I need to get a set of snow tires for my wife's mini so she can get to work this winter (she's a nurse). Tire size is 175/65R15. We will not be using studs. According to tire rack these tires are available:
Pirelli winter snow control,
Bridgestone Blizzack WS80,
Dunlop Winter Maxx,
Michelin X-Ice Xi3,
Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c.
I've enjoyed a different model of the Blizzacks on my Speed3 but that's about the extent of my snow tire knowledge. What should we get for this application?
In my world, Blizzacks are the Miata of the snow tire world. 
Do you happen to live in Calgary? I hear they just finished a 3 day snowstorm!
Find nokian hakkepellitas. They're Finnish. That's all you need to know. That and you'll never spell it right.
I've always been a Blizzak buyer, but last winter I bought the Yokohama Ice Guards for my truck. The Blizzaks were out of stock and the Yokohamas were over $100 cheaper. I never got stuck and I plowed all winter with them.
I fell in love with Cooper Wintermasters when I lived in the snowbelt, but I don't see them on your list. They may be available through other suppliers, though. I had way better traction than I should have.
+1 for Blizzacks. They seem to defy the laws of physics - at least for the first few thousand miles. I had a set on my 6000 lb diesel truck. Nothing that big and heavy should be able to stop or turn that well on ice. Traction was such that it made 4WD rarely used.
The downside being they aren't that great in dry or wet (although maybe the 80 is improved). They also pretty much demand you have a second set of tires for the other 3 seasons.
We had great service from some Michelin x-ice2 for 6 seasons, they were great.
I've always been bothered by blizzaks that after they are half worn the compound is no longer the magic stuff, making them just a crappy all season basically. I want the same compound all the way down. This winter I think we will try the continentals or generals, both have fantastic reviews at tire rack and the generals have been great on my moms e46
Step 1:
Step 2:
Also, you can't go wrong with Generals or Blizzaks. Winterforces are cheap but good for snow (not ice). Nokians are godlike.
I'm about to get the Nokian Hakka R2's. The Blizzaks are great when new and they still have their special sticky compound. Once that wears away they're just an all season...
mndsm wrote: Find nokian hakkepellitas. They're Finnish. That's all you need to know. That and you'll never spell it right.
I have a set if you are interested.
Excellent condition, but a little older.
Cheap.
Price VERY negotiable. I want them GONE, before I am forced to build a rally cross car for the tires. 
BTW, they came off a MINI, so I am pretty confident in the fitment. 
another Nokain Hakka 2 vote, back when I had the STi in unplowed powder of 6+" deep I had enough grip to get understeer and induce tire squeal from said understeer with Hakka 2s
See if General pops out the Altimax Artic in any close enough sizes, they're cheap and proper Swedish snow tires(Gislaved). Basically last year's Nokian competitor priced like some cheap chinese tire.
They turned my 1zz Prizm, which is basically useless on good all seasons(no weight on the front), into a little FWD tractor this last brutal Detroit winter, nothing stopped it short of a high center.
Generals turned this into a 4 door snowmobile. They are the best snow tires that I have used in 26 years of using snow tires
Two years ago I ran Firestone Winterforces. I thought they were good until last year when on a different car I ran General ArticMax which were fantastic!
I've had Hakkis, Blizzaks, Winterforces and Dunlop somethings. Winterforces were decent, for the price. Dunlops were only moderately better than all-seasons. Hakkis and Blizzes were equal, for the first two seasons, then the Blizzaks were slightly better than A/S tires. The Hakkis were still chewing through snow and asking for more.
Currently on my truck: Blizzaks, but only because that's what was readily available and they were on sale, to boot.
docwyte wrote: I'm about to get the Nokian Hakka R2's. The Blizzaks are great when new and they still have their special sticky compound. Once that wears away they're just an all season...
That has been my experience, too.
Do you need a snow tire or an ice tire or a mix of both???
Tread pattern determines a lot here. Some of the ice tires simply do not have enough open tread to handle snow well. Most X-ice's land squarely in this area.
Ice
Michelin X-ice
Blizzaks
Snow
Firestone (Bridgestone) Winterforce (are NOT a good ice tire, as other's have pointed out)
Both
Nokian Hakka
General Altimax Arctic - Highest rated value winter tire on Tire Rack.com
Yoko's
Some Blizzaks (depending on the tread pattern)
My money goes on the General's - great tire, great price!
I love these snow tire threads where people just use the name "Blizzaks" to describe a tire. There are around a dozen Bridgestone tires that use the Blizzak name, and they range all over the place in terms of what they do and what they are. Something like the BLizzak WS70/WS80 are studless snow and ice tires that are mostly used only when there is snow on the ground, as they are a very soft compound with very soft sidewalls and aren't great tires for dry pavement. At the other end you have things like the Blizzak LM25 and LM32, which are winter performance tires that are great in snow and ice (but not quite as good as the WS-series), but have stiffer sidewalls, fit lower-profile sizes, and and have harder compounds so they can be driven at high speeds on dry pavement and essentially feel like all-seasons. I've used both series and they are night and day difference.
Then within these series you have different tread patterns that are better for snow or better for ice, depending on what kind of conditions you get most of.
So you need to decide what type of winter tire you want: Max-snow depth, max-ice grip but you give up dry handling and they wear fast if it's not cold....or something that is still good in snow/ice but also good when it's 50 degrees and dry.
Currently I have Firestone Winterforces on the e30 (just so I can get to rally-x events in the event of snow, since my star specs won't cut it), and Dunlop Wintersport 3D (similar to the LM-series Blizzaks) on the WRX, going on their 4th season. I run them from November to March regardless of weather. I ran LM-22 Blizzaks on the Maxima and LM-25s on the wife's Mazda3. Also have Gislaved Nordfrosts (which as pointed out earlier are the same as the General Altimax Arctic), which were pretty decent in most conditions, but definitely not much performance in the dry.
And even though they're a "high performance" winter tire and not a strictly snow/ice tire, they can still be just fine in the deep stuff.
The old Maxima on a 4-hour run to the ski slopes in the WV mountains during a 2' dump on Blizzak LM-22s
The current Subie a couple years ago on Wintersport 3Ds
Also.....not sure where you are, but if the plan is to get through very deep wet snow, the tires on a Mini will be largely irrelevant since the car will just high-center on the packed-down snow. So keep that in mind too.
If you get a lot of deep snow, might be more worthwhile to just find an old beat-up Cherokee....
Hakkapeliitta. Everything else is a compromise. If the budget can't hold up to those, then get the Generals...they are re-branded Gislaved Nordfrosts and cost just a bit more than Winterforces.
never tried the Blizzaks regardless of the designation …
but what I did use on my Impreza were Kelly Snowtrackers … 12 -14" of fresh snow up a 36° driveway (open dif) and nary a spin …. really liked those tires
I live in the snow-affected zone described above; I was tooling around on my RE760s all week though. I never said I was smart. Probably 2/3rds of my lifetime driving experience is on snow and ice, so summer tires with grip are weird and foreign to me.
The General Altimax Arctic (with studs) is what I converted to after trying the Blizzak WS60s and later WS70s on a bunch of cars. It's so affordable and has excellent performance. Snow grip is never really a big concern for me, but where I am worried is being able to stop or turn on ice (we have frequent melt-freeze events during certain parts of the winter, which promote black ice).
At one point a few winters ago, I crawled up a steep ice-glazed hill to get to my house only to find a police blockade at the top of the hill. When I looked back, the cops at the bottom were just getting around to throwing out the roadblock down there. A few of the cops were surprised my $1000 Subaru made it all the way to the top, but it was all due to the tires.
I had a set of worn down freebie X-Ice2s that I was driving around on for a little while because they were free, but as said above, they were basically glorified all season tires. Better than they had any right to be, but I still had a few near-ditch encounters that made me swap out prematurely. The X-Ice3 is supposed to be a much better tire but I have no direct experience.
I've had great winter success with Kumho KW22s as well (particularly in rallycross) but they tend to be a little expensive. They're definitely "sportier" than the Generals, so if you get a lot of clear-but-cold tarmac they might be a good choice. They're also studdable.
Hakkas are stunning tires, but I just can't stomach the cost, especially in Canada.
I have used Winter Force tires for a few years and love them. Not the size you want but very close, just a tick shorter than the Winter Maxx.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Winterforce&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=86SR5FWF&tab=Sizes
I have a set of WS-60 Blizzaks. I can't seem to wear them out. Of course I drive then only about 4K miles a winter. I have never had a problem in snow. They take me wherever I want to go.
I think they are about 7 yrs. old so age is becoming an issue. they still durometer as new. Carefull storage helps.
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