Blizzak WS 50

Z

zevo

New member
Are these good snow tires? I would like to put these on my 03 350Z. I found a deal on 225/45/17's. Any input is appreciated.
 
I have heard that the Blizzaks are superior for snow traction, but are lacking in dry handling and noise.

I am getting Dunlop Winter Sport M3 snow tires for my Maxima for next winter. I believe the Dunlops are also cheaper.



I suggest you read the reviews on both of these tires at http://www.tirerack.com
 
Are these good snow tires- Yes



Should you put these on your 350Z-No



I have these on my Volvo 850 Turbo. My car is lowered with H&R springs as well as Koni yelllow adjustables and larger sway bars. These tires make it feel like a boat, the sidewalls are really soft and make any stearing input feel numb. They are actually pretty scary on the highway once you get up to about 70 or so.

They are good in the snow, but I cannot percieve a difference in the Blizzaks snow ability as compared to what I had previously, Pirelli 210 snowsports. I would highly recommend these for your 350z. Their sidewalls are much stiffer and have a more confident feeling to them, and they are either H or V rated too.
 
I have no experience on the Blizzaks but I have heard a lot of geat things about them.



I have the Dunlop MII's on a RWD BMW coupe. I cant say enough good things about them. They really make a car that was undrivable in the snow with the Factory tires a serious snow car. I have never felt as confident on snow as these tires make me feel. I didnt even go to a smaller/Narrow tire as recomended and the difference is really amazing. They are a great non snow tire as well, very quiet and very good handling.



Just from my own exp watch those reviews on tirerack.com. I havent a clue why but sometimes I look at reviews for tires I currently have and know. The reviews sometimes make the tire look inferior when I know they are talking about a great tire. I was swapping out some tires this summer and the reviews made the Goodyear F1's look like twice the tire compared to what I had, truth is for me they are great but not by any measurable amount better than what I had. Far less impressive than the reviews.



Gary from Tirerack is a great guy, he comments that OEM tires get slammed on the reviews and non OEM tires get nothing but praise, go figure.



Good Luck in your choice
 
Blizzaks are great tires. There are different Blizzaks for different applications. WS-50 is the heavy snow/ice tire and is not speed rated very high because of the Tube Multicell Compound used in half of the tread for ice traction. It is the best Bridgestone tire for constant heavy snows and ice. That said I doubt the WS-50 is the proper tire for you 350Z. Consider the Blizzak LM-25â€â„¢s. The LM-25 is a winter only tire that has a higher speed rating and has better handling characteristics in the dry than the WS-50, however it does give up some ultimate grip and snow capabilities to the WS-50. Additionally the LM-25 does not have Bridgestoneâ€â„¢s Tube Multicell Compound (because of higher speed rating). The LM-25 utilizes a stiffer sidewall for better handling and less of a âہ“squirrellyâ€Â� feel in the dry and wet. For a high performance car like the 350Z the LM-25 is probably a better choice. The LM-25 is performance winter tire. To sum it up here is a quote the TireRack discription..."Blizzak LM-25 winter tires are designed to combine good snow and ice traction with âہ“Europeanâ€Â� high-speed winter driving performance."





I have the LM-25â€â„¢s on my Porsche and drive it daily. Great winter tire. With pretty good dry weather handling characteristics (nothing like summer only performance tires but much better than I was expecting). In addition I have Dunlop Wintersport M2â€â„¢s on my wifeâ€â„¢s 3 series. Also a very good winter tire. Both tires have performed exceptionally well in the snow and ice. It is amazing how capable both cars are in the snow with the proper tires. I would not hesitate to recommend either tire.
 
FalconGuy said:


Just from my own exp watch those reviews on tirerack.com.



...OEM tires get slammed on the reviews and non OEM tires get nothing but praise...
Click to expand...



People want to rave about the tires they bought to replace their OEM tires so they can feel good about their purchase...nobody wants to post a review that says "I'm an idiot! I replaced my good OEM tire with these stinkers!". It's kind of a self-hypnosis thing.



I understand that this sometimes also happens with detailing products...;)
 
I've had a few sets of Blizzaks...they've always met or exceeded any expectation and are a very fair value. Don't know if it's a proper tire for a hi performance application, but, IMO, there isn't much hi perf driving to be had during the winter months.



Remember: Snow is a great equalizer ! it may be the only time when a Toyota Corolla can outperform your neighbor's CLK500 :p
 
I have WS50s on my eclipse. They're a night and day difference. I did use them on Michigan highways for two winters. They're really soft and won't handle for spit on hard, dry pavement. They'll also wear away to nothing if they aren't used in snow or on wet pavement. They're very impressive on ice. The WS50s are actually designed for ice whereas many other snow tires are not. A standard snow tire will work well in snow and be decent on hard pavement in comparison to a snow/ice tire (due to the tire's rubber compound.) When I lived in Michigan the WS50s were a godsend with the constant lake-effect. I haven't even bothered with them here in Maryland.
 
I've mounted the WS-50s on all sorts of vehicles, over a dozen easily. Used them every winter since they first came out. I think they're great.



The features that make them great winter (i.e., snow/ice) tires *do* make them less than swell is some other areas, especially when the roads are clear.



The Multicell compound is what makes them work in icy conditions. For us, that's worth the poorer handling, faster wear, and road noise when conditions aren't so bad. We're willing to just dial it back a bit. Heh heh, there's sure no need to dial it back when the roads are crappy though! Front/rear/all wheel drive, with the right size WS-50s we really don't have to give winter condtions a second thought (and Ohio winters can be nasty). I didn't even miss ABS when I had them on the (RWD) Volvo, it got around, and *stopped/handled* fine even when the roads were all iced over. Laws of physics still apply, but *man* what a difference the right tires can make.



It's gonna be a personal preference issue, but for us, being safe when conditions are lousy is the most important thing. Note that we even put these things on our Audi Quattros ;)
 
I have four Blizzak's MZ-02's on my Accord Coupe & I can't say enough about them.



I'm not concerned with handling and/or road noise in the winter, I'm more concerned with staying out of ditches and away from trees, mailboxes, and head-on collisions.



Aside from driving on ice (where they still show significant improvement), driving on Blizzak's is like driving on dry pavement.

I'm sure there are others brands of tires that deliver like Blizzak's but I've never owned them so I can't comment.



Also, I just put four Blizzak WS-15's on my girlfriends Accord Sedan 'cause she's not comfortable with winter driving. She couldn't believe that the Blizzak's could turn her car into a little tank. Yeah, she noticed the increased noise on dry pavement but it's a small price to pay for the confidence the tires give you.



All in all, a worthwhile investment.
 
There may be some confusion here with regard to Blizzaks. Blizzaks are what Bridgestone calls all there "winter" tires. In other words tires designed specifically for driving in winter conditions. I think all the Blizzak winter tires meet the industryâ€â„¢s severe snow service requirements and are branded with the snowflake-on-the-mountain symbol (I know the WS-50â€â„¢s, LM-22, and LM-25â€â„¢s do at least).



There are different Blizzaks for different applications. The WS-50s are a studdless snow/ice tire with the Tube Multicell Compound in the first 55% of the tread. After the first 55% of the tread wears, the rubber compound returns to Bridgestoneâ€â„¢s normal winter/snow rubber compound with Silca as is used in all their Blizzak tires. The Tube Multicell compound is a very soft compound with that wears quickly and is not real heat tolerant. With the tire wear (cupping) problems on the 350Z (has this been fixed yet?) these tires may not be the best choice. This is probably a question that 350Z enthusiast are going to have a better answer for.



Last thought...Any of the Blizzaks, or any dedicated winter tires for that matter, are going to be vastly superior in the snow and ice to any all-weather, all-season, and especially any summer tire.
 
Are there two sets of treadwear indicators on the Blizzaks? So you know when you are at the end of the Tube Multicell Compound? I was looking at the Tire Rack reviews and someone complained they crashed their car after 30,000 miles because of the radical handling change when they wore down to the other compound...I would hate to recommend these to someone who is nervous about snow driving...then gains confidence...only to have the tires suddenly revert to a lesser competence level with disasterous results.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Are there two sets of treadwear indicators on the Blizzaks? So you know when you are at the end of the Tube Multicell Compound? I was looking at the Tire Rack reviews and someone complained they crashed their car after 30,000 miles because of the radical handling change when they wore down to the other compound...I would hate to recommend these to someone who is nervous about snow driving...then gains confidence...only to have the tires suddenly revert to a lesser competence level with disasterous results.
Click to expand...



While there aren't any secondary wear indicators, you can get a good approximation by looking at the tread blocks, which have "cuts" of different depths. I replace mine when the wear gets near the bottom of the "shallowest" of the cuts. The tires are still OK as multi-season tires, they just don't have the ice traction. I give them to one of the shops I patronize and they still get good service out of them.



You could always verify the amount of multicell compound (it's something like 30%), measure the tread depth when new and extrapolate.



IMO the person you mentioned is just a twit. 30K miles without thinking about the wear of the multicell? Couldn't tell until he crashed even though he felt it was a "radical handling change"? Crashed because of it anyhow? Some people are just :rolleyes.



Any other snowtires with wear would've just been pretty much like the worn WS-50s anyhow (I've driven on a lot of different snowtires). It's simply that multi-cell tires offer *more* when they're newish.



There *is* a bit of self-discipline involved; you have to accept that the behavior of the tires will change while there's still plenty of tread showing. You then have to decide whether to replace them over the change or not.



Don't mean to sound like a Bridgestone commercial, but people who blame [something/someone] for their own shortcomings sorta burn me up.
 
Accumulator, *I* would not have a problem with monitoring the tires...I have a friend who is terrified of driving in the snow, I couldn't count on her to be that much of a scientist about the whole thing.



As far as sounding like a Bridgestone commercial....what burned ME up was that whole Ford Explorer/Firestone thing...(NOT to belittle anyone losing their life)...but they made it sound like the Firestone execs sat around and said "let's see if we can make some bad tires and kill some people!". And after all the investigation, they were able to blame something like 140 deaths in 10 years on the tires...while 40-50,000 people a year are killed on the roads....I'm sure 14 a year are killed by many other directly attributable causes...having sex, dropping a cigarette in their lap, etc., etc., but careers were ruined, companies defamed...kind of like blaming our polluted air on all those cans of #16...how many other random uncontrollable things kill 14 people a year? Lightning? Maybe no one should go outside anymore, they might get killed!



Ok, I'm done.
 
Thanks for the input. I have driven my Z through one Michigan winter with the stock Bridgestones, which are usually acceptable if you drive very carefully. I only drive about 1.5 miles to work (all side streets) so treadwear and winter performance driving aren't a big concern to me, and for basically all other driving we use my wife's SUV. However, last week I got stuck in front of my driveway, which was kind of the last straw. I also struggle to get up our driveway, as it is on a bit of an incline.
 
I have Blizzack WS-50 215/55R17's on an Infiniti G35x and am very pleased with them. However, I do live in a rural snow and ice area where high speed and performance are not really a factor until spring arrives.:)
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Accumulator, *I* would not have a problem with monitoring the tires...I have a friend who is terrified of driving in the snow, I couldn't count on her to be that much of a scientist about the whole thing.
Click to expand...



Well, I can sorta see the point then...you know the person and I don't, but I still think the WS-50s would be a good choice. IMO at the worst you'd get a "gee you *said* they'd quit sticking on ice and they really did!" response. They don't suddenly turn into something dangerous and many people don't keep their cars all that long anyhow. But then I put a pretty high premium on the whole "drive on black ice" thing so maybe I'm biased towards the multicell type snowtires.



Originally posted by FalconGuy

..I get 2 seasons out of my rears tops...
Click to expand...



Heh heh, you crazy Bimmer pilot ;)
 
Accumulator said:
Well, I can sorta see the point then...you know the person and I don't, but I still think the WS-50s would be a good choice. IMO at the worst you'd get a "gee you *said* they'd quit sticking on ice and they really did!" response. They don't suddenly turn into something dangerous and many people don't keep their cars all that long anyhow. But then I put a pretty high premium on the whole "drive on black ice" thing so maybe I'm biased towards the multicell type snowtires.
Click to expand...



Well, she's got a car with a 10-year warranty...so she expects to have it for at least another 8 years. I agree, the WS-50's are still a good choice, I just worry that a change in tire performance is a variable that won't go into her analysis process in evaluating the road surface (that process being "Oh no! I'm going to die!").



I wonder why they don't use the multicell all the way down...obviously it would result in shorter overall tread life, but if serious people are already tossing them at that point, then they wouldn't care.
 
The tires will still perform really well in snow when they change compound. The compound's purpose is to draw water up and away from the road surface allowing the tire to grip ice. They still have an excellent tread pattern for driving in snow. They probably didn't make them 100% multicell because the material is too soft and wouldn't allow the tread depth they wanted. That much spongy rubber would result in very poor handling.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top