Tire: Blizzak DM-Z3
Category: Light Truck/SUV Studless Ice & Snow
UTQG (treadwear): Not rated
The Blizzak DM-Z3 from Bridgestone is a very small volume specialized winter truck and SUV tire. As it stands today, you can only find this tire in a single 21" wheel size, and if you have a high power truck/SUV, or would just like your vehicle to maintain sporty performance during winter months, I think this would be a good tire to look at. The DM-Z3 utilizes a directional tread design and Bridgestone's own Link Multicell Compound which is actually a glass fiber to help the tire maintain stability during stressful traction events. This tire does meet the industry standard for severe snow service and Bridgestone recommends that you only install these tires in sets of four. It should also be noted that this is a two-tread compound tire. The first 55% of the tread features the Multicell compound, while the remaining 45% uses a standard winter compound. This is fairly common across many performance-oriented winter tires.
I place this tire roughly midpack when looking across the studless truck/SUV tire segment. That being said, it's a pretty small segment and this tire still displays outstanding traction in winter conditions. You're likely to see about 50,000 miles out of set, which is pretty good for the performance category. So lets talk traction; drivers have found that even 2 wheel drive trucks and SUVs will plow through medium to deep snow with relative ease, and much better than a 4 wheel drive vehicle with all season tires. Another good aspect to these tires, and maybe not one that you would expect is that they are known to be fairly quiet, especially compared to other truck and SUV winter tires. Definitely a solid choice for your truck during those snowy months.
