The Blizzak we have are 9 years old, but they are still in a good condition. We drive about 10k km/yr. So I guess the extra price you pay for top brand winter tires is for durability. I know there’s also comfort and noise level difference between good and less-good tires, but again I don’t feel any difference.
I run Blizzaks on my XC70 in the winter, and it's a utter MONSTER in the snow. I've embarrassed 4WD vehicles with good tires on snowy forest roads. I went into the mountains early season last year with just the all-seasons on after a minor snow event (a couple inches, plows had been through) and skidded slightly off a plowed gravel road onto a soft shoulder. Never would have happened with the Blizzaks, I'd just been lazy and hadn't put them on yet - they got put on later that afternoon. I don't notice much of a gas mileage hit that the winter fuel blend doesn't mostly account for anyway.
I highly recommend bridgestone Blizzaks, basically the best of the best. Any modern car with AWD and winter tires will be fine in the snow.
I once drove down birch road on a bad ice day with my blizzaks on, EIGHT cars had slid off into the steep ditches some in chain reactions to others getting stuck or losing traction, even a tow truck was already stuck, but I was able to idle on through with plenty of traction on blizzaks. They are cheaper than a deductible and physical health and safety is priceless. If you can afford them buy them.
I run Blizzaks all winter on 18" wheels. I ended up with those because when I bought the vehicle in Nov 2015 I asked for snow tires, because Alaska. Well, the dealer didn't have any in 20", in fact the whole town was sold out of them. The dealer made us a deal with new wheels and snow tires in 18". It has been handy, my husband swaps them in the driveway and I'm only on my second set of Blizzaks.
I put snow tires on my stock Mitsubishi Evo wheels for a weekend in Tahoe. All season tires didn't work, but wow the Bridgestone Blizzaks were magic even on an AWD 400 hp car
I'm on Vredestein HiTrac All Seasons. Incredible in the rain, good price, smooth & quiet ride.
The previous owner put RE-71s on it. That’s an amazing autocross and track tire but it is not great in the rain. I’ve never driven a Miata on REs in the rain but I have driven other cars on them and it was dicey to say the least, that car had ABS and traction control and I was still limited in the highway.
Quiet Tracks are a garbage tire and never get anywhere close to the mileage warranty. (I’m in Arizona FWIW).
Just FYI, if you are looking for winter capability (snow/ice) the Weatherpeak sucks after 2 seasons of driving (\~ 30,000kms).
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