Tire: Blizzak LM-500
Category: Performance Winter
UTQG (treadwear): Not rated
When you've seen as many tires as I have, you know a specialized tire when you come across one. There are a number on the market too. Take for example the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-32 that was developed especially as a winter tire for the Nissan GT-R. I think we should add the Blizzak LM-500 from Bridgestone to the list, as it was developed for the BMW i3 and i8 electric cars. Whenever you see a tire developed for a handful of cars, take note because you know the manufacturer spent a lot of time thinking about this tire.
This tire in particular utilizes the ologic technology from Bridgestone that was voted Tire Technology of the year in 2014. So what you get is a very large diameter tire, yet it has a narrow tread pattern to help the tire slice through snow all the while saving energy, which is what electric cars are made to do. What this does is, reduce rolling resistance while making sure the tire maintains its shape. Adding to this, Bridgestone also added a unique polymer to the LM-500 for increased traction in cold weather. Like all winter tires, only install this one in sets of four. The traction is pretty unique, so you'll want to make sure it's uniform on all four corners. This is not an easy tire to find and it only comes in one size fitting the i3 and i8, so I wouldn't recommend shopping this tire unless you drive one of those vehicles, or you happen to have the odd 19" wheel size this tire fits.
