blizzak vs pirelli snow tires

Need to get some snows for my Subaru Outback
The tires that come on the car are awful in snow which seems odd for Subaru to have selected crappy snow performing tires.  I’ve slide out twice recently.

I’ve had Blizzaks in past and liked them.  I could get a screaming good deal on Pirelli ice zero FR

Anyone have any experience with Pirelli?

No, but have Nokian Hakkapeliitta (Hakka's) studless snow tires on the Rav4, Highlander, and even a Corolla (now a CH-R).  Right dealer tires on new cars suck including SUVs. Ok so its from Toyota technically, not the dealer.

Although technically snows, I run the studless year round.  Never, ever had an issue chasing the race circuit though the dacks and into Vt and NH chasing college events.    

Get about 40k, stretch to 50k, so a couple years they need replacing but not worth the time nor cash to switch to summer tires.  Besides, they are great in the rain, summer storms, and mud dirt seasonal roads when hiking or exploring.

Just a thought Hoser, but Hakka's are super soft tires with a lot of rolling resistance.  Using them in warm months surely degrades their life quicker.  They'd probably last you 4-5 winters (I used to get 3 out of mine) and your summer tires would last the same, and you'd get better gas mileage.  All-in-all in would likely be cheaper as Nokians are really expensive and you could get some middle-of-the-road summer tires (all seasons, whatever) that would be less costly than the two or three sets of Nokians you are using in the same mileage.

To address the original question.  The tires your Subaru came with are all season tires.  To compare their performance to a dedicated snow tire is not a fair assessment.

Blizzaks are not very great snow tires last time I owned a pair, but to be fair, that was a long time ago and they do have different sub-models.

I've never been a fan of Pirelli tires, but they'll likely be better than what you have.

Best option is to look at what you are interested in on a Tire Rack review.  They often have side-by-side, real world comparisons.  I've found them pretty useful.

The best snow tires I ever used were Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2's.  They are so good we used to use them for winter rally racing.  You can't get those anymore.  It looks like the closest thing is the 8 or 9.

I agree running snows year round will wear them really fast as the rubber is softer

The Blizzaks are a bit softer than some of the others on the outer rubber then after wear it gets to a firmer more all season rubber

The Perilli give up some ice performance but will last a bit longer.  Should be a significant upgrade over the crappy tires my car comes with.  My think8ng is get snows and get 6 years from the two pairs compared to 3 years from a single set.  I drive about 20 k a yr.

Doing the math it’s a wash of buying snows every two years full time or every four years as using summer tires each six months.    At $15 per tire to switch that’s $120 a year or $480 over the four year period.    Plus summer tires assume $75 each or $300.  

So additional $780 every for years.   If I can get four snows for $200 it’s a wash plus avoid 8 trips to tire dealer.   Although I am there anyway for rotations.    

To make it work would need another set of rims then do the switch each six months myself.  No idea how much rims run.  Would have to be less than the $120 switch fee per year times life of vehicle.   I need an excel sheet I think.  

If you buy a package from a place like Tire Rack you can usually get steel rims pretty cheap.

I never pull tires on and off that much, it's not really great for the bead.

Rims run 90 bucks for ugly black steel ones or 120 for better ones

The proble is my car has the integrated pressure sensor which adds cost

I was looking at some stuff on the internet about going to a smaller snowtire and rim as it provides better traction and is lower cost.  Not sure what that does to your speedometer and mileage then - I think it messes with that.

Z wrote

Rims run 90 bucks for ugly black steel ones or 120 for better ones

The proble is my car has the integrated pressure sensor which adds cost

I was looking at some stuff on the internet about going to a smaller snowtire and rim as it provides better traction and is lower cost.  Not sure what that does to your speedometer and mileage then - I think it messes with that.

You don't need to run the TPS.  I never did on my winter tires.  You just need to actually periodically check your tire pressure.

If you go to a smaller rim, first verify that it will actually clear your brake caliper.  You should be able to get that info from a dealer or on a tire dealer site like TR.  

Then if you go to a smaller rim, you use a larger sidewall.  It won't be exactly the same in terms of rolling diameter but close enough.  Some cars even have a cal in the computers so you can compensate for winter tires.

And generally, yes, it is better to go with a narrower, higher profile sidewall for winter tires if you want the best deep snow and ice performance.  This gives the tire more "give" when cornering to let the tread actually grip and not break away into a snappy slide.  Narrower tires put more psi on the road and help deform those little sipes in the tire around anything they can find traction on.

If you look at winter racing, you'll notice they run tires that look like bike tires.

Z wrote

The proble is my car has the integrated pressure sensor which adds cost

I did all the math discussed by Hoser and was on the fence (and I have a mechanic across the street who can swap my rims cheap.  Ultimately it was the fact that if I didn't want the low pressure light on all the time I needed expensive rims.

Now I just run the crappy all seasons.  My situation is different from Z's as maybe 80% of my winter mileage is interstate.

The real problem with all seasons is that when they are half used up.  They are OK in the snow when new, when worn down not so much.

For me the issues is really just getting up our driveway. Now that I ski alone mostly (without family), when my tires are worn, like they are now, if I can't get up the driveway I park at the bottom and walk up.  When I am solo that is one or two trips. With the family it is much more.

4 studded snows on dedicated rims ---- you can run your car without TPMS sensors

I’m driving a great deal to Boston for work trips that the miles get expensed at.  Durability and cost of not wearing the tires out are an important factor for me.  That is why in thinking of saving 90 bucks on a set of perillis over blazzaks.

I dont like the road noise from studs.  I do have studs on my F150 though.

Makes sense

If you aren't doing lots of miles studs are the way to go. Sounds like you know that tho....

you can skip the tmps crap tho --- you'll just need to deal with the light being on --- put a piece of electrical tape over it

Really don't need studs in the ADKs.  Never had them, never wished I had them.  Hakka studless are fine.  If the roads are really that bad that you need studs, and I am trying to imagine when, you prob should not be out there, as the guy coming at you does not have them.  

The perilles were ranked best for high mileage tires.  At least that is what I saw on some comparison the other day.  I have the Blizzaks.  Close to 35k miles on them.  I am using them one last winter will probably put 50k on them before I throw them away.  

I dunno man, some of those roads they don't even salt anymore.

For local driving in the ADKs, I prefer a Hakka w/ studs (trust me, that one time you hit black ice at speed you'll know why).

For highway driving, I would just use a good all season, and be cautious on the B roads.  Z, there's lots of snow tires that are almost an all-season with a high tread wear.  That's probably what you need.  Most of those tires won't even have the option for studs.

Michellin x-ice 3 are worth a look too. I would get them or the pirellis. They may not perform as good as the hakkas or the blizzaks when you are looking at the tire rack tests but they will last longer and will perform good enough. You can get lost in all the reviews and comparisons. I almost got the hakkas a few years ago but they were almost twice the price of the michellin.

tjf1967 wrote

The perilles were ranked best

I prefer perogies.

I've gotten over 40k with all seasons in the past, but these are pretty burnt at 22.

Your talking the factory tires.  Unless you rotate them every time you get your oil changed they are shot in less than 30k on Honda's.  

Perogies are to dry for me

I have Pirelli Scorpian Winters on my SUV. They have been excellent in all types of winter driving. I got them the Nov 2017. They are quiet on the highway. I bought my son Blizzacks for a Toyota Solara and they were done after 2 winter seasons. I have had Pirellis before and they lasted more than 2 seasons. I have also had decent service from Cooper winter tires. I have a Cooper Weather master WSC on our sedan and we have 4 years on the tire and they still are good. The sedan  does not get the same mileage/season as the SUV. They are usually a little less expensive.