Blizzak WS60

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For those who have used this tire, how are they in dry/highway conditions??? Obviously they are stellar on snow and ice, but are they liveable if you have a highway commute?

I can get a set on Craigslist with 2,000 miles for $200! Reviews however seem to indicate that they're pretty squirmy at speed and wear fast, but for the price, I might have to grab them.

Thanks!
 
If you're going to drive it aggressively, the microcell tube compound (approx. first 55%) is squishy. But that's the price you pay for the snow & ice performance.

The less squishy version of the WS-60 is the LM-60, which trades the microcell tube compound for a stiffer high silica winter compound for the entire tread. There may be other differences internally as well, but externally, the LM-60 and WS-60 has the same tread pattern.
 
I recall them being slightly squishy at speed, and certainly not meant for "handling". but as you said, they were AMAZING in snow and ice. They were OK in the dry when it was cold out. But the couple times I used them when it warmed up (but not quite time to take them off) they felt pretty bad and you could even smell the tire getting hot, with normal driving on a warmer day.
 
It's a pretty old tire, but perfectly fine for winter use even at highway speeds. Snow tires do tend to be a bit louder than an all-season but it's far from objectionable.

Do not use them if the pavement is above 45 F -- they will ride terribly, wear out really fast, and have absolute [censored]-level handling characteristics.

The LM-60 is the performance version. It's not rated for ice, but will handle better on dry pavement. Speed ratings are usually higher, too.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm


The LM-60 is the performance version. It's not rated for ice, but will handle better on dry pavement. Speed ratings are usually higher, too.


There is no standardized "rating" for ice anyway for the RMA traction test.

But... Bridgestone does lump ice performance with the Winter performance category.
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tire/blizzak-lm-60
 
I had WS60s back in the day, and they will wear pretty fast on dry road along with being very marshmellowy, but the snow performance was unreal. I could practically plow snow with my one tire fire Crown Vic.
 
I had LM-60 on VW CC. For CC even LM-60 is bit soft and will wear out fast. But snow performance is really good. Also, hydroplaning is really good. Handling on rain is average, handling above 45 degrees is really bad and WS60 will be even worse.
Question is, what kind of car you are driving? If it is Toyota Corolla or similar, it will be fine. If it is BMW 3 series it will wear out tires like crazy.
 
Whats the production date if its not within 5 years pass.

Also mileage doesnt matter what is the tread depth..

tons of shysters on craigslist... selling "like new" tires that are nearly bald etc.

What size tire some can easily be had in the 60-70$ range(unmounted)after rebates@dtd.
 
185/65 r14

They have 10/32 tread.

Considering my area will get in the mid 60s in January from time to time, in between massive snow and ice storms, and I'll be doing a lot of highway driving, perhaps I should pass on these.
 
I think the the Michelin X-Ice XI3's would be a good choice for you. Snow/ice handling may not be quite as good as the Blizzak's but is still excellent, and the dry/highway performance and treadlife of the XI3 is far superior.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
185/65 r14

They have 10/32 tread.

Considering my area will get in the mid 60s in January from time to time, in between massive snow and ice storms, and I'll be doing a lot of highway driving, perhaps I should pass on these.


I had that exact size on my Civic. They weren't terrible on dry highway conditions. They were a little squirmy and I'm sure breaking capability wasn't the greatest, but they were far from unusable. I actually thought they wore pretty well. I got about 30000 miles out of the ice tread and then used them up in the summer following that. I bought them new on clearance for about $240.
 
I have a set I had to run on the Mustang last year. 245/45r17. They were used for 95% highway commuting, 70mi each way. No complaints!
 
I put a set of Blizzaks on our old '97 Accord because I wanted to try a dedicated winter tire and because they were $200.00 for the set shipped in 195/65/15. The time to buy winter tires is in the spring when they're on clearance, of course.
They were really good in real winter conditions and it was about as hard to get wheel spin on packed snow as it was and is with our AWD Forester.
They were also soft, squishy and not very stable on dry roads.
They were still on the car when I sold it at 207K with about 40K on the tires.
They were not yet at the wear bars.
 
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