Winter tires - Blizzak LM-60 or X-Ice Xi2?
 

Lots of users recommended Blizzaks in the past. Reading the reviews on Tirerack, the Michelin X-Ice is getting good marks, but haven't seen much on them in here.

Attaching the comparison of specs.
Michelin X-ice Xi2 product page & reviews: TireRack.com Tire Reviews
Bridgestone Blizzak lm-60 product page & reviews: Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60

From a 350Z owner:

"Tire performance in snow was decent, but not as good as my previous set (Michelin X-Ice Xi2) of winter tires. What was really disappointing was the tread wear. The tires started to cup very early into their life, which caused a constant vibration throughout the car (particularly at highway speeds). When I went back to the Firestone shop, they refused to reimburse me or offer any kind of future discount because they claim that the cupping was caused by the lack of tire rotation, not their inferior product. These tires have a directional tread (can only rotate in one direction) and my front and rear tires are different sizes, so it is impossible to rotate these tires. This is a pretty common trait on a lot of sports cars. You would think that Bridgestone could make a tire that could handle not being rotated."

edit: I searched the forum and only one person that said they were decent. (http://www.the370z.com/wheels-tires/...x-ice-xi2.html) -- and other threads said "the x-ice should be good" but no real comparison to the Blizzaks everyone else has been raving about.

Also, if anybody around here has OEM 18s for sale, let me know.

edit #2: X-ice has better speed rating, too, didn't highlight that.

being a bridgestone guy that i am (and previous suceess with their WS60), i will be getting the LM60's for my dd soon.

Of those I would get the Blizzaks.

I don't have a direct comparison on the same vehicle but I use the X-Ice2 tires on a different vehicle and have been very happy with them. The usual full tread depth snow tire squirm but very predictable, doesn't even mind being pushed to the limit around a ramp although you'll get a fair amount of squeal. Light to moderate snow traction is excellent, deep snow traction pretty good as well. Wear has been very even so far after 2 seasons on them.

just throwing it out there, but i've had great luck with Hankook iPike...

I use the Dunlop Wintersport M3. They are a good tire with better dry pavement performance than the Blizzaks, but for NOVA winters they do very well.

I used the IPikes on my Prius, they suck. My blizzaks were better

BTW - I was presented with only three tires when I entered my specs into Tirerack.com -- and only a few wheels when I went wheel shopping on there. How am I missing so much?

I basically want a 18" wheel and snow set, but not the wheels AK got in his initial post. (I think they're ugly)

I feel stupid I don't know how to shop for these things - never did it before.

edit: the set should be a square set so I can rotate them front to back. Another thing I don't know about is spacers to make it look decent.
edit #2: I told it I had a base coupe instead of sport package, and it still only shows me a small selection of wheels.. at staggered sizes.

Just search by size, if you type in the car it will give you staggered sizes.

Tire rack is pretty much useless for wheel shopping. It will only show you staggered wheels that it knows fit the vehicle, and if you browse the wheels without entering car information then you can't buy online.

send email to alex@tirerack.com

he can get you wat you want regardless of which car it is.

+1 to you guys.
I e-mailed Alex @ Tirerack.

Thx - any reason?

They are proven and seem to get better survey reviews.

From the Blizzak fan-boys :)

I've talked to a lot of people that have had both, the X-Ice is a comparable tire and is cheaper. They have stolen pretty much all of Bridgestone's tech from over the years.

Then buy the Michelin :p

It depends on what sort of winter weather you're going to drive in, I've had experience with the x ice (1 gen back) and the LM-22's (2 gens back from the LM60's).

From my experience the X ice is going feel a lot softer than the LM's. But the Xice is going to give you better traction on icy roads. You're probably not going to drive in super deep snow with the Z but the Xice is also better in the snow.

The best winter tire I've used is the Nokian Hakka this is softer than the X Ice, probably not what you're looking for.

i run blizzaks on my sti. cant imagine it getting better than that..

cool. i too sent an email to alex this am to place my order of LM60's. :p wanted to take advantace of that $50 gift card. :tup:

right! by September, 30, right?

yep! :tup:

just got back from tirerack. yet again they did an awesome scratch-free prefect mounting on my factory wheels :p LM60's are now ready to go in my garage just as soon as average temps hit sub 40F's (my dd G35C that is). :)

Followup post: Blizzaks LM-60s are great.
How did it go for you, Mr. K?

Of course... they didn't see much snow this year, weirdly enough in New England. I was hoping to test them in a Blizzard :) Z stayed indoors during Snowtober '11, but it was useful just for the cold weather, I guess. Wondering when to change back to summers..

Keep the winter tires on until at least mid to late March in New England. I drove the Z the last couple of days on Summer tires and the traction was a bit sketchy. When the mornings are above 40F and the highs above 60F then the Summer tires will be usable.

I've been wearing my Wintersports down this "winter." :shakes head:

You could have a 3rd set of wheels with all-seasons for the in-between days :)

I just bought an S2000 instead. It has some brand new all seasons on it. So basically:

Summer:
5.0 on Michelin PSS
S2000 on Star Specs

Winter:
5.0 on Wintersports
S2000 on Hankook Ventus V4es (yeah, not great, but they are brand new so I might as well use them.)

:tup:

Michelin is offer $70 rebate on them

Yup

:icon08: :gtfo2: :mad:










































:icon17: haha I agree. They are kinda on the ugly side BUT I only bought them because they were significantly lightweight compared to other winter rims and that's about it. However, I do like the rims spearfish bought. Looks nice with the Z.

Ahahahah immediately regretting that post :rofl2:
I ended up with just-as-ugly black wheels. They actually blend in with the tire which is good, but not very flashy and I don't have spacers. So yours look better for sure :tup:

5" of snow + LM60's on my G35C (VDC off) = no issue. :D