Winter tires
 

I'm torn on whether I should get performance winter tires (Blizzak LM-25's) for the V70R or studless winter tires (Blizzak WS-50's).

Part of me wants to make the wagon (the designated bad weather car) as capable as possible in case of a bad storm and Canadian winters, but at the same time I hate giving up that much control at high speeds/dry winter roads (which is still the case most of the time in Boston).

I'm leaning towards performance winter tires. If I do, I will go with the H-rated LM-25's (there are both H and V rated LM-25's). There are also Michelin Alpin H-rated performance winter tires. They happen to be in special about $15 less per tire than the LM-25's. Any experience with Michelin snow tires? The difference in ratings at the TireRack is in the noise (statistical noise, that is).

These are all in the OE 235/45/R17 size. I suppose I could try to get 225/45/R17 tires instead, but I don't see how much difference 10mm can make.

Any thoughts?

goodyear also has a brand new line of snow tires, just in case you're curious. the tirerack may not sell those, however. unclear to me. they look like they have a very nice tread pattern.

i have the LM22s (are they that different from the 25s?) and even with the led sled, they work really well. i only had one nasty snow storm (last year, that one day of really wet snowfall?) that i had to turn off all traction control and DSC to cut through the snow. seems to me that you can't really lose, though, with either tire you're considering.

I have LM22's on the 330i and they did get me through a bad winter storm or two. The WS-50's I had on my old 190E had even more grip on shitty conditions, but they just felt like playdoh on dry roads.

I can rarely find LM-22's anymore. I guess LM-25's have replaced them.

I like the Dunlop Wintersport M3s (v-rated version) on the Boxster. The car will literally go through anything with those tires on, and they're not bad at all on dry roads if the temperature is below 50.

I'll look those up, thanks.

EDIT: They have Wintersport 3D's now.

Do I lose much winter traction by going with V-rating vs H-rating?

Semi related: http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showthread.php?t=8101&

I still have the C.R. sitting somewhere. I can see what they thought about the snow traction of both.

FWIW, the wintersport M3s are also excellent on my Dad's E55. IMHO, they climbed ice sheets better than the Q-rated graspic DS-2s on the M3.

I've been highly dissapointed with the Graspic DS-2s on the 92X. They beat all-seasons still, but they are nto as good as the WS-55's.

They are drifting beasts, though. :)

Yes, they are brutal. And I could feel this with them mounted on a 190E to boot.:ack: