Select a location to find more products and company information relevant to you. Find out more in your region BLIZZAK Russia / C.I.S Countries Sure handling on ice and snow In 1988, BLIZZAK was released in Japan. winter tires took the place of conventional studded tires in the The outstanding technology of BLIZZAK, which increases safety on winter roads throughout the world, also offers high performance in its Premium Winter Tire (LM series). BLIZZAK is also recommended by European automobile manufacturers and automobile magazines such as ADAC *For further product information, please check your local Bridgestone site. 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX Meet Car and Driver’s new Gear Box project car. This 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX is our test bed for all manner of performance and electronic toys. (Take note, nitpickers—we mounted much of the equipment on our long-term WRX STI, seen at bottom.) In the months to come, get our hands-on reports on everything that plugs in, bolts on, or can otherwise improve your automotive experience.

In flat black, the OZ Racing Ultraleggera wheels add some menace, but they’re also functional. At 18 pounds apiece, it’s a weight savings of three pounds at each corner over the factory wheels. The new Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 is not intended simply for drivers hoping to survive the occasional snowstorm. It’s a big-time performer on snow and ice, a tire able to pull off mind-boggling responses that will most certainly terrify passengers. An evolution of the WS50, the new tire is also much improved in terms of dry-road responses, reducing the squishy, vague feeling that often accompanies soft tires that are optimized for winter use. The WS60 is available in 14- to 17-inch diameters; the 235/45R-17s sell for $148 apiece. We put them to the ultimate test at an ice-autocross event on a frozen lake in Michigan, where many drivers reported that we had visibly more traction than other competitors. And we’ve never fielded as many questions as to our choice of tires—for good reason.

Our times were the fastest of the day, some 15 seconds quicker than the next-best car. With a foolproof touch-screen interface and tiny dimensions, the TomTom GO 930 portable GPS navigation unit is an ideal travel companion anywhere in North America or Europe. If you have enough time and vanity, you can record your own voice for the spoken prompts. Slight demerits: The Bluetooth connectivity’s sound quality is only passable, and while the nav system’s “IQ” routing uses historical speed data to avoid slow spots in theory, we found ourselves stuck in a lot of traffic jams. Toy Labradoodle Puppies For Sale In Iowa We’ve performed a complete overhaul of our WRX STI’s stock audio system with some Alpine Electronics gear. Homes For Sale Near UtmThe upgrade is centered around a $1100 IVA-W505 head unit (pictured below) [which includes DVD capability], and the 10 stock speakers have been replaced with Alpine Type-Rs. Yellow Lab Puppies For Sale Near Toledo Ohio

A $650 five-channel, 600-watt PDX-5 amplifier pumps out the power. The fifth channel directs a $200 10-inch Type-R subwoofer (pictured below) located in the cargo area. A plethora of add-ons such as navigation, iPod connectivity ($30), Sirius satellite radio ($145), and a connection to the factory steering-wheel-mounted audio controls ($86) makes this system a technogeek’s dream. We’re very impressed with the system thus far but would recommend forgoing the Blackbird portable nav unit ($750) that docks behind the seven-inch display. It serves as the navigation “brain” but dishes out a poorly pixilated map display and is slow to react. Alpine’s new $300 NVE-P1 removable navigation unit is a better option than the Blackbird. Alpine IVA-W505 Head Unit Alpine 10-inch Type-R subwooferThe requested URL /?tag=tires was not found on this server.Science gets a sayIf you live in parts of the world where the snow falls and love to get the most out of your BMW year-round, it means you need two sets of tires: summer/high-performance rubbers and winter tires.

My favorite summer tire is, hands down, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport. However, when the white stuff starts falling during the winter, summer tires turn into slippery solid bricks. To stay in control and on the road, I took off my Michelin Pilot Super Sports and put on some winter shoes for our BMWs. For winter tires, the thinner the better, so if you run 19 in wheels in the summer, make sure you choose 18 inch winter tires with a more narrow foot print. Germans are so adamant that if you drive on summer performance tires during the winter, you can get a ticket. The fine is a stout 80 euros. So if you have an European Delivery of an M3 or M4 during winter months, you need to arrange to rent winter tires. Germans say the winter tires need to be on “von O bis O” – from October to Ostern (German word for Easter). One of the funniest things I’ve heard before came from a German BMW engineer who said, all-season tires should be call “No season tires.” Pursuing the German websites on their winter driving regulations show that some all-seasons with M+S designations will keep you from getting a ticket too.

So you set out to find the 5 best snows tires for your BMW. These have long been my favorite snow tires. I have had three sets and just recently bought a set for BMWBLOG’s long-term i3. Interestingly the only snow tire for the i3 is a Blizzak. The Blizzaks on my old 2005 ZHP were insane. I made it through 10 inches of fresh snow on Blizzaks in a rear-wheel drive BMW. My neighbors saw me head out and thought the ZHP had all-wheel drive. There are no less than nine types of Blizzaks depending on the type of car and tire: a sport ute, a sports car, run-flats, a BMW i car, etc. In my opinion you cant go wrong with any of these. The Bridgestone Blizzak’s website says this about the i3’s winter tires: The Blizzak LM-500 featuring ologic technology is Bridgestone’s ecologically oriented Performance Winter / Snow tire originally developed for the drivers of BMW i3 and i8 electric cars. Designed to deliver significant improvements in tire rolling resistance and vehicle aerodynamics to enhance vehicle range, Blizzak LM-500 tires help drivers maintain their vehicle’s sporty appearance and wintertime mobility by providing traction on cold, dry, wet, slush and snow-covered roads.

Bridgestone’s ologic technology was voted “Tire Technology of the Year” in the Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence in 2014. It combines a large diameter tire with a narrow tread pattern to conserve energy that is otherwise lost through the tire’s internal friction or the vehicle’s aerodynamic resistance. While the tread of smaller diameter tires experience a higher percentage of deflection as they roll, the tread of larger diameter tires can feature higher belt tension and experience a lower percentage of deflection that significantly reduces tire deformation and rolling resistance. The narrow tread also improves tire and vehicle aerodynamics that reduce drag. The tread compound of Blizzak LM-500 tires feature unique polymer technology to enhance cold weather traction. This compound is molded into a directional design featuring a long contact patch (relative to its narrow width) to combine hydroplaning resistance on wet and slush-covered roads with confident grip and braking traction in cold wintry conditions.

Rounded shoulders promote dry and wet road handling while stepped independent tread blocks employing Lamellen edge effect sipes increase the number of biting edges to enhance grip in snow and on ice. These come in run-flat or non-runflat. I have driven a bunch on Dunlop winter tires too and they wear really well, offer nice high speed stability, work well in deep snow, but lack a bit on ice. Dunlop makes a Graspic DS-3 which is a softer compound and works better in snow and ice ,but wears much faster than the Winter Sport 3D if driven on asphalt. Here in the Midwest we tend to have snow one week and then it’s gone the next, so a harder compound winter tire like the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D makes for a fine choice too. Order the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D I surveyed my local BMW Club’s car and coffee folks this morning and found that the Pirelli Winter Sottozero was the third most common winter tire. Though I have no experience with the Winter Sottozero, their owners told me they were very happy with their performance.

Pirelli’s “dual-season” Performance Winter / Snow tire developed to be effective as ambient temperatures approach freezing and below from mid-Fall until early Spring by offering hot performance compared to summer tires when driven on cold, dry, wet or icy surfaces. Winter Sottozero tires are for the drivers of high performance sport cars, coupes and sedans who don’t let their enthusiasm for driving cool off in winter. Michelin makes twelve different winter tires. Again, these vary depending upon mission, but one that would work well on an M3 or M4 would be the Pilot Alpin PA3. I owned a set of Michelin Snow tires for my E36 M3 that I daily drove and they were grippy and worked great. Hakkapeliitta tires are Nordic Legend. These originate from Finland and are the ultimate snow tire for the most Northern latitudes. If you live somewhere where snow is always on the ground, these are the tires for your BMW. They even come studded. Studded snow tires, however, have to be driven on the snow.