Quote:
Originally Posted by JooFoo
In choosing a winter tire, you need to consider the conditions of the winter roads that you expect to do most of your driving. If you live in an area where snow removal is infrequent, WS-70 will probably be a better choice than the LM60. But if your roads are kept clean on most days, LM-60 could be a good bet.
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Very well said.
There is no such thing as "the best winter tire", since winter tires are all about making compromises between:
- dry traction
- wet traction
- ice traction
- snow traction
(and other things like wear resistance, road noise, cost, etc)
However, even big cities like Toronto may have side roads which remain unplowed for days after a big storm. Also, even plowed/salted roads can develop black ice after a thaw-refreeze cycle.
I debated between "performance winter tires" and "snow/ice winter tires" a few years ago when I got my E90 335xi, and ended up choosing a "snow/ice" set (Conti ExtremeWinterContact).
Those who want to learn more about winter tires may find this article helpful:
Car and Driver Winter Tire Comparison Test (Dec 2009):
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...mparison-tests
Also, I know of at least 2 comparison tests done by TireRack (both times on BMWs, interestingly):
Comparison Test #1 (between 3 snow/ice winter tires and 1 performance variety, on a 2008 E92 328i Coupe):
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=125
Comparison Test #2 (between 4 different snow/ice winter tires, on a 2012 F30 328i):
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=167
Quote:
Originally Posted by JooFoo
This is why I opted to get LM-60 on my 335: they provide better dry road handling than the WS-70.
The WS-70 offers better traction on wet/snow/ice roads. However, since snow always gets removed pretty quickly and effectively where I live in Montreal, I wanted the LM-60 because most days consist of driving on clean dry winter roads. I didn't want to compromise most days of dry road handling performance for just a handful of bad winter days. The WS-70 would be better for those miserable days, but I can avoid driving on those days.
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In Comparison Test #1 by TireRack, the LM actually had WORSE dry stopping distance than the WS. (In fact, it had the worst dry stopping distance among the 4 products, but the best wet stopping distance.)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=125
(Click on "Test Result Charts" or "Spider Charts" to see the actual data)
In the end, ANY winter tire will perform better in cold weather (<7 degrees C) than even the best all-season tire, and no tire in the world can stop a reckless driver from ending up in a ditch, so choose your product wisely and drive safely.
