It’s the time of year people start buying snow tires, so what better time to write a review? Having spent the last two years ice racing and trying to wring the most performance from a set of winter tires on an icy track, I’d like to share my insights into what makes a good snow and ice tire.
Why Snow Tires?
First, a few words on why you should buy snow tires at all. Snow tires make the single biggest difference in bad weather traction, period. As I have long stated, there is no substitute for a good snow tire. I will recommend a RWD car with snow tires over a 4WD/AWD car with “all-season” tires, every time. One prominent auto magazine a few years ago ran a snow driving comparison with a RWD Porsche wearing snow tires versus an Audi with all-season tires. The Porsche won hands down, owing entirely to the tire choice. When a freak Nor’easter caught us last December during evening rush hour, I was stuck in the worst traffic jam I have ever seen — for FOUR HOURS on what should have been a 30-min trip — simply because nobody bothered to buy snow tires. There is no excuse for not having a proper winter tire.
Which Tires?
We have mentioned several different snow tires here over the past couple years, giving our impressions and suggestions as they come. Many others review snow tires, but I would bet that we put more snow and ice miles per year on these tires than all the major reviewers combined. Two stand out as having the most testing and getting the most favorable reviews, both in ice racing and in general winter use. I figure it’s about time to render a verdict on which tires I like best and why.
Green Diamond Icelander Tire:
I’ve written several favorable articles about these tires in the past. We’ve had nothing but good experiences with the tires and the company behind them. Initially I was impressed with how well these performed in the snow, probably owing to large voids and good tread evacuation. Snow performance is usually a function of having blocks of tread with wide, deep spaces in-between them that will swallow snow, but allow it to fall free when the tire rotates away from the road. The Icelander tire uses this traditional principle for snow traction, and it works. Green Diamond employs a unique technology for ice traction, however; silicium carbide granules embedded in the tread compound are designed to bite ice like thousands of tiny studs.
In concept, this could be a direct replacement for studded tires. In practice there seem to be too few granules to be of much benefit on ice. Subjectively, after one season of ice racing with them and two seasons of on-road snow tire use, I find the tires lukewarm. In addition the tread compound is hard as rock, which means they wear better than the typical snow tire but are probably sacrificing performance versus a soft compound. Also worth considering is the fact Green Diamond tires are retreads, and although I’ve never had any problems with them, they are typically $20-30 more expensive than brand new snow tires from other manufacturers. Henry still likes them, but it is telling that after the first season of ice racing in which many competitors bought a set, nobody uses them anymore.
Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60 Tire:
After giving Green Diamonds a try in the 2007 season, the unstudded rubber-on-ice crowd has reverted back to the old favorite, the Bridgestone Blizzak. What sets these apart from traditional snow tires and puts them in their own category of performance is tire compound. Bridgestone uses a compound that is very soft and remains pliable at cold temperatures. This combined with aggressive “siping” (jagged tread cuts) gives them a superior coefficient of friction when they can find asphalt through the snow at below-zero temperatures, and makes them a predictable winner in outright winter performance. The disadvantage to this is that soft, floppy tread wears much faster and gives poor dry-road performance. This is a totally worthwhile trade-off in my opinion, as “performance” snow tires that trade snow and ice traction for asphalt traction are not very good (a word on that later). Interestingly enough, Bridgestone now uses “bite particles” in the compound, which sounds an awful lot like Green Diamond’s strategy. I haven’t seen shiny slivers sticking out of these tires, so perhaps these particles are rubber-colored.
WS-50 vs. WS-60:
The AMEC “street legal” ice racing class started off with Blizzak WS-50 tires when they were new. Last year, the new Blizzak WS-60 replaced the aging WS-50 and racers were split between the last sets of WS-50s that were available and the newly stocked WS-60. By the end of the season, the general consensus seemed to be that the WS-60 offered better traction. Clint ran a set for the whole season and found them to have excellent performance on ice and snow. I drove a 3 hour endurance race in Maine on WS-50s and against a field of cars with studded tires. As the ice conditions improved and the course became more textured, I discovered I could beat some of them through the corner at the end of the main straight. Yes, braking from 70mph on ice to pitch the car through a 20mph corner was as good with unstudded Blizzaks as metal studs digging into the ice.
The Verdict:
Having used Blizzak and several other winter tires in the past, I wanted to sample Green Diamond’s technology to see if it gave an edge on ice without using studs. After this experiment, I find that the grass was not greener after all, and that Blizzaks are still the best out there. Bridgestone is so confident about their performance that they sponsor AMEC ice racing (and no, that doesn’t mean we get cheap tires). I share their confidence in recommending Blizzaks as the best snow and ice tires I have ever used.
Where to Buy Snow Tires
Quite simply, The Tire Rack undercuts brick-and-mortar shops by so much most of the time that it’s silly to buy anywhere else; they have the best selection around and very reasonable shipping prices. This recommendation comes from experience — every snow tire I have ever purchased except the Green Diamonds has come from them. This doesn’t stop you from having to actually visit a shop to have the tires mounted and balanced, but the folks at Tire Rack have a “Recommended Installer Program” which gets it done at discounted rates. Usually this means that you have the tires ship to a recommended installer, but last year I discovered that NTB was willing to give me the discounted rate by showing them the Tire Rack recipt — of course, your mileage may vary. As I said above, we recommend getting a separate set of winter wheels, which tire rack will be happy to ship with the snow tires already mounted and balanced for no additional cost. If you buy tires after clicking the Tire Rack links below it helps us pay for the site, which we greatly appreciate.
A Word on “Performance Snow Tires”
Much in the same way that companies market “all-season” tires that are supposed to provide acceptable year-round performance (but don’t), many companies including Bridgestone (Blizzak LM-22, LM-18, and LM-25) will market compromise snow tires that offer improved dry-weather performance at the cost of snow and ice ability. In part this is because the soft compound and floppy tread in the best snow and ice tires can not handle the high speed ratings many OEM car tires come with, and tire sellers are reluctant to recommend something with a lower speed rating for liability reasons. Do you really need V-rated (149mph) tires instead of R-rated (106mph)? If you find it necessary to do more than 106mph on cold, wet, nasty winter roads, you need to have your head examined (or should be competing in WRC).
The best snow tires have a soft tread that gives poor performance on dry pavement. The harder tread compounds used in “performance snow tires” make snow and ice traction much worse without making dry performance much better. To top that off, they usually and cost more. As Noah points out, snow tires have no place being used in warm, dry conditions. Change back to summer tires when temperatures rise and no more snow is expected for the year. Having tried a few “performance snow tires” from Pirelli, Dunlop, and Michelin, I can attest to dry weather compromises as being bad.
A Note on Winter Wheels
The best solution, one we here at The Pansy Patrol highly recommend, is to have two sets of wheels and tires — one for use during the winter months in which significant snow is expected, one set for the spring, summer, and fall. Judicious use of winter wheels and tires in this way will make one set of snow tires last several seasons, making the cost to you per season very small (under $200 per season). Having a dedicated set of wheels for your snow tires will also save you money long-term through reduced wear and cost of mounting/balancing.
on November 24, 2008 at 9:01 pm Mo wrote:
Great writeup and link to tire rack. I’ve got a few sets of WS-15s, very impressive despite the age. Now nearing the end of their shelf life however..
on December 15, 2008 at 8:52 am Anon wrote:
“The best solution, one we here at The Pansy Patrol highly recommend, is to have two sets of wheels and tires — one for use during the winter months in which significant snow is expected, one set for the spring, summer, and fall.”
I am far from an expert on tires, but I worry this advice is going to get someone killed. Just recently here there was a fatal crash that was believed to have happened when summer tires lost their pliability, which supposedly happens around 45F, the ambient temperature was 40F at the time. I am told all season tires maintain their pliability to about 10F. Depending where you live it can be too cold for Summer tires even during Summer nights.
on December 15, 2008 at 2:40 pm Chris wrote:
Greetings,
Your source sounds like pure sensationalism, plain and simple. Tires do not suddenly lose their pliability at some threshold, below which they become dangerously slippery on clean, dry asphalt.
A few points:
Oftentimes accident reporting by TV journalists, or by the police by way of the press will have dramatics added to spice up the story. I think this is the culprit here.
It’s been 20 degrees F here in the last week and I still have my summer tires on. They have less traction than when hot, but the reductuion is approximately linear with temperature. I’ll put the Blizzaks on soon, but I’m not in any hurry to start wearing out my tires if we aren’t getting snow.
All season tires can be used safely in snow, just as snow tires can be used safely in 90 degree weather. There are many reasons why you wouldn’t want to do either one, but neither guarantees disaster. Ultimately, safety is the responsibility of the driver.
Thanks for the comments!
-Chris
on December 16, 2008 at 12:59 pm Anon wrote:
Chris, You make interesting points. There is so much misinformation floating around out there about tires it is hard to get to the bottom of it.
I understand that any tire is a series of compromises. The pliability of a tire at lower or higher temperatures would be a product of the compound mix utilized. I would expect the pliability of some compounds (like in all seasons) to be fairly linear and others to be more of a curve with temperature. For example I would suspect a near R-compound Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tire would start to very rapidly lose grip in subzero temperatures, just like a like a winter tire might lose grip in a nonlinear way in temperatures above 90F.
I am of the belief that generally winter and summer tires use a softer compound that wears faster than all season tires. I have also been told all season tires tend to not grip/bite in the snow after about 40% treadwear. Even though I live in the snowbelt it is so seldom that I am driving on an unplowed road that I honestly considered buying summer tires to run year around but I was concerned how safe they would be at low temperatures and in light snow/slush. Even though it is not mandated I would think all season tires typically use a compound that is softer in cold temperatures than what summer tires use. Just visually comparing the void area and sips between summer tires and all seasons many of them looked very similar. Do you think there would be much difference in performance?
I have used Blizzaks in winter on the interstate with no snow covering and felt very little connection to the road. They were really loud as well and at 70 mph it felt like I was going to break traction and fly into the barrier wall. Albeit this was years back and the snow tires were a size smaller than normal and narrower to bite the snow better. The way the sips are designed cornering in the dry in winter can be pretty dicey too. I notice that with my all season tires the grip seems to improve a lot after just a few minutes of driving that warms them up.
on December 24, 2008 at 3:39 pm The Pansy Patrol » How To Get Unstuck wrote:
[...] is tire tread filled with packed snow that might as well be a bald or “slick” tire. Good snow tires with deep tread and widely-spaced blocks are your first and most important tool for driving in the winter, without which you will always [...]