Bridgestone Blizzak W965 Winter LT245/70R17 119/116Q E Light Truck Tire

I put the 4 tires on my 2 wheel drive (rear) cargo van Nov 8, 2016. I drive between 400-500 Km per day with moderate loads in rural Ontario Canada, over mostly secondary paved roads and the 401 highway in the portion that is most famous for icy roads and multiple vehicle collisions in winter. Since, I must drive no matter the weather, a superb winter tire is a must! Lots of rain and 1st good snowfall of 20 cm (8 inches) of snow have been driven on so far. I am most impressed with the traction on wet roads. My van has no sound insulation so you can hear everything, and the tires literally sound like they are suctioned right to the road surface in the rain and really wet roads. On hard packed snow (and in high winds) the tires kept me on the road at 80 km/h (50 mph). I did encounter road ice near open fields and the van did take a wander to side-to-side, but this may have been the wind more than the road/tires. Just let my foot off the gas gently and van recovered completely without any incident. The only problem I encountered was backing up into my ice covered driveway which has a short slope from the road to where my driveway turns flat. The van has an auto-locking rear differential and backing up slowly the wheels would just spin on the ice. To be fair, my van was empty and all the weight was skewed to the front wheels in such a situation...I typically put 200 lbs over the rear axles in the winter, and have not done that yet. I was also buried by a snow plow in a parking lot. The plow driver had packed snow in front and to the rear of the van about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide, and I was already parked in 8 inches of the stuff. The surface was quite slick under the snow. I backed up first and just got wheel spin so pulled forward about 6 inches and got wheel spin when I hit the front snow bank, however it only took 2 more backward and forwards runs to get through the front snow bank....here I was very impressed since I was the only vehicle in the entire parking lot that was able to drive out without having to shovel! The guy next to me in his Ford 4x4 with all season tires, was in awe and wanted to know what tires I had. These tires run much quieter than my Bridgestone all-season tires that came with the van , probably due to the softer tread. I only expect 1 winter out of each set, so I wish the price was a little less for us working drivers.

These tires have worked great for me so far. But yesterday they were put to the test in some of the worst winter conditions i have experienced. I had zero traction problems when everyone around me couldn't keep it on the road, literally. I am sold, I will always have a set of Blizzaks on my truck during the winter.