blizack tires

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got a set of blizzacks put on the car today. fronts are kind of worn, rears are in decent shape. paid 80$ for the set from a guy i know. I've never ran blizacks befor, time to see if they make a difference. if anything else i just prolonged the life of my other tires lol. I plan to make a video tho. if my car actually makes it up my driveway then ill know they worth something. or if i dont get suck on a 2º incline. should be intresting
 
Appearances with Blizzaks can be deceiving.

Blizzaks have a special soft compound with tiny bubbles in it. These bubbles help the tire to grip slippery roads, kind of like tiny suction cups. Supposed to work well on ice. I have my doubts from my own experience, two cars 4 tires all around. I prefer studded tires if it is that bad.

PROBLEM IS this special compound is only the outer tenth of an inch or so of the tread. Unless Blizzak changed the way they did the tires since I bought some in the early 2000's, the special tread is only good for about 5,000 miles or so. After that you just have regular rubber compound with no real grippy benefits other than the tread pattern should throw off snow better than stock.

From reading long ago, they did it this way to keep the handling reasonable with a stiffer tread supporting the squishy outer tread.

So if your tire looks visibly worn, they probably already wore out the special compound and you are runnning with at best open tread blocks to throw snow.

Better than stock but maybe not as good as regular snow tires and definitely not like new Blizzaks.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
man jim! why dont you just take a dump in my cheerioes while your at it!

cant wait to get rid of this hunk.. blah its a decent car, but with all due respect :q:q:q:q this thing in the winter.
 
Jim Henderson said:
PROBLEM IS this special compound is only the outer tenth of an inch or so of the tread. Unless Blizzak changed the way they did the tires since I bought some in the early 2000's, the special tread is only good for about 5,000 miles or so. After that you just have regular rubber compound with no real grippy benefits other than the tread pattern should throw off snow better than stock.
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Actually, the outer 55% of the Blizzak is comprised of the multicell layer and always has been. The remaining 45% is regular all season tire. If your tires are more than 50% worn out, you just have a regular all season tire and should not be expecting anything special out of these tires. Probably why the guy sold them...
 
makes since as to why I noticed no help in the snow and no loss of traction in the dry after late winter last year....
 
trilkb said:
man jim! why dont you just take a dump in my cheerioes while your at it!

cant wait to get rid of this hunk.. blah its a decent car, but with all due respect :q:q:q:q this thing in the winter.
Click to expand...



And to stir up your cheerios, there are several threads talking about how the Advancetrac makes the LS a poor performer in snow and ice. The consensus on a fix is to turn it off in nasty snow and ice and maybe turn it on once you are in cruise mode.


Arrrrr ;^)

Jim Henderson
 
Yeah these cars aren't great in winter. I drove for the first time in snow this year and was sliding around pretty good. I've got some cheap chinese tires the dealer put on when I bought the car so I've been looking on craigslist too for some good snow tires.
 
I run winterforce on my stock 17's. throw some weight over the rear axle, and you should be okay.

Of course, I have a limited slip too, so that helps out with traction.
 
I run an 11,000 lb 4 wheel drive in poor weather conditions. :p Haven't pulled an LS out of the ditch yet, but I have pulled a ton of other makes and models.

Either LS drivers are better at driving than the rest, or the LS does better in the snow... dunno.
 
svtman said:
Actually, the outer 55% of the Blizzak is comprised of the multicell layer and always has been. The remaining 45% is regular all season tire. If your tires are more than 50% worn out, you just have a regular all season tire and should not be expecting anything special out of these tires. Probably why the guy sold them...
Click to expand...

The key is that the special soft bubbly rubber compound wears out much faster than regular rubber. Thus the magazines I read in the early 2000's said you would get about 5,000 miles before all you had was a regular tire. Since I live in so Cal now, I don't pay much attention to snow tire articles anymore, har har.

So if the tires show appreciable wear, then they are probably no longer effective on snow and ice.

Jim Henderson
 
well we will see. im never buying snow tires again i can tell you that. the outter endges on the 2 fronts are worn a bit. you can deffinetly still see some of the sipes in the thread, the backs are in alot better shape. if nothing else the thread design should help as well.

i had a flat this morning, if they continue to go flat and leak air and :q:q:q:q then im gonna have to ask for my money back lol.

Ive drivin all my winters in high hp high torque rwd v8 cars, the LS being the least of the group. my old 400+rwhp trans am got nowhere, wasnt even worth the try. my 6 speed lt1 camaro did alot better. The LS really needs a limited slip and most of the worries would be gone. IVe noticed that at higher speeds in deep snow these cars can be unpredictable tho, maybe its the fact im lowered, but 2 winters ago i drove with the traction control off (if i had it my way id turn ABS off too LOL) and was ok till i waso n the highway trying to go as fast as other cars. then i had to turn the traction control back on, and it was constantly working. i was on bald proxeys lol as well. last year i was on almost new yokohama avid trz tires and i went places well and i went other places not so well, and got stuck in a front yard due to acting like a kid and having a bit to much fun. Im hoping that having the better thread on the back will help me more. Im used to driving cars that are even worse then this thing, i just hate it because this car isnt powerful, and it just SUCKS in snow lol. Im looking for a new ride soon tho. deffinetly going fwd and v6 if i can, 4 cyl will work tho. im done with v8's for now.
 
I have Blizzak WS60's on the LS now on a second winter. No problem in deep snow, icy conditions etc. Never got stuck last winter and did well during the snow fall on Wednesday (about 5 inches by us plus ice).

When I was purchasing the car it had worn all seasons and I took it out on some back roads (we border on rural areas) that were pretty icy and the car did well to stay straight.

From what I understand with the Blizzaks, once the "spongy" outer layer is worn you're left with a regular winter tire....that is winter rubber and thread pattern.
 
pektel said:
I run winterforce on my stock 17's. throw some weight over the rear axle, and you should be okay.

Of course, I have a limited slip too, so that helps out with traction.
Click to expand...

I am rocking the Winterforces as well with weight in the trunk and its a beautiful thing! I can only imagine a LSD....:)
 
lincoln needs to be shot for that. lets build a RWD v8 sports saloon to compete with a bmw 540...and not give it an LSD
 
trilkb said:
well we will see. im never buying snow tires again i can tell you that. the outter endges on the 2 fronts are worn a bit. you can deffinetly still see some of the sipes in the thread, the backs are in alot better shape.
Click to expand...
So you didn't inspect these used tires before handing over the cash? I wouldn't say never purchase snow tires again, just don't buy USED snow tires again that are worn out.

lsintoronto said:
I have Blizzak WS60's on the LS now on a second winter.
Click to expand...
I just purchased those last week and they get installed tomorrow. I hope my experience with them meets the great reviews they have received.
 
no no no, i inspected them. Im just told that snow tires arnt all that better then all season tires.
 
I run Michellen Ice-Xi2's....... they handle like a $1,000,000 :D

If you live in "nasty" winter area, I would highly recommend these tires.
 
i got my blizzacks about 2 months ago. they were only $65 each from tire rack. i havent had a chance to use it in snow or ice yet, but theyre great in dry and wet conditions. they are about an inch and a half shorter than the stock, so i need to be more careful around bumps in the road.
 
oandtmaster said:
i got my blizzacks about 2 months ago. they were only $65 each from tire rack. i havent had a chance to use it in snow or ice yet, but theyre great in dry and wet conditions. they are about an inch and a half shorter than the stock, so i need to be more careful around bumps in the road.
Click to expand...
which size did you get for $65?

i need em
 
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