Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 vs WS-50

[blackcat]

I'm looking for new snow tires (still riding on the factory tires at 30k...yikes) Anyone want to share their thoughts/experiences on the Blizzaks LM-25 vs WS-50? Thanks! :)

[Underdog]

No experiences but recently when I was shopping around I discovered that the lm-25 is a winter performance tire whereas the ws-50 is a studdless snow tire. The main difference being that the lm-25 will have better dry performance and treadwear when dry at the expense of some ice performance. The ws-50 will shine in the snow and ice but at the expense of dry performance and accelerated wear in warmer/drier conditions.

I hope this helps!

[Euclid]

I have the WS-50's on my MR2 and they do a great job in the snow, but they are very soft and make the car feel floaty. I have dunlop M3 wintersports on the LGT which is comprable to the LM-25's. It is definitely not as floaty as the WS-50. Yesterday was the first real snow I've driven in with the new snow tires on the LGT, and it performed great.

[RochNY91TSI]

I've got WS-50's on the lgt and had them on a previous car too. They do indeed make the car feel floaty; my initial impressions on the old car (15 inch rims) were that it felt like driving on marshmallows. On the lgt (stock size, 17 inch aftermarket rims) it's better, but still more float than stock (difference between old rims and lgt's is the sidewall width --the WS-50's have soft sidewalls which you want in a snow tire)

Turns out that I didn't need them at all last winter as there was no snow to speak of here, but in the old car they were awesome. I'm counting on them to be just as good in the lgt though.

Don't worry too much about tire wear if you have a dedicated snow rim, just take them off when most of the danger of snow / ice is gone in your area and wait till later in the fall to put them back on. My old set lasted 2 plus winters and I bought them used; they still have 3+ winters left on them. I'm expecting the same life out of the lgt's set too. 4+ years on relatively cheap tires aint bad.

[Waxiboy]

Pirelli 210 or 240 Sottozeros look sick. Might want to look at that too since they are just a tad more expensive than the LM25

[rjundi]

WS-50 ruined the driving experience on dry/wet roads in my old Honda Civic. I hated those tires except when icy/snowy roads where the car was unstoppable. However that was only 5-10 winter driving days making the sting worse for me.

Get the LM-25's if you enjoy driving which I am guessing yes since you own a LGT :)

[Brady]

The WS-50 is an S rated tire, the LM-25 is an H rated tire. The WS-50 is really designed for heavy snow whereas the LM-25 is more of a performance winter tire designed for cold dry performance that can handle wet and snow.

I have the LM-25 on now, and we had a freak heatwave (for Minnesota) and we hit 70s. I was really worried about the tires (didn't drive much - avoided as much as I could for that 1 or 2 days) but the tires seemed fine. The WS-50's on my sister's old car were complete mush over 40 degrees. The LM-25 is still doing great in the single-digit temps we had this morning.

For the LGT, I'd probably recommend the LM-25 unless you're in a region that receives heavy snowfall where the roads don't get plowed as often (100+ inches of snow)

[bugblatterbeast]

I'm looking for new snow tires (still riding on the factory tires at 30k...yikes) Anyone want to share their thoughts/experiences on the Blizzaks LM-25 vs WS-50? Thanks! :)

I used to run the ws-50s (different car) and then tried out some Nokians. I won't go back. The ws-50s are awful in the dry and don't last very long. If you want a serious snow tire get the Nokian RSi. If you want something a bit cheaper, the Gislaved Nordfrost 5 is very good too.

[mickeyd2005]

I had the WS-50's on a different car. I hated them.

My friend uses the LM-25s in V-rated form on his S4. They come in both H and V rated. They're really good.

I decided to go with the Dunlop 3D because they had good ratings like the LM-25 and were cheaper.

I would recommend against the WS-50.

[blackcat]

Thanks for all of the good info everyone, I appreciate it. I decided to go with the LM-25's, I'll update with a review after I get them on and tested in some snow!