Re: tire views on blizzacks (long)

[jloh@fdva.com (Jeff Loh)]

Scott:

You wrote:>>>

From: PDQSHIP@aol.com
>>>Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 20:57:37 -0500
>>>Subject: Steamboat Tire Comparo - BX vs 210's  (long)

>>Brigstone hypes these tires to the frenzy, lots of B* words when
>>at the
>>school (sponsorship an all), but the bottom line is that they
>>might be too
>>good in some respects at a great expense to others......

That would be true given the *very* competitive nature of the tire industry.
Unfortunately, objective opinions are few and far between.
(Hence comparo's from us "real" folks).

>>>I will say that the weather could have negated any true evaluation
>>>of these
>>>tires, cuz the snow was very dry, and neither tire slipped all
>>>that much in
>>>this stuff.....  What was more pronounced on the BX was when you
>>>were sliding
>>>sideways on the ice, then hit "traction", the BX had an easily
>>>identifiable
>>>"grip" character

I think there's more to this than at first glance. Consider this "real
world" comparison:

My brother Cliff and I have two 2nd gen Jetta's.. nearly identical in weight
and performance. Both are running 14x6 alloys, (mine is 1/2" narrower in
track) and similar sized tires (195/60-14) He has Blizzaks, I have
Continental (studded) snows. Both are true snow tires.

Conditions lately were wet snow, snow mixed with rain, slushy messy stuff,
if you know what I mean.  My car was generally manageable under these
conditions, until you get to the limit. Whereas my Jetta tended to get
floaty and pushed a bit, Cliff reports his BS's tracked normally and gripped
the road more. Appropriate amounts of left-foot braking would tuck the tail
back in.

We didn't swap cars, IMHO that would have been a better test. But it seems
under marginal snow conditions the BS's are better than the Conti's. With
drier snow, there tends to be more dependency on the tread design; the
"self-cleaning" effect of snow being thrown from between the tread blocks.
Here in the northwest, where the moisture content of the snow is much
higher, it would seem the hydophillic nature of the BS's compound has a
slight edge.

BTW, these BS's are *soft*, like race tires almost. You could get a set of
used BS's, shave 'em and use them as winter race tires. :)

Just my $.02 worth, YMMV

- JL (ex 4Ks)