I finally had the snow tires installed last week (OEM sizes on second set of factory wheels) and had a couple of chances to try them out.

Cold Dry Roads

Ride is pretty much the same as stock.
Good solid grip on cold (25 degrees F) roads.
My favorite highway maneuver is passing. I change to the left lane at 70 mph, accelerate to 95 mph to pass and return to the center lane. The tires were terrific for this. Also, highway cruising was quiet and sure footed. On and off ramps were fine.

Light snow cover

My garage is in an alley with about a 10 degree incline to reach the street. With light snow cover and a bit of ice the grip was perfect, no slipping. Last year with the stock tires I slipped quite a bit.

On the street with light, complete snow cover, the car behaved great. That is, good traction, easy right and left turns. Solid braking on downward slopes.

In a second snow covered parking lot, I have to head up about a 15 degree incline and make a tight right turn. Again the car climbed without a hitch.

Bottom Line

So far so good!

 

I asked a guy over the phone at Tirerack what is the difference between the Blizzaks and the LMs. Here is what he told me.

LMs are the high performance tires in winter, meaning that if your place have very little to mild snow, these tires are good. But if you live in a place with heavier snow and have lots of black ice, this tires will not perform as well as the blizzaks. The Blizzaks are built with heavier snow in mind hence do not perform as well in dry traction. I tried them(Blizzaks Mz-01) on the Stook. One thing I realized is that they do not corner as well, slipped a bit and they have a mushy feel(as reported by another member).

Just to let other members know the snow tires out there and make the best choice for winter tires according to their climate conditions.

Glad you like your tires!

 

Thanks for the report! Both your experiences seem to be the same as mine, MZ-01 are softer and "mushier" than the LM22s but will perform better on a proper winter road. Buy the LM22s if you know you will mainly drive on dry or wet roads.

 

Just came back from a wet drive. The Blizzaks MZ01 absolutely sucks in the rain. At the stop sign, I was about to make a right turn. Half way through the turn, I jabbed the accelarator and see what happens. The tail slip out immediately. It never happened before in the S02.

Now I wish I had gotten the LMs. It better snow soon, so that I can appreciate the Blizzaks.


Ps by the way, when I step on the accelerator in the turn and slip the tail out, is it call throttle induced oversteer?

 

I'm confused.
LM 22 is a model in blizzak series, so LM22 is a blizzak.
What did I miss?

 

Mr. Pig,

You are correct. LM 22 is a Blizzak.

It is the H rated model Bridgestone released this season.

 

Sorry my bad. Apparently Blizzaks have lots of versions and I am comparing Blizzak LMs and Blizzak MZ01s.

 

So, should I get those LM 22s?
They aren't cheap!

 

It really depends on where you do most of your driving and the weather conditions of that place.

If it hardly ever snows, stick with S02s.

If it snows only a little to moderate, and roads are cleared often, get the Blizzaks LMs. The LMs offer snow traction yet have good(of course not at S02 level) performance on dry ground.

If there is heavy snow, ice and road conditions are really bad(not enough clearing), get the Blizzaks MZ01s. They really suck in dry weather, but would provide much better grip in snow than the Lms.

There are no tires that is good all round.(ie good in dry, snow and ice) You have to make a compromise somewhere. So what you need to get really depends your area. If it really does not snow that heavily, I would suggest the LMs over the MZ01s.

This is the impression I get from the techline at Tirerack. All IMHO of course.

Your best bet is to call tirerack's hotline, tell them where you live and road conditions and they will give you a recommendation.

[This message has been edited by nwk00 (edited December 12, 2000).]