New Bridgestone Blizzak WS90

Originally Posted by krzyss
Sometimes local dealer ruins experience of very good product.
Oh well.
Maybe Michelin releases killer Xi4 next year ;-)

KrzyÅ›

One thing about winter tires in Colorado is that CO weather is really hard on them. We do not have New England or Midwest winters where depressing clouds roll in in November and they do not leave until April-May. Here today we will have snow, tomorrow will be 3 degrees, than sun will come out hard, melt snow, turn that into ice. In two days temperature will spike in 50-60's with a lot of sunshine and all shortcomings of winter tires are going to come out. It will be like that 5-6 days, then another storm will roll in, dump snow, than turn that into ice, than again 60's etc. In the spring, temperatures will go to 60's even 70's, but we might get huge storm, especially if we are in El Nino cycle. Then if you ski, you can drive from 60's to 0 degrees and full blown blizzard within 2hrs of drive, then you ski, drive back into 60's.
Bottom line, best is to have well rounded tire that does everything good. That is why I prefer Xi2 on my Sienna compared to Nokian's R2.
 
New England is sometimes "blessed" with spring in January. Just to have winter return in February and March.
Tires need to be well rounded here too.

KrzyÅ›
 
More comments from Tire Rack:

Quote
Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 94H)
What We Liked: Test-leading wet traction and acceleration traction on the ice.
What We'd Improve: It's not as refined on the road as some of the competitors.
Conclusion: A worthy successor to the Blizzak name.

Continental VikingContact 7 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 98T)
What We Liked: Very strong ice traction and objective wet performance.
What We'd Improve: The on-road handling was polarizing, feels a little unsettled in the wet.
Conclusion: It's competitive with the best on the market.

Michelin X-ice Xi3 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 98H)
What We Liked: It feels great on the road and in the wet.
What We'd Improve: The competition has passed it by on the ice.
Conclusion: Still a great tire.
 
Today Bridgestone has released a second new Blizzak tire, the LM005 performance winter.

[URL]https://www.tyrepress.com/2019/02/b...lm005-winter-tyre-with-a-grade-wet-grip/[/URL]
So it looks like this LM005 never made it to the US market?

Sister lives in Europe and needs winter tires for her '08 Volvo S40. I've been looking at some recent Euro tire tests and this LM005 keeps coming up on top quite a bit. I think I'm going to recommend she buys these.

 
More comments from Tire Rack:

Quote
Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 94H)
What We Liked: Test-leading wet traction and acceleration traction on the ice.
What We'd Improve: It's not as refined on the road as some of the competitors.
Conclusion: A worthy successor to the Blizzak name.

Continental VikingContact 7 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 98T)
What We Liked: Very strong ice traction and objective wet performance.
What We'd Improve: The on-road handling was polarizing, feels a little unsettled in the wet.
Conclusion: It's competitive with the best on the market.

Michelin X-ice Xi3 (Studless Ice & Snow, 225/50R17 98H)
What We Liked: It feels great on the road and in the wet.
What We'd Improve: The competition has passed it by on the ice.
Conclusion: Still a great tire.
I have Viking7 on BMW. It is exceptional tire, especially if compared to R2 I have on Tiguan.
However, BMW suspension is too much for it. I do run smallest size possible, but car overwhelms tire easily if wanted in dry or wet. But, ice, snow, wet, dry, slush, anything as long as driven normally, tire is performing exceptional.
 
My Viking 7 are poor match for Mazda MX-5 (aka Miata) but there was limited selection when I bought it last year.

Krzys
 
They are not best match for performance vehicles. Michelin is probably best choice where suspension is potent.
or buying actual performance winter.
vikingcontact 7 is fine on the elantra.. its not the sportiest thing but not a minivan either.

I bet most would like them better than kumho kh16, ta31 or some other turd oem tires :)

Michelin do feel the most like standard touring at least the ones I've driven.. however
a standard touring isnt a very high bar for tire performance..
its quite abit better than the mush winter tires of yesteryear though.

IF I wanted winter road carving I'd probably be looking at tires similar to (or never versions of)
michelin pilot alpin (5?), dunlop 4d, pirelli sottozero 3, blizzak lm001 etc
 
or buying actual performance winter.
vikingcontact 7 is fine on the elantra.. its not the sportiest thing but not a minivan either.

I bet most would like them better than kumho kh16, ta31 or some other turd oem tires :)

Michelin do feel the most like standard touring at least the ones I've driven.. however
a standard touring isnt a very high bar for tire performance..
its quite abit better than the mush winter tires of yesteryear though.

IF I wanted winter road carving I'd probably be looking at tires similar to (or never versions of)
michelin pilot alpin (5?), dunlop 4d, pirelli sottozero 3, blizzak lm001 etc
I have them on BMW. You can actually push them OK in curves. I ski twice a week, drive back roads in the Rockies. They are far better than Nokian or Bridgestone. However, there is always feeling it is hardcore winter tire.
Now, in dry I sometimes wish performance winter tire. Then, when I hit snow storm at 11,000ft I remember why I bought them :)
 
I have them on BMW. You can actually push them OK in curves. I ski twice a week, drive back roads in the Rockies. They are far better than Nokian or Bridgestone. However, there is always feeling it is hardcore winter tire.
Now, in dry I sometimes wish performance winter tire. Then, when I hit snow storm at 11,000ft I remember why I bought them :)
I agree 100%
I have them on the 2020 elantra, they are better in every way than the substandard pos oem tires.. ok they are slightly louder.
just havent found the right deal or I'd have replaced the oems with some conti dws06, bfg gs-05, or pilot sport 4 all seasons on it

Picture is slightly misleading from angle.
tires are Oem 205/55r16, and vikingcontact 7 195/65r15 (very close to same circumference/diameter)

second pic is a vikingcontact 7 on top of my blizzak dm-v2 stack
IMG_20201128_155153423.jpg
IMG_20201128_153323669.jpg
 
I agree 100%
I have them on the 2020 elantra, they are better in every way than the substandard pos oem tires.. ok they are slightly louder.
just havent found the right deal or I'd have replaced the oems with some conti dws06, bfg gs-05, or pilot sport 4 all seasons on it

Picture is slightly misleading from angle.
tires are Oem 205/55r16, and vikingcontact 7 195/65r15 (very close to same circumference/diameter)

second pic is a vikingcontact 7 on top of my blizzak dm-v2 stack
View attachment 35484
View attachment 35483
I had DM-V2 on X5 when they got out. I really did not like their behavior in ice. Michelin Xi2 I put later were much better, and Viking7 is better than both (though Xi2 is really good in dry and wet).
 
I had DM-V2 on X5 when they got out. I really did not like their behavior in ice. Michelin Xi2 I put later were much better, and Viking7 is better than both (though Xi2 is really good in dry and wet).

This will be my 4th winter on the dm-v2 and unfortunately they have plenty of tread left. I was actually after the michelin xice xi2 latitude but they went out of stock.. only thing they had in november/december 2017 was blizzaks and crap. available.
Was a terrible DTD experience. They came in snowstorm.. I mounted them in blizzard at night and on the 4th tire the wheel weights all fell off in my hand.
went around to the other 3 tires and all the weights were falling off.
-- apparently DTD never cleaned the waxy finish off the new wheels so the weights wouldnt stick.

Dismounted them, put AT tire set back on.
Drove to DT the next day 33miles one way...and they wouldnt fix without me buying TPMS.. bought the TPMS.. which was ok I sorta wanted it anyway.. great system on jeep.
Sensors werent working.. for 2 days.. discovered they never installed tpms sensors at DT that I paid for.

Drove another 66mile around trip to DT. Store manager took care of me.. they went from I'm a pain in the rear to we screwed up.
their attitude change earned back my business.
 
This will be my 4th winter on the dm-v2 and unfortunately they have plenty of tread left. I was actually after the michelin xice xi2 latitude but they went out of stock.. only thing they had in november/december 2017 was blizzaks and crap. available.
Was a terrible DTD experience. They came in snowstorm.. I mounted them in blizzard at night and on the 4th tire the wheel weights all fell off in my hand.
went around to the other 3 tires and all the weights were falling off.

Dismounted them. Drove to DT the next day and they wouldnt fix without me buying TPMS.. bought the TPMS.. which was ok I sorta wanted it anyway.. great system on jeep.
Sensors werent working.. for 2 days.. discovered they never installed tpms sensors at DT that I paid for.

Drove another 66mile around trip to DT. Store manager took care of me.. they went from I'm a pain in the rear to we screwed up.
their attitude change earned back my business.
Your experience sounds like mine with DT. I am done with them. I actually now take tires I purchased in DT to Costco for balancing, and I just pay for it. All future tires I am buying in Costco which limits me to Michelin and Bridgestone, but Continental tires are not worth that experience in DT.
 
I bought 2 ws90s when I saw a deep cut in one of my ws80s. So I have the 80s on the front and the 90s on the back. Don't judge! Too bad it hasn't snowed this winter.
 
This will be my 4th winter on the dm-v2 and unfortunately they have plenty of tread left. I was actually after the michelin xice xi2 latitude but they went out of stock.. only thing they had in november/december 2017 was blizzaks and crap. available.
Was a terrible DTD experience. They came in snowstorm.. I mounted them in blizzard at night and on the 4th tire the wheel weights all fell off in my hand.
went around to the other 3 tires and all the weights were falling off.
-- apparently DTD never cleaned the waxy finish off the new wheels so the weights wouldnt stick.

Dismounted them, put AT tire set back on.
Drove to DT the next day 33miles one way...and they wouldnt fix without me buying TPMS.. bought the TPMS.. which was ok I sorta wanted it anyway.. great system on jeep.
Sensors werent working.. for 2 days.. discovered they never installed tpms sensors at DT that I paid for.

Drove another 66mile around trip to DT. Store manager took care of me.. they went from I'm a pain in the rear to we screwed up.
their attitude change earned back my business.

When a customer brings in cold wheels, ie it's already freezing the wheel weights just won't stick. If there's salt on the roads, the wheel weights will not stick. But even if you manage to get the wheels dry and clean they are still too cold. Never noticed any waxy finishes on new wheels but I tend to clean the area where I will stick the weights with windscreen fluid. Ethanol is a good degreaser and easy to clean off. Use something like brake cleaner and guess what, the weights won't stick...

Don't know if that happened in your case...
 
When a customer brings in cold wheels, ie it's already freezing the wheel weights just won't stick. If there's salt on the roads, the wheel weights will not stick. But even if you manage to get the wheels dry and clean they are still too cold. Never noticed any waxy finishes on new wheels but I tend to clean the area where I will stick the weights with windscreen fluid. Ethanol is a good degreaser and easy to clean off. Use something like brake cleaner and guess what, the weights won't stick...

Don't know if that happened in your case...
they were brand new wheels. in a warehouse.

mail order.. you order up wheels and tires and they mount and balance and ship them out.

They arrived fully packed with cardboard and straps.. just none of the sticky weights were sticking worth a darn.

The first couple tires they were hanging on enough to not fall off immediately.. but you could nudge one and it would fall off with a finger.

The last one was so bad the weights all fell off and were laying on the cardboard.

Installer error, bad sticky weights, substance on wheels? who knows except the wheels felt kinda odd too.. thought maybe they had some kind of protectant on them for storage
or after they were manufacturered.
 
That happens a lot too. We order complete sets and they arrive with the wheelweights on the palet instead of the wheels. My guess is unheated warehouses and cheapest wheelweights and cheap staff to make a profit on those package deals.

Also common is rotational tyres mounted wrong. 3 lefties and 1 rightey....
 
The WS90 has been on the market for 5 years. Some independent tire dealers are showing Blizzak WS100 on their website, but with no price or photo. I think we will see an official announcement from Bridgestone this year about the WS100.

Screen Shot 2024-02-13 at 5.52.00 AM.jpg
 
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