Blizzak WS's are the IsH!! A 1 year review.
#1
02-28-2005 | 11:13 PM
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Blizzak WS's are the IsH!! A 1 year review.
**warning** the following is a personal account of the observations that i made while tesing out my snow/ice tires. all of the following is what i came to find and are my opinions. please do not go out and think you are superman if you have thes tires and i do not take responsibility for anyone's irresponsibility with their car. always drive within safe speed limits according to weather conditions. if you would like to share your opinion, postiive or negative, please do so in a mature matter, we are all here to learn the good and bad of our cars and the products we put on them. now for the interesting part...
I'm here in the midst of the beginning of the Nor'easter in NY and i just decided that i had to go out and get some food. yea right, it was mostly that i wanted to see how well my blizzak's performed after having them for over a year. so far i've clocked about 6K miles on em and the tread has worn away considerably...i'd have to say about 50% due to regular and semi-spirited driving. a rough guestimate would be that there is a good .5" on tread left. in anticipation of early snowfall, i threw them on right after turkey day only to find summerlike weather the next 2 weeks. i figured the snow will come soon, but it didn't. plan accordingly, and the treading should last you a good 3 seasons easily, 4 if you wanna stretch it. i figure i will have at least one more season (making it 3 total) with these badboys if i'm lucky.
well, i have to say that although they do not perform as awesome as the first season i had them on, they still performed as i expected. on about a 45 degree hill i stopped. with and without traction control on i was able to continue my climb. that's about 3-4" of snow on the ground. going down that same hill at about 30 miles an hour, i pressed the brakes as if i had to stop hard. the car's ABS kicked in, but the car was very controllable and came to a stop i would have to say no longer than 20 feet, probably in the realm of 3.5 car lengths. i found that depressing the brakes even harder stopped the car in a shorter distance, but had a tendency to drift (understeer) very slightly, but i was able to gain full steering control by lifting off the brakes. these tires bite (not in a derogatory way of course). the car will stop if i need it to.
Accelerating is unreal on these things. VDC OFF- if i take it conservatively, the car will accelerate with no slippage watsoever. mash the gas down, and the tires will break. the car has a natural tendency to swing the back out to the right, but don't fear, keep the steering wheel pointed in the right direction and ease up on the gas and you will continue down the path you want. with the right amount of pedal moderation you can have your back swinging back and forth and still accelerate with confidence. driving around town i found myself playing in the wide empty streets coming around turns, doing S shaped drifts on straightways, just plain out having a good time. the only other cars out that i saw were a few SUV's and 2 FWD cars and salt trucks/plows. be aware though that if you get too heavy on the pedal, the car will swing beyond the point of no return and you will find yourself looking at the cars behind you. i find that the amazing thing about these tires is the ability to go wherever i point the front tires.
VDC ON- if you are conservative on the gas, the vdc will not kick in and you continue to drive normally. mash the gas down, and it kicks in, keeping your car going in the direction you point it. coming around turns the back will start to kick out, but the VDC corrects you. it seems that if i keep the fronts turned the direction i'm going around, the VDC will only compensate to keep me in my steering path. if i counter steer the turn, the VDC kicks in more to get my rear aligned with the direction of the front tires. this is all going about 20 mph around a turn then mashing the gas down. I DO NOT ADVISE DOING THIS AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED.
i was talkin to a friend of mine who was contemplating gettin a RWD car, but many have forewarned him that with our winters it isn't wise to get one. i told him go ahead and get one, just get some kick *** winter tires and he'll be fine. he didn't really heed my advice until i showed him a week ago when we had our last snowfall. as i left his house, i told him "people tell you this and tell you that, i will show you now and you can say that you saw it with your own eyes that you saw a RWD car take on a huge hill with no problems." with that being said, i gave him pounds, jumped in my car and drove off with no problems watsoever. and he lives in a VERY hilly region of north white plains, with hills even steeper and bigger than the one i took on tonite by my house. oh yea, btw, if you didn't notice it in my sig, i'm still running my Tein Flex setup raised to about .25" lower than stock all around and on the softest (16) setting. Chinese food never tasted better.
I'm here in the midst of the beginning of the Nor'easter in NY and i just decided that i had to go out and get some food. yea right, it was mostly that i wanted to see how well my blizzak's performed after having them for over a year. so far i've clocked about 6K miles on em and the tread has worn away considerably...i'd have to say about 50% due to regular and semi-spirited driving. a rough guestimate would be that there is a good .5" on tread left. in anticipation of early snowfall, i threw them on right after turkey day only to find summerlike weather the next 2 weeks. i figured the snow will come soon, but it didn't. plan accordingly, and the treading should last you a good 3 seasons easily, 4 if you wanna stretch it. i figure i will have at least one more season (making it 3 total) with these badboys if i'm lucky.
well, i have to say that although they do not perform as awesome as the first season i had them on, they still performed as i expected. on about a 45 degree hill i stopped. with and without traction control on i was able to continue my climb. that's about 3-4" of snow on the ground. going down that same hill at about 30 miles an hour, i pressed the brakes as if i had to stop hard. the car's ABS kicked in, but the car was very controllable and came to a stop i would have to say no longer than 20 feet, probably in the realm of 3.5 car lengths. i found that depressing the brakes even harder stopped the car in a shorter distance, but had a tendency to drift (understeer) very slightly, but i was able to gain full steering control by lifting off the brakes. these tires bite (not in a derogatory way of course). the car will stop if i need it to.
Accelerating is unreal on these things. VDC OFF- if i take it conservatively, the car will accelerate with no slippage watsoever. mash the gas down, and the tires will break. the car has a natural tendency to swing the back out to the right, but don't fear, keep the steering wheel pointed in the right direction and ease up on the gas and you will continue down the path you want. with the right amount of pedal moderation you can have your back swinging back and forth and still accelerate with confidence. driving around town i found myself playing in the wide empty streets coming around turns, doing S shaped drifts on straightways, just plain out having a good time. the only other cars out that i saw were a few SUV's and 2 FWD cars and salt trucks/plows. be aware though that if you get too heavy on the pedal, the car will swing beyond the point of no return and you will find yourself looking at the cars behind you. i find that the amazing thing about these tires is the ability to go wherever i point the front tires.
VDC ON- if you are conservative on the gas, the vdc will not kick in and you continue to drive normally. mash the gas down, and it kicks in, keeping your car going in the direction you point it. coming around turns the back will start to kick out, but the VDC corrects you. it seems that if i keep the fronts turned the direction i'm going around, the VDC will only compensate to keep me in my steering path. if i counter steer the turn, the VDC kicks in more to get my rear aligned with the direction of the front tires. this is all going about 20 mph around a turn then mashing the gas down. I DO NOT ADVISE DOING THIS AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED.
i was talkin to a friend of mine who was contemplating gettin a RWD car, but many have forewarned him that with our winters it isn't wise to get one. i told him go ahead and get one, just get some kick *** winter tires and he'll be fine. he didn't really heed my advice until i showed him a week ago when we had our last snowfall. as i left his house, i told him "people tell you this and tell you that, i will show you now and you can say that you saw it with your own eyes that you saw a RWD car take on a huge hill with no problems." with that being said, i gave him pounds, jumped in my car and drove off with no problems watsoever. and he lives in a VERY hilly region of north white plains, with hills even steeper and bigger than the one i took on tonite by my house. oh yea, btw, if you didn't notice it in my sig, i'm still running my Tein Flex setup raised to about .25" lower than stock all around and on the softest (16) setting. Chinese food never tasted better.
#2
02-28-2005 | 11:22 PM
Haha, Right on, Great review Profile4 
I agree with you 100%. The only downside to the WS-50 Blizzak is they will wear like the dickens once it warms up, so get them off once the temp starts to get up to 50F. You said they rocked on your RWD, you can only imagine the the go and whoa traction with AWD. 
I agree with you 100%. The only downside to the WS-50 Blizzak is they will wear like the dickens once it warms up, so get them off once the temp starts to get up to 50F. You said they rocked on your RWD, you can only imagine the the go and whoa traction with AWD.
#4
03-01-2005 | 02:12 PM
#5
03-01-2005 | 02:43 PM
The G will perform quite well with snows. I have Dunlop M3's, and today I was out at 5:00AM. The roads were still pretty much covered with a few inches of snow, and underneath seemed to be a layer of ice......My slip light would come on from time to time when I would first accelerate, but after that the car tracked straight and true.....not one time in my 25 mile round trip did I feel like the car was out of control.....
I think with a moderate driving technique, and a good set of snows, this car will take you alot more places than one would expect....even with a nor'easter.
Hell, it sure beats the Michelin's!!!!!!
I think with a moderate driving technique, and a good set of snows, this car will take you alot more places than one would expect....even with a nor'easter.
Hell, it sure beats the Michelin's!!!!!!
#6
03-01-2005 | 03:19 PM
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Good review. I think the toughest part about driving with a RWD car in the snow is just getting started. But those snow tires really dig into the snow (obviously, since that's their purpose) and really help you get going.
People do not like two things about RWD, vs the FWD that they stupidly prefer:
1.) FWD is front-heavy, so even with a pair of all-seasons, it is decently easy to get going.
2.) If you don't have traction and your tires spin, the tail can swing out in a RWD car, whereas a FWD car will just sit there and spin its tires. The average driver really freaks out when his/her tail even starts to swing out from a loss of traction in the rain or snow. They feel an instant loss of control and get scared.
The whole "RWD sucks in the snow" comes from the fact that most RWD cars have sporting intentions. RWD cars with sporting intentions probably have performance summer tires that are worthless in the snow. Most people do not realize that the difference between summer tires and snow tires makes a WORLD of difference in bad weather. Most people just feel that "tires are tires, it's just the car" which is wrong.
People do not like two things about RWD, vs the FWD that they stupidly prefer:
1.) FWD is front-heavy, so even with a pair of all-seasons, it is decently easy to get going.
2.) If you don't have traction and your tires spin, the tail can swing out in a RWD car, whereas a FWD car will just sit there and spin its tires. The average driver really freaks out when his/her tail even starts to swing out from a loss of traction in the rain or snow. They feel an instant loss of control and get scared.
The whole "RWD sucks in the snow" comes from the fact that most RWD cars have sporting intentions. RWD cars with sporting intentions probably have performance summer tires that are worthless in the snow. Most people do not realize that the difference between summer tires and snow tires makes a WORLD of difference in bad weather. Most people just feel that "tires are tires, it's just the car" which is wrong.
#7
03-01-2005 | 06:19 PM
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I agree- I'm also in Westchester County, NY, and I have Pirelli Snowsports on 17" rims for my second season. Not a single problem getting around in 2 winters. With the snow tires on, this car is better than any front driver with all-seasons that I've ever had. That said, it's March 1st and I'm itching to get my 18" Pilots back on... maybe Easter week-end.
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#8
03-02-2005 | 12:23 AM
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**UPDATE** i get a phone call from my brother at 1130 lastnite stating that my parents were flying into la guardia airport @ 2:30AM (yes, in the morning)...well, long story short, i drove from white plains to queens and back in the storm on snow covered highways with no problem. my father was very impressed as a week ago we almost crashed in their benz that has the same michelins as we do duirng a snowstorm that left only a mere 1-2 inches of snow on the ground. we were travelling very slow, about 5 mph down a small decline and the car just started sliding like it was on ice. did i mention i love these tires?
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