Gary@Tirerack.com

--The basics :

Get snow tires appropriate to your climate and driving style. If you don't see much snow during the winter, and you like to drive/corner fast on cold, dry roads then look into the H-rated or V-rated high performance snow tires like the Bridgestone Blizzak LM60, Dunlop Winter Sport 3D or Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3. These tires offer a good balance between snow traction and dry road grip.

If your area gets heavier snow, you are often driving on packed snow and ice, or if you are just willing to give up some dry grip and steering response for maximum safe winter traction then look into a more aggressive snow tire. Among the best of this type are the Blizzak WS-70, Michelin XIce XI2, and Continental Extreme Winter Contact. Winter tires like these will offer the best in snow and ice traction, but will give up some dry road responsiveness over an H/V rated snow tires to get it.

Choosing between these two categories may be difficult and is mostly a personal preference choice for the trade off between snow traction versus dry road handling.


--New/Updated this season and reminders from last season :

It was been an unusual pre season this year with almost no updated tires being released. We are also seeing many more tires and sizes than usual being discontinued or simply not being produced this season. If we have another severe winter like last year this could lead to some early shortages in some sizes.

The following information is from last years winter sticky :

The Blizzak WS-60 which was the 3rd generation of the original Blizzak tire for maximum winter traction has been replaced by the Blizzak WS-70. Compared to the old WS-60, the new WS-70 is a noticeable improvement in dry traction and steering response. While we have not tested it in snow yet, I would expect similar snow traction to the previous generation. They will still feel pretty soft/spongy in handling compared to higher performance H and V rated snows (especially at full tread depth!) but are definitely an improvement in road feel from the previous generation.

Last season the new Blizzak LM60 replaced the old Blizzak LM25. In the past the older Blizzak LM25 and the popular Dunlop Winter Sport 3D tires were considered very equal to each other in snow traction and in dry road handling/cornering and were the tires of choice in this category. The redesigned LM60 is moves the balance closer to the snow traction side of the equation by using the more aggressive tread pattern of the WS60 but with a compound and construction of a high performance snow tire like the LM25/3D. The end result will be much improved snow and ice traction over the LM25/3D with only a small sacrifice in steering response and dry cornering. This tire will be an ideal choice for someone having trouble deciding between the high performance snow tires that sacrifice a lot of snow traction and the Q/R rated snow tires that trade off too much in handling and dry grip. I feel the LM60 ideally suits many drivers needs in this forum well for an ideal balance of snow/ice traction while still keeping acceptable dry handling and grip for the non-snowy days.


--A final word of advice : Don't wait too long. Ordering early when most products are still available lets you choose what you want to buy rather than being forced to settle for what is left over. Best to be ready with products in hand before it snows so that you can put them on when you are ready rather than waiting for a shipment to arrive after the first snow. We should have most inventory available in early October. Tires and wheels purchased together are mounted and balanced at no charge to make changeover easy.


Here is a direct link to the winter tires area :
Winter http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AR8&...nter/index.jsp