Winter tires with decent dry characteristics?
 

Hi there, now that the snowboarding season is just about over. I should really consider investing in some dedicated winter tires for the next snowboarding season.

I've taken the stock bridgestones up to Tahoe on many occasions, and well, I'm still alive. Surprisingly, they held up well in 30F condition. But the slightest snow/ice/slush, and I'd be riding on some hockey pucks.

Now, I live in San Francisco, so a MAJORITY of the time these tires will be spent on dry land. I don't need the BEST snow tires, I don't foresee myself going up in a blizzard.

No, I wouldn't settle for all-season + chains. I've tried that before and well, chains are just a hassle and in my experiences, they don't even come close to snow tires.

I've heard that the Dunlop Wintersport 3D are great in snow, and they actually drive like all-season in the dry. And the Bridgestones Blizzaks are on the opposite end of the spectrum, with superior snow characteristics and crappy dry characteristics?

Thanks y'all!

I drive on Blizzaks during the winter months and I swear by them. I guess they are nothing close to the stock Potenzas as far as dry and warm driving, but it is totally worth it for the snow characteristics. As for performance, if you are going to be flying around corners during the winter when its dry, I have not heard of a snow tire that will let you do that comfortably but the Blizzaks are no slouch either. Corners at 25 are not out of the question if you need to, they just need to be handled differently. You have to expect some slippage.
I have also heard the X-Ice by Michelin maybe are ok tires. Not as efficient in the snow as blizzaks but they get the job done. I do not have experience on those though.
And anything else, I couldn't tell you, but I think Cooper makes a decent winter tire as well.

Dunlop WinterSport 3D and Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22's are good choices, if a bit pricey.

You might also want to check out the Hankook Icebear W300's. They're also a V-rated performance winter tire, but only available in 225/40-18 and not 225/45-18. I run these on stock wheels for winter and they've performed really well for the last 3 seasons. We don't usually get a lot of snow up here (Vancouver, BC), but cold and wet are the norm for winter. We did have a really bad snow storm in early 2009, and the Hankooks handled that as well as I could've wanted for anything short of a mud and snow tire. I only ran into issues when the car bottomed out on unplowed roads.

i thought you didn't like us here...

anyway, i have 205/--/R16 WS-60 blizzaks and they are as good as they say, for dry traction they aren't bad either. Yes they suck compared to summer tires but for winter driving you could still take turns reasonably quick. Although on a few occasions i have made the DCS kick in cause i guess i was losing grip lol

DCS kicked in on the snow or dry?

This is a better place to get info, sometimes this forum and how sarcastic people can get is annoying.

dry, i went home the fun way on a somewhat decent day for the winter. Honestly, i was very surprised with the dry performance, and i have 16" wheels on... 17 or 18 would'ce been even better.

But for your use, all seasons would probably get you by... but i know the RE050's suck. I had a freak snow storm with 2in of slush ice and snow all layered ontop of each other... damn stop and go traffic up hills and crap, i was getting so pissed cause the guy in front of me kept stopping to let people in and everytime i had to start up again i'd slide lol

I also have a 04 2.3 auto, and that had all season tires (Falken ZE912). Granted I drove through a blizzard, chains did nothing. It was a REALLY horrific experience. That's why I won't ever drive in the snow with all-season.

I have the Dunlop WinterSport 3D's in 16" and they're great. I commute about 90 miles a day, mostly on the highway. A studless snow tire wasn't a great choice so I went with a "performance snow". They have a stiff enough tread and sidewall to handle quite well when driving "spirited" in the winter time (although I wouldn't push it), but are still very good in the snow.

I too have the Wintersport 3D's and in addition to loving them on dry pavement I've found they are actually very good in snow. I live in northern Vermont, and my other car is an Audi A4 Quattro (with snows), and the MS3 does just as well as the Audi in all conditions until the snow gets more than about 10" deep....

So I guess you guys can confirm that the Dunlop Wintersport 3D has above average dry characteristics for a snow tire?

Yes.

Thanks y'all, I still welcome any recommendation.

Pirelli Sottozero's get me through the Chicago winters, and do quite well in dry weather performance.

Jimmy

The biggest problem with snow tires is that they are not designed to be driven in warm weather. Their traction in dry is just fine so long as the weather is not above 45-50 degrees. After the warm weather hits, winter tires drive like shit. They are all wobbly feeling and never quite settle down.

Considering you are in San Fransisco your weather never really hits a solid 40* and below for any extended period of time. Because of this, I would recommend against a full winter tire. I think you will experience abnormally short tread life, terrible handling, unpredictable instability under braking, etc... Yeah it will be great for the mountains, but you said it yourself, "I live in San Francisco, so a MAJORITY of the time these tires will be spent on dry land."

I would recommend a performance all-season tire that is more designed for snow than all season. Something like the Continental Extreme Contact DWS is probably the best tire you can get without moving to a full fledged winter tire. It should offer good snow traction without the issues in the warmer weather.

Tire Rack has a test video on their site of 5 different all-season tires. The Continental's win hands down.

Video:
http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.jsp?video=48

Continental ExtremeContact DWS

Looking for winter tires for a set of 16" RX8 wheels I bought. So far I'm leaning toward the Continental ExtremeWinterContacts, But I'd like to hear people's thoughts on what winter tires they prefer, and particularly what kind of tread life they are getting on winter tires. I know I've read that a lot of people say that Blizzaks are good but wear out quickly. Although I don't know that they make Blizzaks in the size I need, so that isn't really an option anyway.

Any information you can provide would be great

Firestone Winterforce. Awesome tires and dirt cheap. I have 10K miles on mine and they don't even look like they have been used. Just don't drive in warmer weather with them. If it gets to 45-50 degrees they will feel really unstable. That's their only downfall.

from my personal experience: the dry traction from michelin xice snows are not as good as blizzak ws50's...by a rather noticeable margin.