Why Waffle Sipes - but very little depth

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by HangFire
Originally Posted by UG_Passat
Originally Posted by tcp71
The nokians we run here go all the way down. They have a treat depth molded in that shows 8,6,4 and 2mm of depth left.


But, the snowflake indicator doesn't go down to 2mm. It disappears at about 5mm.

I think that is Nokian's way of informing the user that snow performance depends on tread depth as well as sipe depth.

^This.
Still keeps usable snow performance with full winter compound with siping, unlike many Bridgestone models. I think new WS90 is full depth also.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by A_Harman
I have Blizzak LT's on my '08 Dodge that I use for RV transport. The sipes go all the way down. The first run I made on the Blizzaks, the tread squirm was bad enough that I thought that the rear suspension was broken. After about 1000 miles, they got better. The tread wear rate is very high, and I had to rotate them after a month. I don't know if they will have enough tread to get through the winter. Last year I ran in snow until May 20. But the snow traction of the Blizzaks is just incredible, and I wouldn't use any other tire to run the northern routes in winter. In December I ran back from Grand Junction, CO across the Eisenhower pass and over Copper Mountain. In about 3 hours of driving through heavy snow, the truck didn't slip once, and I was not overstressed to keep control.

Some Blizzaks have full siping some not.
And they are OK, I would not call them incredible. I found Michelin to be much better overall winter tire than any Blizzak I had. They are definitely formidable snow tire, but they also have some serious weaknesses, especially WS80/DM-V2 generation.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by HangFire
Originally Posted by UG_Passat
Originally Posted by tcp71
The nokians we run here go all the way down. They have a treat depth molded in that shows 8,6,4 and 2mm of depth left.


But, the snowflake indicator doesn't go down to 2mm. It disappears at about 5mm.

I think that is Nokian's way of informing the user that snow performance depends on tread depth as well as sipe depth.

^This.
Still keeps usable snow performance with full winter compound with siping, unlike many Bridgestone models. I think new WS90 is full depth also.


Bridgestone Blizzak WS/DM series have 2 compounds, both winter compounds. The first 55% (ish) is their multi-cell tube whatever they call it compound, and the remaining 45% have a high silica winter compound. Only on the early Blizzak WS-series where the last 45% had an all-season compound.

Blizzak LM-series have a full single high silica winter compound throughout the tread depth.

 

[edyvw]

Quote
Bridgestone Blizzak WS/DM series have 2 compounds, both winter compounds. The first 55% (ish) is their multi-cell tube whatever they call it compound, and the remaining 45% have a high silica winter compound. Only on the early Blizzak WS-series where the last 45% had an all-season compound.

Blizzak LM-series have a full single high silica winter compound throughout the tread depth.


Yes, you are right. However, I think they moved to a single winter compound with WS90. Though on DM-V2 once first compound is out, second one is mediocre at best although tire is still at 6/32.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted by geeman789
I had a set of Nokian RSi winter tires. About 3 generations from the current stuff. Probably the best pure winter tire I have ever used, with full depth sipes thru every tread block. They made this weird sizzle sound on wet pavement ...

And they absolutely SUCKED on a warmish day ( above freezing ) on a bare highway. The tire was borderline unsafe at speeds above about 65 mph. It would wander and wallow, and just felt REALLY unstable.

I wonder if the numerous full depth sipes, a super soft compound and an R speed rating made it so unstable ?


Recently put a set of the new Continental VikingContact7 on the fiancée's 2018 Civic HB 1.5T 6MT's spare wheels, for her to drive up to Northern Indiana. Due to scheduling, we drove the car here in Nashville for a day or 2 before she left to go up there, and, sure enough, it was beautiful and 60°.

To us, those VikingContact7 felt similar to how you just described. Directional stability was fine and ride was good. No issues with higher speeds or anything. The wallowy, unstable feel was mainly when you changed lanes and in turns.

Something else that made the difference much more noticeable was the fact that her good weather wheel/tire combo are 18" wheels with Goodyear Eagle Sport, which are a sport-biased all season. Little bit firmer.

She did say that they firmed up once she got up north and it was below freezing. And she did run into some snow and ice and they did great, obviously, in that.

They don't have full-depth sipes.

Incidentally, I have my 3rd set of LTX M/S-2 on the Tacoma and they are pretty awesome tires. Especially good in the wet and with aquaplaning resistance.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted by edyvw
Quote
Bridgestone Blizzak WS/DM series have 2 compounds, both winter compounds. The first 55% (ish) is their multi-cell tube whatever they call it compound, and the remaining 45% have a high silica winter compound. Only on the early Blizzak WS-series where the last 45% had an all-season compound.

Blizzak LM-series have a full single high silica winter compound throughout the tread depth.


Yes, you are right. However, I think they moved to a single winter compound with WS90. Though on DM-V2 once first compound is out, second one is mediocre at best although tire is still at 6/32.


https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Blizzak+WS90

Blizzak WS90 tires feature snow platforms that act as winter wear bars and notify drivers when they are near the end of the Multi-Cell compound (actual depth of Multi-Cell compound varies slightly by tire size). Beneath the Multi-Cell compound is Bridgestone's best winter compound, but without the Multi-Cell feature.