And they passed. A solid B+.
Kansas City got thwacked with a foot of snow and bitter cold over the last day or so, and this afternoon, as things settled down a bit, I took my FiST out to run "errands" and test out my winter wheel/tire setup. The wheels are Sport Edition SE-16s, and they're clad with Pirelli Winter Carving Edge 185/60/R15 tires, all mounted and balanced courtesy of our friends at Tire Rack.
The tires have tolerated the horrible, nasty cold well. Unlike the stock summer tires, they don't turn into marble donuts when the temp drops through the floor. The ride remains good, and their pavement grip doesn't require much of any adjustment of my driving due to cold alone.
Their ability on snow and ice was for me the real question. And here they did surprisingly well, especially given that they're rolling about under a very light car. I was able to plow through foot-deep snow with no difficulty, and, more impressively, when given the opportunity to skate across a burnished patch of hard-packed snow, the tires preferred to grip as long as I didn't spin 'em up or ask too much. If I drove reasonably, they behaved. Too fast, or too abrupt, and they started to slide about. But then, so did the 328xi in front of me on State Line Road, on its Michelin X-Ice tires.
In general, my impression is that these tires do at least a little bit better on snow than the Continental All-Seasons I had on my recently sold Honda Fit Sport. Granted, these are not all-season but rather winter tires, and so they should do better than straight all-season tires, but I'm trying to be conservative in my evaluation and comparison, seeing as how my experience is limited.
I cannot give a direct or even indirect comparison to the popular Bridgestone Blizzaks, but I can say I'm happy with my choice.
Kansas City got thwacked with a foot of snow and bitter cold over the last day or so, and this afternoon, as things settled down a bit, I took my FiST out to run "errands" and test out my winter wheel/tire setup. The wheels are Sport Edition SE-16s, and they're clad with Pirelli Winter Carving Edge 185/60/R15 tires, all mounted and balanced courtesy of our friends at Tire Rack.
The tires have tolerated the horrible, nasty cold well. Unlike the stock summer tires, they don't turn into marble donuts when the temp drops through the floor. The ride remains good, and their pavement grip doesn't require much of any adjustment of my driving due to cold alone.
Their ability on snow and ice was for me the real question. And here they did surprisingly well, especially given that they're rolling about under a very light car. I was able to plow through foot-deep snow with no difficulty, and, more impressively, when given the opportunity to skate across a burnished patch of hard-packed snow, the tires preferred to grip as long as I didn't spin 'em up or ask too much. If I drove reasonably, they behaved. Too fast, or too abrupt, and they started to slide about. But then, so did the 328xi in front of me on State Line Road, on its Michelin X-Ice tires.
In general, my impression is that these tires do at least a little bit better on snow than the Continental All-Seasons I had on my recently sold Honda Fit Sport. Granted, these are not all-season but rather winter tires, and so they should do better than straight all-season tires, but I'm trying to be conservative in my evaluation and comparison, seeing as how my experience is limited.
I cannot give a direct or even indirect comparison to the popular Bridgestone Blizzaks, but I can say I'm happy with my choice.
