Learn me: Bridgestone vs. Firestone Snow Tires

I think an important note is that crappy snow tires (dunlop graspic, firestone winterforce) will drive circles around a "good" all season (good year triple tread, whatever). When I was driving I-68 through frostburg several times a week early in the morning, I was putting around 45k a year on my pathfinder. I bought firestone winterforces both years... ran them from around beginning of november and they were out of tread by april or so, and I'd run an all seaon during the summer. They aren't the best winter tires available but they are probably the best for the money... most sizes seem to be a good bit cheaper. I didnt' stud mine, had studded tires once, never again. terrible traction on dry roads, the humming and vibrating is ridiculous, traction on snow wasn't even as good as with studless tires, and the studs fall out.

Now, having said that, I just bought a brand new set of some all terrain tires with heavy siping (they are the el dorado GTX I believe, by courser) and I drove through a total white out snow storm in preston county WV on friday (and through a smallish snow storm xmas eve and again this morning) and they are almost as good as the winterforces were. But, they are BRAND NEW so nice and soft, and have deep tread with lots of siping... They don't have a high silica tread compound like a true snow tire to help grip the ice.

My brother also ran all terrain retreads on his F250 one winter, he had them do the crushed walnut shells, and his truck got pretty amazing traction in snow and ice... he was pulling out semi trucks from the icy road his company's warehouse was down.

But, in the end, no matter what I run, I always keep a pair of chains, a tow strap, and a shovel in the back, and leave extra time.

As andrave said, any snow tire is better than any all-season tire, not to mention summer tires. As for the difference beteen Blizzaks and Wonterforce is huge.

I have used both, Blizzaks on my ZX2SR and Winterforce on my Liberty.

For all around winter driving, the Blizzak is the superior tire. The Winterforce is a good deap snow tire but really sucks on ice.

In ice racing, the Blizzaks sent the Haks home.

In reply to andrave:

Ive had the studless snow blizzaks and the dunlop graspics, I preferred the dunlops. They made my redline nearly unstoppable in snow. Nearly because the only time it was stuck was from ramping on top of a 6ft snow drift.....there was 2ft of snow under the front tires. On a related note, it took 2 dodge trucks daisy chained together to pull it out.

I've run Blizzaks (WS-50 on a Camry, and WS-60s on our Odyssey) and have been pleased with them, both in the snow and on ice. We have a few decent snow storms a year, but many more days of ice or hard-packed snow around here. We tried Michelin Ice-Xs on our '00 Saab 9-3 for about 2/3s of the cost of the Blizzaks at the time, and they were very good as well. As others have said, any winter tire should be an improvement over an all-season tire.

The best winter tires I've used were Dunlop Winter Sport M3s on my old Contour SVT. Blizzaks are very good, I had them on an E46, it was a lot of fun. I put some Michelin X-Ice on my wife's Taurus a few years back, they are just OK.

Thank you all! We bought a set of General Altimaxx Arctics. If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how they are after the first snow storm

Anyone use these? http://www.greendiamondtire.com/index.html

The companies retreads are very popular with off roaders. They used to be part of hi-tec or tread wright

In reply to M030:

Yes please.

We tried their soft compound in ice racing. They worked very well. But since Bridgestone provides us with some sponsorship, everyone sticks with the Blizzaks.

I'm getting a set of nokian wr g2 snows on my outback friday, I'm not sure how they will compare to my dry rotted all seasons with decent tread but I'm gonna bet better is an understatement. sunday I will be driving from nwpa to nashville for vacation, great way to test them out.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Anyone use these? http://www.greendiamondtire.com/index.html The companies retreads are very popular with off roaders. They used to be part of hi-tec or tread wright

odds are they wouldn't be very good if you don't have continuos snow cover .. the nubs would be similar to studs ... very poor traction on dry roads

Gearheadotaku wrote: I had Winterforce on my Firebird and was very happy with them. Later used Blizzacks on a Grand-Am, and wasn't super impressed. Didn't get stuck, but still lots of wheelspin. Then again FWD sucks. Waiting to see how well the I-Pikes work on my Saturn.

Hankook I-Pike update

Drove in 8 inches of snow without a problem. The greasy slushy stuff that was 1/2 melted from the salt was still less than great, but I've yet to see a tire that was good in it. Like driving on vasoline.

I have had Firestones previous entry, winterfire tires on my corolla and they were excellent deep snow tires. Then I tried Dunlop wintersport M3's thinking I wanted a more sporty snow (same car). I did not want. Wheel spin everywhere, and while they did grip ( at the limit they wouldnt let the car get unrecoverable on snow and ice) they slipped way too much for my liking. not worth the tradeoff for better dry road traction IMO. My third set is General Altimax Artics and I expect great things because My wife has had Artics on her van for 3 years and nothing stops her Sienna in the snow. Its nearly like a tracked vehicle no matter the depth of snow. The only downside to snow tires I have found is getting rear ended when you can stop for the stop sign/light, and the person behind you cant.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Anyone use these? http://www.greendiamondtire.com/index.html The companies retreads are very popular with off roaders. They used to be part of hi-tec or tread wright

I'm interested in these as well.

Gearheadotaku wrote:

Gearheadotaku wrote: I had Winterforce on my Firebird and was very happy with them. Later used Blizzacks on a Grand-Am, and wasn't super impressed. Didn't get stuck, but still lots of wheelspin. Then again FWD sucks. Waiting to see how well the I-Pikes work on my Saturn.

Hankook I-Pike update Drove in 8 inches of snow without a problem. The greasy slushy stuff that was 1/2 melted from the salt was still less than great, but I've yet to see a tire that was good in it. Like driving on vasoline.

I-Pikes are friggin' AWESOME and i wish i had a set.

I have Cooper snow tires on my Nissan Pickup. They work very well.

I just ordered some Firestone Winterforce for my van. Unfortunately I can't tell you how they do since I don't have them yet.

In the past I have done studs (complete waste on anything but ice... 1950's technology). I have also done Michelin X-ice (currently on my wife's Scion) and like them a lot. I have also used Blizzaks in the past and found them to be wonderful.

Its important to delineate between ice tires and snow tires though. Ice tires have small sipes and softer compounds to grip ice. Snow tires have sipes and cleats to grab snow. Many of the modern ice tires (like the Blizzak, X-ice, etc) do a very good job in snow - probably almost as well as the dedicated snow tires, but I've found that there are trade-offs with both.

So, in answer to your question... The Bridgestone Blizzaks are technically ice tires and the Firestone Winterforce is a snow tire.

I chose to get a snow tire for my van since that is what I see most of the time. The rare few times that we have solid ice isn't worth the premium price for ice tires. I need to be able to get up my driveway and get to work. 90% of the winter conditions I see are snow, not ice.

Plus I'm a cheapskate.

curtis73 wrote: I just ordered some Firestone Winterforce for my van. Unfortunately I can't tell you how they do since I don't have them yet. In the past I have done studs (complete waste on anything but ice... 1950's technology). I have also done Michelin X-ice (currently on my wife's Scion) and like them a lot. I have also used Blizzaks in the past and found them to be wonderful. Its important to delineate between ice tires and snow tires though. Ice tires have small sipes and softer compounds to grip ice. Snow tires have sipes and cleats to grab snow. Many of the modern ice tires (like the Blizzak, X-ice, etc) do a very good job in snow - probably almost as well as the dedicated snow tires, but I've found that there are trade-offs with both. So, in answer to your question... The Bridgestone Blizzaks are technically ice tires and the Firestone Winterforce is a snow tire. I chose to get a snow tire for my van since that is what I see most of the time. The rare few times that we have solid ice isn't worth the premium price for ice tires. I need to be able to get up my driveway and get to work. 90% of the winter conditions I see are snow, not ice. Plus I'm a cheapskate.

and keep in mind that the super sticky softer compound is gone after 1, 2 yrs at the most, then they become "just" snow tires ( still probably a bit better on ice than the Winterforce

someone else posted that all tires do this .... yes and no .... yes the compounds tend to get harder, and no it doesn't seem to affect snow tires nearly as much as the a-x tires he used as his example ... I've seen dedicated snow tires still good after as many as 4 and 5 yrs of use ( take the off in the summer ) .....

As for me, I run my Blizzaks for only two months,usually. I put roughly 4k miles on them each winter. In the off season they are stored like race tires. The compounds have not hardened in four years.

being in NY, I'd have expected you to have them on longer each yr than that ... I put my snow tires on end of Nov and take them off end of March ...

but yeah, storing them with the same care as race tires will make them last a whole lot longer

Just because Firestone and Brigestone are part of the same company does not mean they are the same tires. Based upon TireRack test results, the Firestone Wintforce performs very poorly even when compared to other budget tires such as the General Altimax Artic. I have Bridgestone WS-70s and Michelin X-Ice Xi3s on my cars. The Brigestones are great in the snow and ice but perform poorly on dry and wet roads. Brigestones don't last very long either. The Michelin Xi3 is excellent (for a winter tire) on dry and wet roads but I have yet to drive it in the snow. The Michelin Xi3 is also low-rolling resistance and comes with a 40,000 tread-life warranty(!) so it should be much cheaper in the long run. For the Corolla I'd also go with the 185/65 R15 to save money and for better snow performance. If you really can't swing the money for the Michelin I'd recommend the Continental ExtremeWinterContact followed by the (unstudded) General Altimax Artic. However, I have not seen any comparison tests with the Nokians outside of Consumer Reports and I take their automotive advice with a few grains of salt. Tirerack winter tire test results link: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/TireTestServlet?perfType=PSIS

iadr wrote: I see a huge difference when we go down wheel diamter. If you have 18's and can go to 15's (Hyundai Veloster non turbo), even an all season will be adequate. BUT stick with 40 series 18's and buy expensive winter tires & don't expect to get out of your driveway. A significant amount of traction in winter tires comes from a flexible sidewall. I work in the industry and sold around 1400 pces of winter tires this year, and have happpy customers...

Have to agree with you on that, I think that newer cars are worse in the snow because of this. I don't remember FWD cars with all-season having any trouble in the snow in the past (as in the 90's) back when a 50 profile tire was considered to be "low profile".

I'll jump in as I've run a few different tires in recent years. My most recent choice was the General Altimax Arctic. They are the best I've had, and are currently on a Saab 9-5 in a stock size. I have the Continentals on my 9-3 and they are OK. I'd say better than an all season, but I won't get them again. I previously had several sets of Blizzaks on my Volvo 940t in a narrower width than stock and that car was a ton of fun with them on, but I found them to wear pretty quickly. It may have been just too mild of winters, but I was disappointed with their wear. My vote based on price and performance goes to the Generals. I now wonder what they would be like on a RWD car.

We just got 8" of snow & the Generals turned the Corolla into a little tractor. We love them! Great snow tires & not even too loud/grumbly on the highway!