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Very informative video. But I read different views about the tire width- narrower better for traction, and wider for braking and cornering? Which is true in your opinion?
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The "micro pumps" on the Blizzak and the xIce tires are not BS. They aren't for slushy or wet roads. It is for hard cold ice. What makes ice slippery at -40 is the microscopic film of water that forms when a tire slips or even your boot when you try to walk on it. That's why ice tires work so well and why good winterboots don't slip either. The rubber compound draws it from between the ice and tire. Works very well. Living on the Canadian Prairies we don't have a lot of snow to deal with and what we get is very dry and packs hard. Ice traction is paramount here.
I found my X-Ice Xi2's fantastic on dry (cold or warm) and in wet. Tread life, road noise also were excellent. But in deep snow and icy roads they performed only so so. Any winter tire without studs won't excel on ice although they're much, much better then all seasons.
Literally, I've seen so many pretty much the same videos in the past few days but this one has the best description of the small details and overall difference between tires. Good job man
have been looking into winter tire videos, and i cant believe how much they make a difference i will never drive in the cold without winter tires again
Really good educational video for people that are not familiar with how tires work. Back in 1979 I had a 1973 Chevy panel van living in CT. Even with some weight in the back it was horrible with snow tire trying to climb a hill. Just out college and no money so I put studded retreads on. By then they got the retreading down very well. Great grip and I lost some studs but none of the tires treads came off. Life saver because they don't have a clue how to clear roads when it snows. Good story. LOL
Thank You for this very informative Video on Winter Tires , I have a 2004 Chrysler Sebring and have just purchased Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 Tires for it , you have Shown that I did not make a mistake in buying them as that car carries my most precious cargo "My Wife" , she drives alone and I want her to be safe in all weather during the Winter , now I have a piece of mind in the Tires that I have bought for our Car . THANK YOU !!!
Decided to get winters for my BRZ. Found an almost new set of Cooper WeatherMaster's mounted and balanced on '99 Legacy GT wheels for $175 total. Such a steal. Gonna put em on the car soon. Can't wait for snow!
Tires are the most important yet also the most overlooked upgrade for any amateur getting into the automotive community. Great video on thanks for the explanation.
You Sir are 1000% correct with your assessments and findings. Will speak candidly: Blizzak makes superior winter tires, better than Nokian, which seems counter-intuitive seeing as Nokian SHOULD know winter, due to the fact the country is under winter conditions more than any other. I live in Canada, in the mountains, which means heavy deep snow, ice, slush, constantly changing weather conditions and let's not forget, -40C. I drive all over Western Canada in every type of winter condition/road condition. Have tried winter tires from Michelin to Blizzak to Nokian Hakka line up and nothing matches or beats the Blizzak. Ran Blizzak LM-60 on my sedans for years. Then switched to Hakka R2 and was sadly disappointed and so much so I removed them and put the Blizzak back on in the form of the DMV2. The Blizzak DMV2 is the best winter tire I have ever used, even better than the X-Ice. I will explain why and it is simple to understand. The Blizzaks have deep grooves running longitudinally through the tire and many of them. This is what clears/cleans/ejects the snow from the tire, allowing the tire to make contact with the road underneath the snow. Go ahead and look at the tread patterns on the Blizzak LM-60, the Michelin X-Ice and the Blizzak DMV2. Boom! There it is. Now look at the Nokian line up. Look at the Hakka R2 and boom, there it isn't. No deep grooves to eject the snow. The same physics apply to summer tires; no deep grooves means aquaplaning when driving in the rain or on wet road conditions. The Hakka are very soft, which will make for a good ice tire and there is plenty of tread blocks to make good contact with the road and ice however, the DMV2 has plenty of tread blocks or surface area WITH THE ADDITION of deep grooves to eject the snow, and the DMV2 wears significantly better. The Blizzak WS line is superior for deep, deep snow conditions. Take a look at that tread pattern; it too has the deep grooves and chunky tread blocks. Friends have been die hard Nokian users for decades and swore it to be the BEST winter tire bar none. Then they decide to "try" the Blizzak and are astonished at the improvement of traction. When I ran the Hakkas, I was constantly spinning, tires searching for traction. I was sooo disappointed due to the marketing efforts of Nokian. Here in Canada it "Nokian is the best. Nokian is the best." So I decided to switch from Blizzak and was sorry I did. On the topic of studded tires - a bad idea. I agree with your findings; studded work well ONLY on ice but here is the kicker: the rubber on studded tires are HARD. Perhaps a cost savings ploy for manufactures. The consensus here among studded tire users is without the studs, the tire is practically useless due to the tires being so HARD - hard like a summer tire. Stay away from studded tires. The Bizzak DMV2 and WS80/90 are phenomenal on ice and snow and every winter condition. The technology currently is such studded tires are obsolete. Xice is also exceptional but Blizzak has the Master Formula for winter driving. Thanks for the great video. Its the BEST video explaining winter tires.
One thing I'd like to point out is that all season tires can differ massively from one another when it comes to performance. I had a set of el cheapo goodyear "all season" tires that might as well have been summer tires. In snow that's about 1" or deeper those things could loose traction so easily. Even on just regular wet and dry driving conditions they were pretty mediocre at best. I was completely sick of them, plus they were at their tire wear limit so I figured I'd do my homework for all season tires that didn't suck that were in my price range. I settled on the Vredestein quatrac and wow, what a difference. I had to go to work this year with about 3" of snow on the ground and about 1" of slush underneath the powder. I was able to truck on through like it was nothing, and I'm in a stock civic haha. I ended up passing someone in an SUV that was struggling. Granted if I got too ballsy with the gas, I'd have some understeer but the second I backed off the throttle it was perfectly fine. But yeah, it seems the more snow tire inspired "V" tread patterned all season tires are actually doing well in the snow. Overall though good vid, enjoyed it :)
Great video. I went budget and ran General Altimax Arctics on my 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee. With the Vari-Lok axles front and rear it turned a really good in the snow Jeep into an unbelievable one.
I used to work at a dealership for 7 years, in the parts department, and after years of selling the xice and blizzaks, I chose Bilzzaks for my 17 wrx for better traction cause I do less kilometres per year. But for my dad and his Honda Crosstour, I got him the Xice3 as I think there almost as good as the Blizzaks, but last longer in terms of kilometres. Just my two cents.
I have on my sedan Hakkapelitta R2 and let me tell you , they are super smuth , fantastic grip in the snow and sludge . for me is the best snow tire that I used so far .
My theory about all-season tires is: We have winter, summer, spring, and fall. We don't have an "all-season" time of year. I'm glad I live somewhere that requires snow tires in the winter by law. Much safer. Also, studs are legal here.
@@Teamoneilrally in Europe: Austria , Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. Some of these countries have a blanket law that requires you to use winter tires during a specific period (usually November - April), others only in "wintry conditions". Also, snow chains may be mandatory under specified circumstances.
Canadian Tire has a great winter tire called the Certified Winter Trek which is an incredible value tire! These tires are studdable and are an almost exact copy of the Nokian Hakka 8 winter tires at a fraction of the cost! I have them on my wife's car and they go through heavy rain, slush, snow, and ice extremely well! Worth checking out for those on a budget who don't want to sacrifice safety and peace of mind!
Great video, you did an excellent job of explaining how a tire works and why. a few years ago I put two winter force tires on a front drive Omni. I could not believe how they bit on even glare ice. I just checked at tire rack and the Blizzak was $130 each while the winter force was $103. If you are buying two the price is not a big factor, buy which you have the most faith in, but if you are planning to buy 4 then the price becomes more of a factor. For four tires blizzak would be $520 while the winter force would be $412. There is currently a mail in rebate on the Blizzak so the cost for 4 would come down to $451!
Excellent presentation here. I am new to this channel & just moments ago I left a comment on the 4X4 versus AWD video. My closing summary was about the tires one chooses to use on their respective vehicles. When this video was produced the latest by Nokian was the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 which had a 5 year run. Earlier this year Nokian upgraded to the R3 series winter tire, almost the same but with several improvements. Just yesterday in fact I had a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 225/60R18 R3 SUV ( non studded ) winter tires installed on my 2017 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited. Glad to see you emphasized the quality & design of the Nokian Hakkapeliittas winter tire. I put them to the test coming home, driving through steep, snow covered terrain that the factory Bridgestone M&S Dueller tires were never designed for. The Nokians easily passed the test with no slippage or sliding whatsoever. Now after 19 months of driving on those " extremely dangerous " factory tires, I have experienced for the FIRST time what the Outback can actually do in the snow on a real set of winter tires... Thank you, Bill on the Hill... :-) ( N. Central Vermont )
Thanks so much! This the best Tire review on the internet! just subscribed. I would love to see one exactly like this with your advice on Trucks only...
Fantastic video! Learned a ton from this. A fellow New Hampshire guy now living in S. Korea. Last snowstorm almost had me and wife look for a motel, as in many parts of Korea snow removal is non-existent. I'll be getting the Blizzak as they have Yokohama dealers here. Thanks!
Just want to touch on the fact that while the newer studless tires with the grit in the compound are great, that is only for part of the tread depth and once you are past that point, they are just regular rubber, also remember, a snow tire is only good as long as you have enough tread depth to be able to cut through to some solid surface. Unless you can afford to replace the higher end tires every 2 years, you may be better off buying something like the general altimax and replacing it so that you have that deep tread for slush and snow, and in addition to that, once studded, you retain your ice traction for the entire life of the tire. Absolutely fantastic video though, very informative, touches on a lot of things not mentioned by a lot of retailers and manufacturers.
A few rules of thumb for snow and ice driving: It is better to be driving slowly and wish you could be going faster than to be driving fast and really really wish you could be going slower. Never exceed the speed you are comfortable crashing at. Also remember that even if your vehicle is four wheel drive, it has the same four wheel stop as any other car. Good breakdown on winter tires. As a small aside- modern studless tires are better in basically every situation. Japan really pushed for studless winter tires and did a lot of research. They found out that studs generally only improve traction within 4 degrees of freezing. Warmer than freezing ice is too soft and breaks rather than generating traction, or puts your studs in contact with the pavement. As the temperature drops below freezing ice hardens and your studs similarly loose efficacy. I bought a set of General Altimax Arctic 12's for this winter- they aren't too expensive and perform extremely well. I'd add them to your recommend list for people that might be on a budget.
Cool video. I'm from just north of the snow belt below Lake Erie in NE Ohio where there's snow on the ground for 3-4 months out of the year. For the 7 years I drove in the U.S. (Audi 100Q and various mk1-3 VWs) I ran all seasons and had very few, if any, issues in the snow. For the last 8 years, I've been living in Aichi Prefecture, Japan in an area that has a similar climate to the Carolinas. There's like a single day of light snow a year. But, people run studless snow tires like 4-6 months out of the year! The only logical reason I can come up with for people doing this is if they're regularly driving on icy mountain roads that don't get much sunshine during the day. But that's a pretty rare case. I've run all season tires on my Honda Today year-round for 8 years now and, once again, haven't experienced any issues. I'll likely be investing in some snow tires once I make my way back, however.
Great video! Here in Nordic countries everyone changes tires when winter comes but studless winter tires are getting more and more common. But winter rally tires are pretty serious, even in amateur class they often have Michelin or Pirelli with like 400 crazy big spikes.
Narrower tread widths are better with studs in strictly ice applications because it results in more pressure applied to each stud, which means better grip. Check the WRC tires used in Sweden. The CRC recently changed to rules to allow studs in Canadian Rally 🤗
@ 6 minutes, the 3d sips, that's why I love Michelin x ice they are designed to lasting performance which I've used all 3 gens thru out the years. I'm still a huge fan of the first gen x ice's.
I was quite surprised that at 5mm there will be some traction left, but if it's not slushy they still hold the ground. Definitely the sippes are deeper than in most of winter tires making X-Ice last. I was big Hakkapelita fun, but also tried Toyos in the past.
Replaced my aging Firestone Winterforces with Nokian WRG4s. Not a dedicated winter tire, but it's amazing in the slush. Also a lot more responsive than the Winterforces in the dry. FYI: First snow in Cincinnati caught me off guard this year, I was on Hankook Ventus V12s with 40k miles on them. Tread looked like it was drawn on with a marker. My car (G35 sedan) was crippled by 2" of snow.
This is a great video. It sums up all the basics for choosing a good winter tire. If I may add. The best no compromise remains a snow bias tire with studs. But, no compromise for traction in the nasty stuff will be at the cost of noise, high speed stability and fuel consumption. Also if you got a power full car and drive agressively, you will want studs that are put in by the manufacturer instead or generics in the garage added studs. Since they tend to ripped off easier. Also we've seen 4 seasons with winter homologation appeared in the resent years. My corporated vehicule is fitted with them. They will do ok. But I recommend that for peoples who usually let the storm go by before hitting the road. Because theses are jack of all trades and masters of none. The biggest compromise is having soft imprecise sidewalk in the summer ( like a winter tire), weak ice grip and they do suffers a bit from compound hardening in cold weather ( noticeable at -15c and worst.)
I do agree that good winter tires are the best option. But there are some modern allseasons that do really perform well in winter. I've spent most of the last 27 years living in South Dakota, Colorado, and Minnesota. Goodyear assurance triple treads do really well. Had them on my subaru legacy, and my wife's Tracker. Worked awesome on ice. Anyone who has ever spent any time on interstate 94, or interstate 90 know how crappy they can get. They just didn't just get by, they excelled.
Cold temp makes all season tire very firm, ride very harsh. winter tire stay compliant and more comfortable in very cold weather too. In addition to having more grip
Big +1 on studs. Deadly slick on wet roads, and will throw a rooster tail of sparks on dry tarmac. And tear out studs. Nothing like them on snow and ice, but for serious winter drivers only.
Michelin all season tires are not bad. I live in Chicago and I never had a problem with them in the snow. (My car is also all wheel drive so that also helps). My other car has Continental all season tires and those are absolute garbage in the winter. Gonna have to look into Winter tires for that one, only problem is that it has 19 inch rims so tires are really damn expensive.
Interesting video. just ordered four "Barum Polaris 5" studless winter tires for my braked trailer. Trailer max weight is 1200kg (2645lbs) and towing with a old Ford Focus mk1. wouldn't do it without winter tyres on all eight wheels even if it wasn't mandatory.
The microscopic water pores on the Blizzak ARE for microscopic amounts of water. On ice, when you put pressure on it, you melt a microscopic layer of water on top of it, which is why ice is more slippery than very-smooth cement. I must emphasize that this is a microscopic layer of water; probably less than one drop of water across the whole contact patch. The sipes work by melting edges into the ice and then grabbing them. Studs do the same, but much more, and with good old fashioned violence. In the old days they'd grind up walnut shells and mold that grit straight into the rubber. All the same deal. Melt an edge and bear against it. The micro pores and the cheater grooves help to evacuate this microscopic water boundary layer, getting the tire more firmly onto the solid ice. Use the pressure to melt little microscopic edges into the ice, then wick the moisture away. Does it work on slush or rainy roads? Hell no. That's big-boy water, and it requires big-boy grooves. All this is why a winter tire gets more grip on a hockey rink than it would on a basketball court. A summer tire, which has none of this going on, acts like a hockey puck.
Same here. Have them on a Ford Edge and they are great in the packed stuff but anything with some fluff and they really have problems. The Yokohama though seems to be very soft even in the coldest temps unlike the Blizzaks which turned into rocks under 10*F.
Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth I used to drive about 10K miles a year on snow and ice. Often a bit aggressively. ;-) Goodyear once made a tire called the F-32 that was fantastic in those conditions. They were a little squishy on dry pavement but nothing terrible. I've learned the hard and expensive way not to believe the tire test in the magazines and most youtube channels for the reasons you mentioned. Yet I still hear "the tire testers preaching" when people quote the magazines to opinion to me. I'll just keep my own council from experience on what does and doesn't work in snow and ice. I still live in snow country and joke to myself when I see somebody stuck in the ditch, etc of something people used to tell me all the time when I'd preach winter tires. "I don't need no stinkin snow tires". I guess you "don't need" snow tires but choosing wisely makes a world of difference in winter driving.
Our average snowfall is about 200 inches a season. I've been running 4 Nokian snow tires on every car I've owned since the 80s. I'd never consider any other brand.
Same here Haakapalliita R2 SUV. Just amazing. Never thought it would make such a huge difference. If I see cars sliding backwards downhill, often these tires help me go up effortlessly. Crazy.
Do you have any details on how exactly you grooved that set of nokians for racing? I see what you've done, but I'm more curious on what the easiest way to replicate it would be. We're having some local ice races on a frozen lake, so I'm trying to set up a set of dedicated ice racing tires. The only rule I'm aware of is that studs can't protrude more than 2mm. Thanks in advance, I know this is an old video. Chris
A warning for stud use. Had an early thaw which melted everything. Looked like spring but 2 months early. I was still driving on studded tires. On the highway, without snow/ice, those studs get hot. Caused a blowout at highway speed and almost went very bad. Keep in mind, when the season switches (not the month where they say to stop using them) you need to switch tires or pull the studs.
What do you think of the Michelin CrossClimate and CrossClimate+? I haven't tried any yet, but for the UK, and especially in the south, they seem like a good solution for a summer focused all season tyre that should handle the cold and the odd snow day.
I have wide tires and wheels for show during the summer and the put old wheels and thin tires on for winter..a thin tire cuts through instead of riding on top or actually floating on top the snow and also thin works way better in mud ,not real deep mud but stuff u would encounter under fall snow and warmer conditions
I drive GOODYEAR DURATRACS on my Taco for the winter. I find the grip in snow is tremendous. I have yet to experience aquaplaneing with these tires. I really like them a lot
Thanks for nice presentation. You mentioned all features of YOKOHAMA Ice GUARD and BRIDGESTONE BLLIZAK. Wow! Here in Japan, 5 years ago, BRIDGESTONE had been the best and YOKOHAMA had been the 2nd best. Because they have micro bubbled compounds which well grips ‘water on ice’ road. But, DUNLOP got much better in these 3years. And NANKANG bacame popular since its cost performance. I’ll watch your other videos to learn English.
Thank God laws were passed a few years back making winter tires mandatory in Quebec. 90s are just memories of mustangs and Z24s' and civics sliding everywhere with slick racing tires. Just to give you an idea, winters are normally -10 to -40 with wind factoring in (-40c is -40f). This video is pretty accurate btw. Only reason 95% of people here don't use studded tires is that they sound like tank tracks and slide all over when braking fast.....
2017 F150 FX4, 25,000 mi/yr mostly highway, about 1% off-roads chores. I live at Continental Divide in NM, and the highways can turn snowy and icey very quickly. So, question: Is it reasonable to run winter tires on back and all-season on front? As I did with my old 2WD Tundra? Understood the bed needs some load for traction.... BTW your series is great and I am subscribing. Thanks for de-mystifying the lore.
Smaller and spaced blocks : better tire in deep snow and wet snow (slush) for traction, braking and control at speed - especially when changing lines over a pack of deep snow in between the lines. Larger and closer blocks : better tire for ice traction, will have less good traction in deep snow and slush. But the most important is the rubber quality : cheap tire means less good rubber compound and less traction no matter the design. And don't drive on winter tires in the warm season : the temperature hardens the rubber compound and you will loose in performance the next winters.
Discount Tire offers siping for Any tire they sell at a cost, around $20/tire. A good tip when looking for a winter/ice only tire is a high silicone content, Granted, higher the silicone content the shorter the tread life so I have 2 sets of tires and rims. My winter tires, like he touched on; are narrower, siped and are on cheap steel rims, where my summers are on the factory Al mags. Keep the winter tires in the stored in the garage w/only 15 psi on them and stacked on top of each other and covered. I also clean them really good and treat them with Armour All before I put them away for the summer. It's Not a hassle because every year when your swapping them out, it give you the opportunity to inspect your brake system really well. Check the pads and shoes, drums and rotors and especially the flexible brake lines very good. It's FREE and it could help you spot issues before they strand you on the side of the road in a -15 F blizzard.
A lot of website recommend 1 size under but you said dont go narrower then stock. I just bought a new steel wheel and Michelin X-ice 15". My civic is 16" stock. My new tire is more narrow and taller with smaller wheel. I think I am okay going narrower then stock. I'm guessing you are referring to work truck?
Great review of tires types, but should have Started with sizing, explaining how switching to a taller, narrower tire increase psi of the rubber to the road. Unless you are personally removing chunks of tread, the only way to Decrease your contact surface, and thus Increase force-to-ground is to opt for a much narrower tire than for Summer, fyi~
Super informative! Hat’s off! I’ve only been able to find the Nokian at Walmart so far...between the Bridgestone and the Nokian which do you recommend for Massachusetts Town/ City driving? Thanks again!
thx great video, your choice top 3 I have had all 3 and have stayed with Michelin X-ICE 3's and find they have the best performance here where i live in Manitoba and will get one extra winter from the Michelin over the Bridgestone. It comes down to price because nowadays because they both are only a few $$ apart . Great video
I had a Subaru with all season tires, never had a problem going over many mountain passes. Carried chains just in case. That said I'm putting proper winter tires on my new Subaru to make it idiot proof, plus I'd say at least once per season I get someone sliding out of control towards me and I have to stop or change directions very quickly, snow tires just seem like a little extra insurance.