Continental Extreme Winter contact vs Blizzak w70

[that_guy]

Originally Posted by Shimmyshake

You can't go wrong with either tire. The only downside of the Blizzaks is that they wear out fast.

That's not true, that's a myth. Same myth that says snow tires are softer compound than other tires.

I had the Blizzak WS70's on my old tC (225/45R18) and after 2 seasons on them I'd only worn down 3/32's of tread. That's after about 20,000kms of driving. And a friend of mine has been driving 2 years, year round on the same tire and still has a ton of tread left. Far from poor wear in my opinion. If you have a proper alignment and aren't trying to launch off every light, they will last you many seasons.

But back on topic, the Conti's are great. Just tried them out in my first snow fall (4") on the weekend and traction is superb. Only caught traction control once at a light and beyond that, they were very confident inspiring.

[dsgerbc]

Originally Posted by that_guy

after 2 seasons on them I'd only worn down 3/32's of tread.

So if they were new @12/32nds, in a season you'll be at 7-8/32nds. That's where personally I dump my winter tires on CL. I consider them worthless at around 6/32nds (although there is a CL market for those too, some people just need cheap tires to get them to work tomorrow and that's it), so I'm getting rid of them when they still have some use left.

[that_guy]

I'm not going to say that's a bad practice or a good one. It's definitely better than driving on them till cords show though!

Honestly, I look at sipe depth and movement in winters. As soon as the sipes seem to stop functioning as they should, the tire is tossed. The WS70 had plenty of "wiggle" left in the tire and sipes after 2 seasons and probably would have finished out there life at the end of the 3rd or early in the 4th. Considering that, they owed me nothing.

[Shimmyshake]

Originally Posted by that_guy

That's not true, that's a myth. Same myth that says snow tires are softer compound than other tires.

I had the Blizzak WS70's on my old tC (225/45R18) and after 2 seasons on them I'd only worn down 3/32's of tread. That's after about 20,000kms of driving. And a friend of mine has been driving 2 years, year round on the same tire and still has a ton of tread left. Far from poor wear in my opinion. If you have a proper alignment and aren't trying to launch off every light, they will last you many seasons.

But back on topic, the Conti's are great. Just tried them out in my first snow fall (4") on the weekend and traction is superb. Only caught traction control once at a light and beyond that, they were very confident inspiring.

I've never had Blizzak's before but I based my comment on what I read online, friends & what tire shops told me. The info was consistent atleast out here on the westcoast. We don't ever get deep snow so I'm asssuming by driving on pavement more often it wears it down faster?

[shu5892001]

I got blizzak lm60 on my frs, feels good

[Ingen]

Originally Posted by Double4Free

I was thinking that, on steel wheels. Same as what you did?

That's what I did, Tire rack 16" steel wheels + the conti EWC tires. I haven't mounted them yet because I am waiting until the last second, but they're extremely grippy to carry I guess? lol.

I chose them based on them being cheaper than the blizzaks and beating them in the tests as well. Also supposedly quieter on the road.

[ScionFR-S]

the Generals i have on my FRS on stocks 205/50-17 awesome tire, just cant be as spirited on the road as the summer tires but its only for winter and if you want a winter tire that will get you out of the worst situations then why not go with one that is dedicated for just the winter and not a winter performance bc when your stuck your gunna say to yourself, should have gotten me those dedicated winter/ice tires. PLUS the generals only costed me 500 bucks compared to others that are 700+

[Foobar]

Originally Posted by ScionFR-S

the Generals i have on my FRS on stocks 205/50-17 awesome tire, just cant be as spirited on the road as the summer tires but its only for winter and if you want a winter tire that will get you out of the worst situations then why not go with one that is dedicated for just the winter and not a winter performance bc when your stuck your gunna say to yourself, should have gotten me those dedicated winter/ice tires. PLUS the generals only costed me 500 bucks compared to others that are 700+

I have the LM60 winter performance tires for the following reasons:

• We don't usually get a lot of snow/nice accumulation here on Long Island
• As an ancillary, dry performance during cold winter months is more important to me than snow/ice traction
• The dedicated snow/ice tires tend to use a softer compound that wears out a lot faster on dry pavement, and gets pretty squirrely on same.

So, that all said - I agree that something like the WS70 or other dedicate snow/ice tire would be better to get out of the worst conditions, but my historical use case is to drive the car in normal cold-weather conditions, and to avoid driving in the worst conditions. To this end, winter performance tires were a better fit. It'll still get me through snow/ice better than all-seasons, and I'll still be able to get some spirited performance during cold weather dry conditions. It won't be the best for snow/ice accumulation, but in those situations I'll just be relying on the winter performance tires to get me home at a safe and careful pace.

[Dezoris]

Had both. the WS70 was more stable for me in deep snow when the tires were new.
The Continental handled better in dry conditions IMO.

[ScionFR-S]

Originally Posted by Foobar

I have the LM60 winter performance tires for the following reasons:

• We don't usually get a lot of snow/nice accumulation here on Long Island
• As an ancillary, dry performance during cold winter months is more important to me than snow/ice traction
• The dedicated snow/ice tires tend to use a softer compound that wears out a lot faster on dry pavement, and gets pretty squirrely on same.

So, that all said - I agree that something like the WS70 or other dedicate snow/ice tire would be better to get out of the worst conditions, but my historical use case is to drive the car in normal cold-weather conditions, and to avoid driving in the worst conditions. To this end, winter performance tires were a better fit. It'll still get me through snow/ice better than all-seasons, and I'll still be able to get some spirited performance during cold weather dry conditions. It won't be the best for snow/ice accumulation, but in those situations I'll just be relying on the winter performance tires to get me home at a safe and careful pace.

i agree with you and the generals are really below average on the dry pavement spectrum and if i go over 80mph i can feel myself lose control of the car and i cant beat the civic si on the way home from school on the highway
i want to see the tread on these and see how long it will last, then for my next winter set i will go for a winter/performance tire and see what happens

[dem00n]

I have the Continental's, i can feel a little bit less grip then the stock Michelins.

It seems every 1 out of 3 corners i get the slip light exiting the corner...

Have yet to test it on snow, though it did great in the rain today.

[that_guy]

Originally Posted by Shimmyshake

I've never had Blizzak's before but I based my comment on what I read online, friends & what tire shops told me. The info was consistent atleast out here on the westcoast. We don't ever get deep snow so I'm asssuming by driving on pavement more often it wears it down faster?

Ya, dry pavement can cause winter tires to wear faster for sure. The sipes end of moving more causing accelerated wearing.

I've noticed my Conti's wearing a little more over the sipes than usual and that's likely due to the mild weather right now. We haven't hit too many days with temps below 0 yet, but I'm sure when that happens the wear will slow down a little.

[Dipstik-sportech]

So far my conti's are amazing. I'll be trying them out on the ice race track when we finally get enough cold. I've raced on blizzaks for a few years so it will be interesting to see how the conti's compare.

[NRGBalanced]

Originally Posted by Foobar

I have the LM60 winter performance tires for the following reasons:

• We don't usually get a lot of snow/nice accumulation here on Long Island
• As an ancillary, dry performance during cold winter months is more important to me than snow/ice traction
• The dedicated snow/ice tires tend to use a softer compound that wears out a lot faster on dry pavement, and gets pretty squirrely on same.

So, that all said - I agree that something like the WS70 or other dedicate snow/ice tire would be better to get out of the worst conditions, but my historical use case is to drive the car in normal cold-weather conditions, and to avoid driving in the worst conditions. To this end, winter performance tires were a better fit. It'll still get me through snow/ice better than all-seasons, and I'll still be able to get some spirited performance during cold weather dry conditions. It won't be the best for snow/ice accumulation, but in those situations I'll just be relying on the winter performance tires to get me home at a safe and careful pace.

I purchased Dunlop Winter Sport 3D tires for almost the same reasons in the Boston area. Too much highway driving in the dry for me.

WS70s cornering through a small-diameter off-ramp are scary and fun at the same time. I had those on my Altima, and after one season I had visibly worn the fronts more than the rears (< 6000 miles!).