best snow tire

**spandea** · 09-16-2009 12:34 PM

I've gone thru 2 sets of Blizzaks and absolutley can't stand them. They're great for the first 2 hours. I went to Pirelli Winter Carving and LOVE them. Since I'm always looking for improvement I was wondering if anyone has driven on the following:

Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D
Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW3
Pirelli Winter Carving Edge

I do not plan on studding the tires. Opinions? Which ever I go with will go on an '04 Allroad. I'm mainly concerned with light and deep snow as well as ice traction. Thanks people!

**Bimmerchop** · 09-16-2009 01:57 PM

subscribed

I'm surprised, I've heard good things about blizzacks

**dsq** · 09-16-2009 03:02 PM

i had winter carving before on my subaru and they were decent, but nothing spectacular.

last winter, i had dunlop graspic ds2's on my audi which were pretty good in snow and slush.

i'm going with the new bridgestone blizzak lm-60's this winter, we will see how well they perform.

**Doc@tirerack** · 09-17-2009 06:55 AM

Winter Sport will have a "tighter" tread pattern than the others, which will give them a little less capability in heavier accumulations than the others. What changed after a few "hours" that made the Bridgestones unacceptable ?

The Bridgestones (and the Dunlop Graspic DS3) traditionally are our best tires on ice

**KNaudi** · 09-17-2009 07:20 AM

I've had both Blizzaks and Dunlops and have to give it to the winter sports. Granted it was mostly driving in heavy snows in northern IL/Wisconsin over driving on dry roads.

**Goped220** · 09-17-2009 08:48 AM

Hey Doc what do you know about Vredestein Winter Tires or Nokian Winter Tires? Also do studded tires make a bid difference?

**spandea** · 09-17-2009 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Doc@tirerack

. What changed after a few "hours" that made the Bridgestones unacceptable ?

Because the softness of the rubber, they wore out litteraly within a couple of months. The Pirelli's I ran for 3 seasons and still looked 'almost' new.

**Alkivar** · 09-17-2009 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by Goped220

Hey Doc what do you know about Vredestein Winter Tires or Nokian Winter Tires? Also do studded tires make a bid difference?

studded tires make a huge difference in icy conditions... they have 0 difference in just snow.

**audirs** · 09-17-2009 11:23 AM

gislaved nordfrost 5 are amazing. have them running on a fwd honda civic hatch (93). will be loading up the coupe quattro this winter with them and will start to climb mountains

**Doc@tirerack** · 09-18-2009 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Goped220

Hey Doc what do you know about Vredestein Winter Tires or Nokian Winter Tires? Also do studded tires make a bid difference?

I have heard good things about both brands, but we do not have access to either brand for purchase so we do not test them. Studs can help with traction on irregular or broken pavement, but our "hickey rink" testing has indicated a studless ice and snow tire can actually out perform a studded tire ;

http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=EQ3&...ay.jsp?ttid=94

**EBG 18T** · 09-18-2009 02:26 PM

I am suprized to hear someone not like the Blizzak's. not knowing what model you had i am curious to hear more.. I have a set of the Blizzak revo-1's and ws-50's and love them on ice and hard pack. The ws-50 now replaced by the ws-60 is great in the deeper snow too.

I also had dunlop M3's and DS2's. Both were good, but the M3 was so-so on ice and hard pack, but good on dry and wet roads. the DS2 was great on ice and hard pack snow but mushy on dry roads.

I just picked up a set of Nokian Hakka R's for this season, so i can't wait to try these and see how they compare.