Snow Tire Ratings

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 15, 2013

Just getting ready to take these off for the summer. This is my wife's vehicle but we drove together 100 miles yesterday in snow/sleet/freezing rain, mostly highway, windy/gusty conditions. Honestly with a cross wind I was a little disappointed, I had to constantly correct to maintain a line... I've a set on HT all season on a Toyota celica and haven't noticed any quirky type handling like this on that car. I'm not sure if this is the cars fault or the tires. I'll add another review at the end of summer concerning the handling.

Initial Review, 31 Miles on Tires
December 14, 2012

Just bought a set of MD10 (17” alloy wheels) and Bridgestone WS70 tyres (balance & mounted with sensors) from www.tirerack.com and saved over $1300.00 Canadian Dollars compared to buying them directly from the Dealership. I got the alloy wheels and tyres in 4 days from the United States. Great service, as well as fast and efficient. I got Lexus of Calgary to mount them onto my Lexus CT200H 2012. These tyres are like Velcro to ice and snow. I live in the South West of Calgary, which is very hilly, like Bow and Sarcee Trail. These Bridgestone WS70’s perform very well indeed and I have great confidence in their hill start, accelerating, cornering and most importantly stopping. I have over 24 years of driving experience from Europe, as well as here in Canada and I must say that these Bridgestone WS70 tyres, perform very well indeed. I would never dream of driving in winter without them.

Initial Review, 6,200 Miles on Tires
April 11, 2013

The Firestone Winter Force tires replaced the factory original Michelin LTS AT2 tires which were very good hiway tires but were terrible snow tires.

The Winter Forces were easy to balance, give almost no road noise, and drive down the hiway with no squirme with or w/o pulling a trler. Excellant traction in hiway snow or when pulling through deep snow on non-plowed gravel roads.

Two downsides with the Wimter Forces: lost of about 1 MPG, and they p/u hold sall rocks like crazy till about 55 MPH when they start poping into the wheel wells.

Initial Review, 34,000 Miles on Tires
April 05, 2013

These tires were on a 2010 Honda Odyssey. Tire pressure was checked regularly and tires were rotated religiously at 5,000 miles. I really expected better traction and wear from these tires. I would not purchase these tires again. Wet weather traction was fair at best and light snow traction was again only fair at best.

Initial Review, 42,000 Miles on Tires
April 29, 2013

these tires performed great on mud deep snow.
i do a lot of highway driving ,they were very decent with no issue at all.
bottomline i recommend these tires.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 25, 2013

We had a very dry winter in Denver until April. I was quite pleased with this tire on dry pavement. It has very good traction for a winter tire and is amazingly quiet. I finally got to see it perform on the snow, and it met all expections. Easily the best snow tire i have ever driven. And the price is excellent, too.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 22, 2013

I cannot say how much I love these tires off road !!!! If you're looking for an exceptional offload tire with good on road manners then look no further. I've tackled mud, rocks, and extremely deep snow (several feet deep) and these tires have pretty much reduced my winch usage to monthly checks and maintenance because I've yet to need to use it since getting these tires. I wheel mostly in the Black Hills of SD, that being said I cannot tell you how good they handle deep mud, however if they perform half as well in deep mud as they have in all of the other terrains then they will do great! These will be the only tires I put on my Jeep unless Goodrich develops a better set :)

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 25, 2013

I'm from the desert, so I don't have much experience with snow/snow tires but I moved to upstate NY and needed some snow tires. I am pretty happy with these tires. Can't compare to other snow tires, but these worked well for me. Good city/highway driving. Much better snow/ice traction than my all-seasons.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 02, 2013

Bought these almost 1.5 years ago for my wife's Audi A6 Quattro AWD and it became an absolute tank in the snow. Nothing could stop it. Turn the traction control off and it just dominated the roads. Truly forged a path for plow trucks to follow in the February snow storm where New England saw upwards of 3 (THREE) feet of snow. I was beside myself with this tire being labeled as "All-Season". Props to Audi on their AWD powertrain and all that, but these tires just showed to up perform, and they did just that. The roads have dried up now and the ride is still very smooth. Our two kids (3.5 and 7mo) both pass out from the smoothness and quietness of the ride. Had a 4 wheel alignment done at the time of installation.

Initial Review, 55,000 Miles on Tires
April 25, 2013

Bought these tires to replace the ONM Continentals, which were horrible. At the time I lived in PA, so I wanted tires that could handle moderate snow, which they performed well. Initially the tires were very good in wet conditions, but as the tread wore down some slippage developed from a standing start, but they never hydoplaned. These tires are of block design and I learned the hard way that rotation is essential at every oil change or 5K miles. I let the tires go due to a minor misalignment and they became very noisy. I had them shaved to even out the tread and with frequent rotation I got another 20K out of the tires. Just replaced the tires with 4/32 ends left, so the tread wear is excellent, even after shaving off some tread. These are good rugged tires and I would recommend them for heavy duty use. I went with a different brand this time as snow is no longer an issue for me. One more item, in five years the price of these tires has almost doubled,

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 18, 2013

These tires have two upstate NY winters under their belts and I couldn't be happier. I owned a set of Blizzaks on my old Civic and these are as good or better for less $$. My nose heavy FWD Acura plows through ANYTHING I threw at it with these tires on. I would most certainly buy them again, as well as recommend them to others. From light powder to packed icy snow I've always had confidence and control. Take em to an unplowed parking lot to play around and you'll see what I mean!

Initial Review, 12,000 Miles on Tires
April 01, 2013

I'm going on 3 years with these tires and getting ready to rotate for the second time. With just over 12,000 miles on them, I am halfway to the wear bars, so I expect less than 25K miles out of these tires. I am really dissappointed with the life of these tires.

I think these tires might have a too weak of a sidewall for in-town driving that requres a lot of sharp turns in a Suburban as I find the outside edges of the tread are really chewed up after extended driving that doesn't involve highway miles. Any hard cornering feels like the tire is going to roll off the rim.

Straight line/highway driving is where these tires excel. These tires are really quiet and have great traction in all conditions, including snow.

Initial Review, 200 Miles on Tires
April 25, 2013

Just put these on my Cayman after wearing out my second set of Michelin PS2's and taking off my Michelin Alpin winter tires. They look great. Very different feel. Immediately more comfortable - softer ride, quiet, but there's a slightly "floaty" feel and a brief delay when you turn the wheel before the car turns. Still grips on a hard curve, its just the connection between driver and road is a little fuzzy compared to the other tires which, frankly, are punishing as every day drivers. Was only getting 32,000 miles out of the PS2's and needed more durability for my dollar. Haven't driven them in rain or snow yet. Will update. So if you switch from a dedicated high performance summer tires, which are all considerably more expensive and last half as long, be prepared to trade off some precision for comfort.

Initial Review, 8,000 Miles on Tires
April 22, 2013

I live at a ski resort at 8500 feet with an annual snowfall of 500". These tires on a subaru were awesome. I passed other all wheel drives and SUVs that didn't have snow tires and they were sliding off the road. The traction is unbelievable. These tires were cheaper than blizzaks and I knew I would be driving some highway miles as well. Stopping and turning on snow was no problem. Driving up to Alta and Snowbird was a dream! I am not sure about the wear. I drove 2000 dry highway miles and then six months of 50/50 snow and dry driving and the tires look brand new.

Initial Review, 70,000 Miles on Tires
April 04, 2013

I like in North/Central New Jersey and previously drove in and around PA. I do a lot of highway driving now. I would describe myself as a "spirited" driver. I have 70K on these tires. They are the only tires I have ever purchased for my car after the OEM tires wore at 35K and my car has 105K on it today. I just took my Civic to the dealer last night and the service manager at the Honda dealer told me my tires were basically new at 6-7s. So I would highly recommend these tires. They are reasonably priced and worth it. I drive in snow, ice, rain and sleet. I never miss work for weather so I drive in some tight situations. The tires haven't let me down.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 24, 2013

Significantly quieter than the set Khumo tires I replaced. Very good in rain and snow. I like to throw it into corners, and these tires grip. I'm very pleased.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 13, 2013

While only 10000 miles have been driven on these set of winter tires, their first impression has been a very good one. Traction in deep snow is remarkable, the ride is quiet, and grip and performance are predictable. I did notice that the ride is stiff, however, but among other parameters, this is not a concern. Looking forward to gathering more experience during the 2013-2014 winter season.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 20, 2013

I have gone through a few different kinds of a/t tires and these tires have performed remarkably. I have a 2wd truck and had no problems In this Chicago snow. I would definitely recommend these tires to anyone.

Initial Review, 3,500 Miles on Tires
April 10, 2013

My 2001 had Yokohamas on it when I bought it (Used). Tread date on tire was 2007. I bought the car in 2009 and they were dry rotting by 2012. They were also very loud, with a high pitch hum on the highway. These Defenders are so much quieter I can't beleive it. No hum. Great handling so far. We never got a great snowfall here in Chicago so I can't rate them in deep snow but they did save my butt when a car pulled out of an alley on an icy road and these babies gripped! I had Harmonys on my old CRV but I like these even better.