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[Speed_Addict]

Blizzak LM-25 RFT vs Dunlop Wintersport M3 ROF - I cannot decide?

I am from Seattle and will likely be be dealing with cold and wet with some now and ice on occassion.

Is one of these tires better suited to cold and wet but still decent in light to moderate occassional snow?

I live at the top of a hill (7% and 10% grade approaches to home) so having a decent porforming tire in the snow would be great but I would like something that will handle the decently otherwise.

I plan to mount one of these on 17" wheels - likely the Rial Salerno wheels...

Thanks for any and all opinions!

[hkbaby]

same same, i had lm25 very good
try hanhook too

[6Zylinder]

Originally Posted by Speed_Addict

Blizzak LM-25 RFT vs Dunlop Wintersport M3 ROF - I cannot decide?

I am from Seattle and will likely be be dealing with cold and wet with some now and ice on occassion.

Is one of these tires better suited to cold and wet but still decent in light to moderate occassional snow?

I live at the top of a hill (7% and 10% grade approaches to home) so having a decent porforming tire in the snow would be great but I would like something that will handle the decently otherwise.

I plan to mount one of these on 17" wheels - likely the Rial Salerno wheels...

Thanks for any and all opinions!

The Dunlop is very good in the wet weather and performs very good in the dry as well. I had the Winter Sport M3 (not ROF) on my Evo 8 and the handling was just superb. Very good in the snow of course. Now I have it on the Rial Salerno on my 335i.

[Speed_Addict]

I noted that the Dunlop Wintersports 3M ROF are H speed rated while the Blizzak LM-25 are V. Does this mean the LM-25 are necessarily a better handling tires in the dry? Top speed of course for me does not matter in a winter setup but I do want a setup that will give me the best performance/handling in the typical Seattle wet and cold (occassionally dry ) but will still come through for me in the occassional snow (unless its like last year were whe had almost three weeks straight of the white stuff).

I also noted that there is no treadwere rating for these tires - does one wear any better than the other to anyones knowledge?

Thanks again!

[6Zylinder]

The V speed rating just means that the max speed will be 240km/h and the H is good for 210km/h. The speed rating has nothing to do with the handling of the tire. I'm sure the H rating is good enough in your area. For your typical Seattle weather the Dunlop should be perfect.
The wear of the Dunlop is very good. I use it the 3rd winter and still have 70% of profile.

[Speed_Addict]

6Zylinder - Is what you have on your car now the ROF version of the Winter Sport M3? The reason I ask is I have seen various reviews some saying the non-ROF version was better than the ROF version. Also, one review indicated that the V speed version rated better than the H version? I am just curous what version your are running to see if it is the same as what Tire Rack is currently selling. Thanks for all the info thus far!

[6Zylinder]

See my PM...

[02themax]

Get the Dunlops, great tire in moderate winter cond. Superb on the highway.

[Park2670]

Always been really happy with Dunlop snow tires, I run the M3s on the Z4M coupe, and 3Ds on the 335i, and now my 330xi. Very impressed. Not runflats btw.

[Speed_Addict]

Thanks all for the replies!

I am reading and hearing here very good things about the M3's. The Tire Rack surveys seem to indicate this as well but there seems to bee little specific feedbad on the ROF version of the tire.

The tire everyone seems to have good things to say about is the standard version of the tire which is also a V rated tire.

It seems that the few surveys I have found were the ROF version is actually mentioned there have been more negative comments saying the two are not the same in their expected performance.

Can ROF vs stanard make such a huge differnce or is there some other difference between the two versions that could skew some comments on performance? Is the H rating due only to tire carcus differences or are the tread compounds possibly different?

Does Gary from Tire Rack have any professional comment here?

[02themax]

I had the M3's but feel the 3D's are a better driving tire. The M3's are more geared for deeper snow/slush than the 3D's Which is great if you get a lot of snow. BTW my 3D's are not ROF as I didn't want to make a rough ride rougher. The non ROF are more pliable in really cold temps.