped with proper winter tires, a 98-up LS with VSC and "snow mode" is an absolute joy to drive in snow.

I have a set of Blizzak WS50 from a few years back now and they are pretty good. A few seasons now, but only really a handful of time in snow and they did well. I don't know how the current group of Blizzak are, but I know the reviews for the WS60 were not as good as the WS50.

Anyway, I think it just calls for careful driving and brand preference.

You can't really go wrong with the Blizzaks or Michelins.

According to Tirerack test results the tires behave similarly, although you may want to give some consideration to Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires too.

I've used the X-Ice Xi2 tires in Vancouver on a different car and I was happy with them. It only snows a couple of times a year, and most of the time it turns to slush, so the tires were able to handle themselves quite well in this environment.

If it's consistently colder, then maybe further consideration should be given to a different tire.

I don't know why the Dunlops weren't reviewed by TireRack? I know the older M3 design was an awesome snow tire, my brother had them on his S2000 and drove them all winter and loved them in the ice and snow plus they handled pretty well. I used to have an older version of the Michelins (the PA2 I think?) on my front wheel drive 2002 Maxima and was not impressed. I've also run Blizzak tires on a mid-90's Civic and thought they were good but squirmy (I can't recall the model off hand). I've also run the Michelin X-Ice on a mid 90's LeSabre and they also were very good but handled poorly. Unfortunately, I've only just purchased my LS430 so can't give any specific feedback regarding snow tires on that car.

I'm looking to pick up a set of the Dunlop D3 snows. They've won some tests in Europe for snow performance and I'm confident they'll handle well.

Andrew