Unbelievable snow & ice performance awaits you!
Written: Jan 23 '03 (Updated Dec 06 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Handling and Control: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Unmatched snow & ice traction
Cons: Noisy, low tread life, gives a "rubbery" feeling to steering and cornering.
The Bottom Line: I can't say enough about how AWESOME these tires perform in the winter.
|
|
|
| gastric's Full Review: Bridgestone Blizzak Passenger/Performance Tire |
I live in snowy Rochester, NY where winter seems to last half the year. While I don't do a lot of driving I am very interested in safety. Slipping and sliding in the snow and ice isn't my idea of safe, and no matter which all-season tires I've used none have been even satisfactory in the winter... at least when compared to the Bridgestone Blizzak.
I first purchased a set of four of these tires on a recommendation from a friend. I have to tell you that these tires made an UNBELIEVABLE difference in my winter driving experience. Within a month of buying these tires we experiencing a huge blizzard, huge enough to close our airport and streets for a day. However, I was able to drive my car out of knee-deep snow with only a little effort. I'm sure I would have had to been towed out if I had my all-seasons on still. I was genuinely in disbelieve that a set of tires could make such a dramatic improvement in the traction.
Currently I have a 99 Honda Civic with Bridgestone Blizzaks and a 98 Chevy Malibu with Bridgestone Turranza LS all-seasons. Never again will I drive a winter without Blizzaks on my auto. While the Turranza are great tires in water they give me no confidence in snow or ice. Even a little slush causes them to lose traction. In contrast the Blizzaks provide near dry pavment-like traction in virtually any winter weather. You have to really work hard to get them to slip. I've heard people compare them to turning your average car into a 4x4 and it's a pretty fair comparison.
I honestly can't praise these tires enough. A $426 investment can provide so much added winter driving safety I can't see any reason NOT to buy them.
However, if you're looking for a reason not to purchase these tires here is a very short list of negatives about this product.
* Noisy on dry pavement.
* Low tread life. It's important to note that only HALF of the tread life provides snow & ice traction. The last half is merely a generic all-season tread. This provides approx 15,000 miles of snow & ice tread. However, 15,000 miles of winter driving will last me 3-4 years.
* Poor dry-pavement performance. They corner poorly and provide a "mushy" feel on dry pavement. But you don't buy these tires for dry pavement performance.
Note that it's best to have your winter tires mounted permanently to their own wheels. I've found the best wheel-and-tire packages to be available from www.tirerack.com I bought the four wheels and tires, mounted, balanced, and shipped to my door for $426 That breaks down to $264 for the tires, $112 for the wheels, and $50 for the shipping.
[b]UPDATE 12/06/04[/b]
I've since sold all of my sedans and the Blizzaks along with them since they were mounted on car-specific steel wheels. I've recently purchased a used 2000 Honda Odyssey minivan and opted not to get Blizzaks on this near 6,000lb monster due to the "rubbery" feel the Blizzak's soft multi-cell tread provides. I didn't want to add more body roll, and the van takes a large 16" wheel comapred to the Civic's small 14". Instead I've opted for Dunlop Winter Sport M3. I'll post a review for that tire after I've had the opportunity to drive it more.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 426
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
gastric
|
|
Location: Rochester, NY
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Software testing by day, father and homeowner by night!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.