It's sad that, at about 30F in a light snow, the sport Prius tires on my BRZ have better traction than the Blizzaks.

"TheOnelectronic" (theoneelectronic) 03/04/2016 at 00:20 • Filed to: None

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I don’t know where people get this idea that all-seasons turn into hockey pucks in the cold. The only time I actually notice better traction from the Blizzaks is in actual snow accumulation or ice. Dry or wet pavement at ANY temperature I’ve experienced so far, the Primacies win every time, and they’re not even top-shelf AS tires.

Plus they have the benefit of actually granting steering feel, so I can actually use what traction I have without it being a crap shoot.

tl;dr do not buy Blizzak WS-80's if you enjoy driving in any capacity.

Biggus Dickus (RevsBro) > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 00:35

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Fuck. I’m rocking Pilot Super Sports in single digits as long as there isn’t snow or ice on the roads.

Montalvo > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 00:37

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All season run flats are sketchy when it gets really cold. At 30F they are probably fine but where I am it will constantly go well below that during winter. Snow tires are for the snow and if you don’t get a lot of it there isn’t really a point in getting them. Snow tires aren’t about having fun they are designed to help you when mother nature would rather you weren’t out driving. The great equalizer though is ice because it doesn’t matter what type of rubber you got on because unless you have studs that wheel is going to slip.

bob and john > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 00:40

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there is a difference between snow tires and high performance winter tires (as I learned this year)

TheOnelectronic > bob and john 03/04/2016 at 01:18

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Yeah, I’m coming to that conclusion. At first I figured I was maybe trading a BIT of performance for some extra snow traction, but I did not count on them being marshmallows with no traction. They’re actually scary on wet pavement. I’ve had the ABS engage slowly coming to a stop downhill.

TheOnelectronic > Montalvo 03/04/2016 at 01:20

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The one area where the Blizzaks did actually impress me was ice. They actually provide a usable amount of traction as opposed to “suggest where the car might like to go.”

MuchWagon > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 06:39

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Having a similar experience in NJ. Bought eight Michelin xice3s after some hairy moments last winter. I asked a lot of questions about dry performance and got kind of blown off. But dry braking seems to have really suffered, or at least the feel of it, requiring more pedal force.

MuchWagon > MuchWagon 03/04/2016 at 09:03

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Turns out when I wrote this there was an inch or two of slush on the ground, which turned into zero drama thanks to those Michelins.

jimz > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 09:05

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tl;dr do not buy Blizzak WS-80's if you enjoy driving in any capacity.

bull. I had those on my SRT-4 and they were awesome.

besides, if I’m currently using snow/winter tires. “steering feel” has slid several positions down my list of priorities. “Not getting stuck/being able to steer/stopping faster” have moved up over them.

uofime-2 > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 10:39

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I’m surprised you hate your tires so much. Granted, I drive the sports car equvalet of a hammer, but I’ve been pretty happy with mine.

Did you undersize them a little our use the factory size?

brianbrannon > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 10:46

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I thought something was wrong with my suspension last winter but it was my Falken summerish tires. Put the Firestone Winterforces on and it was back to gripping like normal

TheOnelectronic > uofime-2 03/04/2016 at 16:24

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They’re a bit narrower and on a 16" vs. 17" wheel, which probably doesn’t help.

It really does just neuter the driving experience for me. There’s no front-end feel at all. I’ve hit on-ramps at sane speeds and had pucker moments thinking I was understeering and about to be on the 6 o’clock news but it turns out I wasn’t even anywhere near the point where traction would be an issue.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 17:20

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The Primacy HPs are summer tires, not all-seasons.

Also, winter tires (particularly, WS80s) are much better if you live anywhere with significant amounts of snow/ice. Sure they aren’t super sticky and responsive, but they aren’t supposed to be. They’re about having traction in adverse winter conditions. The idea of all-seasons, more so summers, turning into hockey pucks is because of the compound. Winter tires have a rubber compound that is designed to deal with extreme cold better. 30 isn’t really that cold. In Chicagoland we get into the negative temps quite a bit, and with plenty of snow/ice. I wouldn’t rock anything other than winter tires. Also, you can still enjoy them quite a bit; just go do some winter rallyx!

TheOnelectronic > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow 03/04/2016 at 17:41

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Really? They sure feel like all-seasons to me. Shouldn’t summer tires have more, you know... grip?

The disappointing thing for me about the WS-80's is they aren’t even that great in the snow. They do very well on ice for a studless tire, I find, but in snow up to bumper height they don’t seem to have a huge advantage over good UHPAS tires I’ve had. Granted, I haven’t used the Primacies in super cold weather, but I wouldn’t say the Blizzaks firmed up any down in the single digits either.

And yeah, I found the best way to enjoy them was to drive like I’m on gravel. There’s even the same noticeable delay between input and result!

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > TheOnelectronic 03/04/2016 at 17:48

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The Primacy HPs were specifically chosen for the car because they don’t have much grip. The point was to make it easier to drive the car near or at it’s limits in every day driving, with the intention of making it more slidey/fun.

I tried venturing out in a late snow storm in the Primacys last year, after switching back to early, and the car wouldn’t even move up the slightly sloped hill out of my neighborhood. The WS80s never had any issues in the snow. I went driving for fun in a blizzard, and passed several vehicles, including crossovers and SUVs, that undoubtedly had all-seasons and were all stuck. If you’re driving a car in the winter, especially a rwd sports car, you should absolutely be using winter tires. Can you get by on all-seasons? Most of the time, but it’s nowhere near as safe. You need to also factor in how much of an impact your tires have on braking too. Winter tires vs all-seasons; you will have better grip/braking with the winters.

TheOnelectronic > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow 03/04/2016 at 17:55

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I know why they were chosen, but why not use an all-season tire with a similar level of grip? Seems an odd choice.

True, winter tires have better grip in the snow, but the blizzaks are awful in the dry and literally dangerous in the wet. I’m not joking when I say I’ve almost rear-ended people because they were casually slowing to make a turn and my ABS was going nuts. The problem is that it isn’t snowing all the time. I switched over around Thanksgiving, and it snowed a whole two times this winter. The first time was only drivable for the first couple of hours before we got buried in 3'+ of snow. So I’ve spent the past 8,000 miles or so LOATHING these stupid marshmallows.

I fully agree that you should run winter tires in the winter, especially on a RWD car. I just don’t think it should be THESE winter tires.

TheOnelectronic > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow 03/04/2016 at 17:57

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I didn’t entirely believe you, so I looked it up, and they are indeed summer tires. Christ, if I had known that I REALLY would not have gone out in the light snow we had last night. I’ve been in 2-3" of snow in a RWD car on summers before. That was a white-knuckle experience.