Down side of winter tires

M

madar

Contributor
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2016.5 CX 5 Touring AWD, 2015 SCION XB
I've been running Blizzak DMV1 winter tires for the last 4 years for a total of 25000 miles. This tire has a softer rubber compound on the outer 55% of their tread for good traction on ice and snow and when this compound is gone it renders a wear bar to show you that you basically now have an all-season tire with a noisy aggressive tread. As you can see, I'm down to that wear bar with about 6/32 of evenly worn tread. I don't know if I'll be running these next season or buying new snows. That special rubber compound makes all the difference in the world between traction and sliding on the ice. Maybe I'll use them on the beach!

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This is why I now run Micheline X-Ice 3's.

The Blizzak's have **excellent** ice and wet ice traction, but suffer everywhere else. With 'glow-ball worming' changing weather patterns, I spent most of the last 5 years on cold, clear blacktop.
 
Not all winter tires are made with dual compounds. One reason I don't run Blizzaks. True, they work great until that first layer is gone, then you might as well run them for summer to get your moneys worth.
 
EDIT: I did pull them off pretty quick after snow went away since everyone says these tires melt away pretty quick when the temp goes up.


I'm so sold on the Blizzak DM V2s I ran this past winter on the CX-5. It did so well and will now run them every winter. I'm now considering running them on my GX. I could probably turn that thing into a snow plow itself :)

 
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cx-500 said:
This is why I now run Micheline X-Ice 3's.

The Blizzak's have **excellent** ice and wet ice traction, but suffer everywhere else. With 'glow-ball worming' changing weather patterns, I spent most of the last 5 years on cold, clear blacktop.
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I see Michelin is claiming 40,000 miles out of these puppies, will have to look into them.
 
Even if they lasted only one season, if winter tires prevented 1 'mishap' - they were worth it. We seldom get deep snow in MN but not uncommon to get the nuisance 1-3" every few days during our winter driving season. Getting out of my residential area is the big challenge. Our small city doesn't begin plowing operations until 3" is on the ground. The county starts clearing the main arterials as soon as there is traceable snow.

Perhaps I should complain to our city council. Oh, wait! That's me! (hi)
 
You don't get a lot of snow...in MN? My friend lived there for 10 years and her experience was vastly different. She's showed me photos of feet of snow and a trench where her sidewalk was....
That was the 90s though?!?
 
How old are the tires in the pictures? OP says they ran for 4 years but the DOT would determine when they were made.

I see a lot of cracks in the rubber that signals these tires are basically done.

Perhaps they were old stock to begin with before the OP drove for 4 years?

Where you store them in the off season also makes a difference with the rubber. They recommend a cool place away from any motors or ozone.
 
madar said:
I've been running Blizzak DMV1 winter tires for the last 4 years for a total of 25000 miles. This tire has a softer rubber compound on the outer 55% of their tread for good traction on ice and snow and when this compound is gone it renders a wear bar to show you that you basically now have an all-season tire with a noisy aggressive tread. As you can see, I'm down to that wear bar with about 6/32 of evenly worn tread. I don't know if I'll be running these next season or buying new snows. That special rubber compound makes all the difference in the world between traction and sliding on the ice. Maybe I'll use them on the beach!

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My Nokian WRG3 SUV's met their "no longer suitable for snow" criteria (4mm tread remaining, I believe) at just under 20K miles. Absolute trash.
 
Pipemajor said:
Even if they lasted only one season, if winter tires prevented 1 'mishap' - they were worth it. We seldom get deep snow in MN but not uncommon to get the nuisance 1-3" every few days during our winter driving season. Getting out of my residential area is the big challenge. Our small city doesn't begin plowing operations until 3" is on the ground. The county starts clearing the main arterials as soon as there is traceable snow.

Perhaps I should complain to our city council. Oh, wait! That's me! (hi)
Click to expand...

Winter tires suck in the rain though, so they could just as easily be part of 1 mishap.
 
madar said:
I've been running Blizzak DMV1 winter tires for the last 4 years for a total of 25000 miles. This tire has a softer rubber compound on the outer 55% of their tread for good traction on ice and snow and when this compound is gone it renders a wear bar to show you that you basically now have an all-season tire with a noisy aggressive tread. As you can see, I'm down to that wear bar with about 6/32 of evenly worn tread. I don't know if I'll be running these next season or buying new snows. That special rubber compound makes all the difference in the world between traction and sliding on the ice. Maybe I'll use them on the beach!

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Click to expand...

I just checked for the wear bar as shown in your image and my treads are almost down to the wear bar, about 1/32 - 2/32 to go. I can still see the tiny ribs on top of the wear bar so I'm hoping I can get well over 300 miles on them before I have to get a new set of Blizzak's.
 
That worn blizzak will still do far better on snow or ice than any new all season imo. Michelin x-ice does seem like a sweet spot for me very minimal mpg hit and great wear @6k mark. No issues in wet conditions either, put fiddy on em uno.
 
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Monterra said:
That worn blizzak will still do far better on snow or ice than any new all season imo. Michelin x-ice does seem like a sweet spot for me very minimal mpg hit and great wear @6k mark. No issues in wet conditions either, put fiddy on em uno.
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Im going to wear my altimax rt43s down to 4/32 and then trade for an CPO 2.5T.
 
cx-500 said:
This is why I now run Micheline X-Ice 3's.

The Blizzak's have **excellent** ice and wet ice traction, but suffer everywhere else. With 'glow-ball worming' changing weather patterns, I spent most of the last 5 years on cold, clear blacktop.
Click to expand...

3's? I thought they only made the X-Ice 2's in our sizes. Or maybe that's just the Touring's 17"?

Anyway, I'll be looking at those my next go around. My Blizzaks are getting closer to wearing out their useful life as well. Great tires, but don't seem to last long.
 
The X-Ice Xi'2s I have on another vehicle also have a 40K warranty on them. Extremely quiet tire too.

Blizzaks on my CX-5 are wearing well. If I get two more seasons out of them I will be fine with that. It sees a lot of cold/wet pavement too.
 
ColoradoDriver said:
My Blizzaks are getting closer to wearing out their useful life as well. Great tires, but don't seem to last long.
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I read that Blizzak's may wear a bit faster than some but I have had my WS70's for 4 winters so far and they will certainly last me the rest of this winter!! NOW, I don't put my winter tires on until the temperatures are consistently close to freezing(usually Nov. or early Dec.) and the first snow has fallen and stays on the ground. Then in the spring I get them off before the snow has all gone and the first spring rains arrive. I think this is the trick to making those softer compound winter tires last.
 
kdaug said:
I read that Blizzak's may wear a bit faster than some but I have had my WS70's for 4 winters so far and they will certainly last me the rest of this winter!! NOW, I don't put my winter tires on until the temperatures are consistently close to freezing(usually Nov. or early Dec.) and the first snow has fallen and stays on the ground. Then in the spring I get them off before the snow has all gone and the first spring rains arrive. I think this is the trick to making those softer compound winter tires last.
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Around here, there's not snow all winter and temperatures do fluctuate up to warmer temps quite a bit.

I think a winter tire like the X-Ice will probably end up being a little more durable in that sense for here anyway.

As for the Blizzaks though, these WS80s have been a tank in the snow storms we have gotten. Very impressed.
 
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I continue to be impressed by my Blizzaks and AWD. We got hammered this weekend. Don't even think twice about going out.
 
One I wear out the 16" Blizzaks on the "black steelie rims" gonna get replacement tires on the 17" OEM rims I picked up on CL. I'm probably gonna go Blizzak again as they really did turn the CX-5 into a snow tank.
 
ColoradoDriver said:
Around here, there's not snow all winter and temperatures do fluctuate up to warmer temps quite a bit.

I think a winter tire like the X-Ice will probably end up being a little more durable in that sense for here anyway.

As for the Blizzaks though, these WS80s have been a tank in the snow storms we have gotten. Very impressed.
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I've had my WS70's since Feb, 2014 and still haven't quite reached the critical wear bar. I think I'm still getting excellent traction, particularly in snow. Now, my wife is running 2 year old Michelin Xice i3's on her Corolla. Yes, no AWD, but whenever I drive her car I feel I'm getting less snow traction compared to my more worn WS70's. At the moment I'm 99% certain I'll be upgrading to another set of Blizzak's on my CX-5, either WS80's or DM-V2's.
 
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