What is your experience with a good set of high performance winter tires like LM2's and moderate winter conditions like in the northeast?

 

I drove all last winter on Long Island with Bridgestone LM-22's. I drove through every snow storm without a problem. Have to admit being in stop and go-going up hills with all the agressive drivers with SUV's was not fun. Bought them from tire rack. They were very helpful.

http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp

 

i used Blizzak MZ's on stock wheels (stock tire sizes) in winter and loved them - they wore evenly and only wore down about 15 - 20% - i put 10,000 KM on them (6000 M).

i was able to drive every day in winter even though we had a couple of really bad storms - i recommend them.

i don't what the difference (ratings wise) is between the LM and MZ lines.

 

LM-22 tires are speed rated (H rated), and are safer at interstate speeds and above.

MZ-01 tires are NOT speed rated. They are safe at 75 mph but will wear fast at those speeds. They are shorter stopping on ice and hard pack snow than LM-22s

If you want to do inter-city traveling at decent speeds and only have occasional snow to plague you, the LM-22 tires are probably better.

If you want as much stopping power as possible on iced or snow packed roads and want to get around town reliably, get MZ-01 tires. I did.

If you want your car to be safe from roving, skidding, sliding, stupid SUVS, garage it rather than risk traffic and ice together.

Remember that four wheel drive SUVS GO FASTER than two wheel drives in the snow and thus are much more hazardous since they DON'T STOP FASTER.

If you want to laugh and laugh and laugh all the way to the body shop, just drive on SO2s in the winter. I've never seen anything else so silly on snow. I didn't believe any tire could be that bad. Driving on snow, I got stuck the first time and every time until I got Blizzaks.

 

Barry WY,

now that i think about it, you're right - i don't think i hit excessive speeds last winter - traffic, weather conditions etc. i travel into downtown toronto and the highways are always packed so it's hard to travel at speed - but in the city, the MZ's were awesome - they're quiet, good grip, handle reasonably well, they don't plow etc.

i've never owned a set of LM's before, so i can't speak of them - i know that the place i buy my tires from puts the LM's on high end luxury and sports sedans - so the speed rating makes sense.

 

I used Blizzak MZ-01 on my car last winter. They are an excellent winter tire for what I needed, to and from work, which was 36 miles round trip. I live on top of a very large and steep hill and the tires definately did their job, others in the neighborhood just parked at the bottom of the hill and walked.

When selecting my tires I used this forum for recomendations and then the web to check perfomance ratings of tires both here (US) and in Europe (more serious driving in Europe). Then I selected the tire that best suited my driving.

By the way the Blizzak MZ-01 was the number one selling winter tire in Europe last year.

 

S4MULA,

Since my s2k is a daily driver I looked into some winter wheels and tires even before I took delivery in November. I lucked into some 16" rims from National Tire & Battery which were on sale for $75.00 each and I had some 205/55 Michlein Alpin Pilot mounted on them and I went everywhere here in St. Louis. I didn't go crazy with them and they are not to hot in the rain, but in snow, they did an outstanding job. I got the whole package for under $900.00.

 

On winter tires, like the Blizzak MZ-01, do you just put them on the rear or all 4 corners?

 

You should get snow tires all the way around. You should never just do the rear. Some people do mix the type of snow tires front and rear, but not too many and this is not recommended.

 

ALL FOUR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I put stock size on.

Actually I bought JDM Honda BBS 16" forged wheels for my SO2 tires and have the Blizzaks on my stock wheels.

ALL FOUR

ABSOLUTELY ALL FOUR.