I have used both the Blizzak and Michelin Arctic Alpines in the Colorado Rockies and NW Montana Mountains. Both seem to work well but have different characteristics.

The Blizzaks are dynamite on ice, and they are called the "ice tire" for good reason. They are also very good in snow because of their knobby block tread. Their weak point is wet weather and warm spells. A warm day in winter will grind the rubber off faster than you can tell about it. Once you wear the tread down to the harder compound below the soft ice compound, well, then you just have knobby all-season tires that aren't really very good in the rain. I have used them on a big V8 Mercury Cougar and also a FWD Toyota. Very solid on ice with both applications.

The Arctic Alpines are also pretty good, not giant killers, but pretty good. They are OK in snow and OK in ice. Better in ice than snow. On balance they are not too bad a selection for the price. The latest model is their X-Ice series which has a more aggressive tread and should be better in snow and wet. The surprise is their durability. I run them year-round in NW Montana and they have lasted 2 1/2 seasons with two very hot summers between the winters. They have held up extremely well and are now about half worn. I'll replace them next fall with something new. They are noisy in the wet, singing a bit at around 50-55 mph. And in the dry weather they rumble with a bunch of tire noise all summer. Also, they seem to wear in a scallop at the outside edge which I believe is the cause of the road noise. But they have been good tires with good quality for the price. Oh, they are on a Subaru, so some of the wear characteristics may be due to the AWD.

The latest MBCA STAR magazine has a very favorable review of the Nokian tires. Ritter indicated very good results on his 320E so I may try them next year.

230/8