I read this article (lunk enclosed) and wonder why I need snows...

[Ucla95]

Why shouldn't I just get all-seasons? (I'm not driving through a foot of snow and in any event the LM-25's look just marginally better!)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=80

[Gary@Tirerack]

The LM25, Dunlop 3D and other performance winter tires aren't designed for maximum traction on glare ice, but on real world snowy roads they'll out perform all season tires by a significant margin.

Winter http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=AB2&url=/winter/index.jsp

[Ucla95]

tyvm, sounds like the snow is coming Wednesday...

[KillnTime]

I just brought my winter wheels/tires up from the basement. Ready to install Wednesday evening.

[gos]

I was a little skeptical that a performance winter would only be marginally better than the best all season, but I was wrong.

My Dunlop Winter Sport M3 DSSTs were drastically better on ice than my wife's Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires on her Subie.

[kmaas]

I have the Dunlop Winter Sport M3s on my 330i. Not problem in the snow storm here in the Midwest. Traction was better than my FWD Passat with Goodyear TripleTreds.

The car/tires performed much better than expected. Why spent the money on AWD?

[JREIT]

Why shouldn't I just get all-seasons? (I'm not driving through a foot of snow and in any event the LM-25's look just marginally better!)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=80

I tried out my lm 25s in todays storm and all I can say is wow.
I was driving rather conservatively but in 4-6 inches of snow - no slipping at all.
There is a whole winter left, so this may be a premature assessment, but they are definitley better than all seasons.

[gr28]

Ok, I'm confused. The Tire Rack comparison shows the Blizzak LM-25 as being only slightly better than the Potenza all-season on ice, leaving me wondering whether there is much point in getting performance winter tires rather than all-seasons for the winter. But the other posts here indicate that people have experienced better traction with performance winter tires in snow and ice than with all-seasons. Are performance winter tires better than all-seasons on snow, but not better on ice?

[Gary@Tirerack]

Only the studless Q rated tires due to their special compounds perform very well on glare ice in our experience (studded tires do well too). As stated above, in real world conditions of snowy and slushy roads the performance snow tires have a very noticable advantage over all season tires.

[gr28]

Only the studless Q rated tires due to their special compounds perform very well on glare ice in our experience (studded tires do well too). As stated above, in real world conditions of snowy and slushy roads the performance snow tires have a very noticable advantage over all season tires.

Thanks for clarifying the distinction, Gary. Have you done similar tests at TireRack comparing all-seasons with winter performance tires on snow as opposed to ice? I took a quick look around the site but didn't see such a comparison. I'm also wondering how the performance winter tires compare with all-seasons in dry and wet (but not frozen) conditions.

[Gary@Tirerack]

We have not done much official snow testing because we do not feel it is possible to have consistantly repeatable test results in snow since once snow is driven on it changes.

Performance winter tires are pretty near to good all season tires in dry/wet road handling.

[cwsqbm]

Why shouldn't I just get all-seasons? (I'm not driving through a foot of snow and in any event the LM-25's look just marginally better!)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=80

You can survive on all seasons - that's what I have on my E30 (as do most people in this area) and did just fine in the blizzard. However, if you like the extra performance of summer tires, you'll need something different for the winter, so why not get a winter tire?

[roverT]

I have LM-25's on my E46. My buddy has new Ventus All Seasons on his Audi TT Quattro.

The weather turned on us when we were having dinner for an hour and heavy amounts of snow fell on the road instantly sticking and creating a slippery surface underneath the fresh powder falling.

My friend followed me home in his Audi and as we came down a slight decline, a car in front of me did a 90 degree spin, landing it totally sideways against the street. I just turned around the spun out car and avoided it without any problem. At the same time our cars were linked up via handsfree mobile phone so we can relay to each other how we both felt on the road. So I avoided the spun out car and quickly turned into a street. All I hear is "Oh crap," as I look in my rear view mirror. I see the Audi's tires hardly moving and the front wheels pointed away from the spun out car, then silence, followed by a smack as the front of his car hit the rear end of the spun out car.

Sure you'll be able to move in a forward direction most of the time with all season tires. But you sure as well won't be able to stop faster or corner faster than any winter tire in slippery conditions. I guess you need to balance your winter tire cost (which will last you 3-5 winters) vs. the cost of just 1 crash, and ask yourself what is worth it. Preventing a bad scenario before it even happens, or curing it after...which is cheaper?

My buddy went ahead and bought Dunlop M3's prompty after getting his car back from the autobody. He also was one of those who said, all seasons will be fine for me this winter.

[rastas]

having lived in grand rapids MI and Cleveland Ohio, can attest to getting "real" snow tires for rear wheel drive bmers. I prefer Blizzak, on all 4 wheels. they really hug the road when needed. my next step is to get 4 additional rims, right now, i get tires remounted every year. PAIN IN THE . . .