I know this has been talked about, and I am late in the game for tire shopping but will be ordering mine tomorrow. I wanted to ask folks who have these tires and their personal experiences. Believe the LM-25 is a fairly new tire, since the older one was the LM-22. Any inputs, and comments would be appreciated since I will be ordering 4 tires, with your help definitely by tomorrow afternoon. Are dunlops worth the extra $$$?

Thank again, and safe driving

Tariq

 

Honestly, I have done the research, and found the Blizzak WS-50 to come out on top. The LM series tires are more performance oriented however, in the winter, I am personally more worried about having better snow and ice traction then dry traction. By the way, I think the WS-50s only come in 17". Good Luck

 

I have the Winter Sport M3 on my 05at sedan and am thrilled by their performance over dry/rain soaked roads. They feel like the stock all-seasons that came with my non-sport equipped car. Having had snow and some time to drive around in it, I have the following to say about the M3's:

- they work great in the deep stuff;
- ice is ice is ice - ie: everything sucks on ice, including the almighty Blizzak;
- VDC will force you to relearn how to drive in the winter - you can't spin-'n-go;

I've had the Blizzak WS-50 on past vehicles (94 Camaro Z28 - dynoed 380+rwhp) and they were absolutely fantastic in the winter, except that you had to be very cautious at every ramp, etc, just because of the very soft tire. Extremely controllable when power steering is the desired form of direction change.

My 00 Lincoln LS had the Blizzak MZ-01, which was the biggest POS I ever had on a car, glad they've stopped making that;

My 94 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4 turbo-diesel had Blizzaks as well. Can't recall the model, but they won't fit your car so it doesn't matter. They turned that truck into something that couldn't stop/turn in snow, into something resembling a scared cat on velcro;

My 02 Maxima had Nokians and Toyos. I preferred the Nokians.

To my eyes (and finger nails...) the M3 seems better than the LM22. I haven't seen the LM25. What type of driving do you do? If the majority of it is below speeds of 80km/h, then go with the WS-50. If, like me, you spend most of your time on the track bare highways, at speeds of 100km/h+, then go with the LM or M3.

My biggest assistance during researching the snows was tirerack.com's survey results. I find the comments to be very accurate and am able to trust them.

Good luck in your hunt. Oh, one last thing, if you're interested, I have a co-worker with M3's off his 04 TL that he wants to sell for $400. He used them for one winter (now drives a Denali).

Albert

 

I myself have the Dunlop M3's in 225/45/18 all around. Never tried the blizzaks so I can't make any comparison.

Experienced the first snow fall yesterday, no problems at all! These are great! Overnight, approx 15cm was dumped and I got through again without any problems. On my way to work this morning, I saw a BMW 3 series stuck on a slight hill. I stopped, waited for him to signal and I went on my way. That was a priceless moment! Both RWD, and I made it through the snow, thanks to my Dunlop's. He probably only had A/S tires. What a nice way to start my day!

 

Not being a tire savvy person and having been a hardcore fan of Pirelli performance tires, but not winters. I got the best recommendation before purchasing my new set of winters from Jerry. Jerry has been crucial to giving me the information for the decision process and he being a Pirelli fan also understands safety and performance. I would have liked to have the best of both worlds, but in an ideal world thats not possible so a sacrifice between either performance and traction is made.

My initial decision was to go for the Pirelli Winter 210 Sottozeros, although a good tire by reputation certainly not the most popular as far as market share and I was recommended the tire from a good friend. Enter "The Jerry".... After talking to Jerry about tires and looking at the costs and different tires, we agreed the Dunlop M3 were a better choice than the Pirellis by cost and a marginal increase in traction over the Pirellis.

Vikings were recommended to me as being the best tire out there since the Consumer Report report came out every tire shop has been out of them and getting them now is extremely difficult and I certainly cannot enjoy a car that sits in the garage without having proper shoes to go out with.

So, if you still haven't gotten a set of winters I will let you know how the M3s work on the road.

Karim.

 

i also think the m3's are the better tire. they were my top choice last year but i waited too long and there was no stock - get them soon! instead, jerry got me the lm-22.

 

I got LM22 - 235/45/18 all around and the car handles amazingly well. Very good traction in snow, ice and slushy roads. They look great too compared to other winter tires I've seen.

 

I too have had the Blizzak WS-50's and LM-22's and found them great performing winter tires.
The WS-50's were a little softer as Akrus says, so they wore quicker, but traction was A1.
Haven't had the LM-25's yet nor the M-3's but I heard the Dunlops are tops too.
Colin

 

I had the Blizzak LM-22's on my stock 18's last year and this year I got a 17 inch rim with Hankook W300 Ice Bears. The Hankooks so far have outperformed the Blizzaks in every way possible. Could be the size difference maybe but all I know is that for almost a 1/4 of the price the Hankooks are a hell of a deal. Now I can keep my 05 OEM 19's nice and shiny for the summer

 

you got rid of your 18" winter tires?

 

I had these M3's on a previous car and IMO they are great in the snow/icey conditions. Moreover, I have went back to this tire for the G once i found out that the size was available for the staggered 18" setup. The other plus side is that they are quiet and they ride nice; however, they are not a great handling or good looking side wall tire. They were mainly bought for snow performance.

If you go for the H-rated version, they are listed under the run-flat version (which are more expensive). These things are heavier than the V-rated ones.

 

I did. Since I sold my OEM 18's to get the OEM 19's (worked out to straight trade!) I had no use for the 18 inch winters. I also wanted to go down to a 17 for winter because I was not too happy with the traction last winter, eventhough they were Blizzaks. Again I am much happier now with a dedicated 17 inch rim and the Hankook tires.

No swapping tires every season..no worrying about damage to my stock rims...less km's on the OEM 19's, etc. All of this and the I really did not spend any money in all of these deals other then the initial cost of the 18 inch blizzaks

 

+ 1 on the Dunlop Wintersport M3

 

^^ I agree, in the long run it's very cost effective.

 

Thanks everyone.. I appreciate all the input and opinions.. In the end went with the dunlop winter sport m3, tirerack has them on special and with all the input and research everyhing point to them. Thanks again, and safe driving.