Owners of high-performance sports cars and crossovers often find winter driving challenging as snow, ice, and freezing temperatures dangerously hamper the effectiveness of their high-performance tires—all but making them useless. While tire manufacturers offer aftermarket winter tires that significantly improve traction and grip, few are robust enough to tolerate the additional stress, torque, and speed ratings their powerful vehicles require. And most aren’t offered with a low-profile sidewall, forcing consumers to purchase expensive new wheels to accommodate a compromised solution.

Bridgestone has stepped up to the plate with its new Blizzak 6, a premium winter performance tire specifically designed for performance sedans, sporty crossovers, and sports cars. It has been engineered with precision handling and control on snow and ice as its primary goal. Plus, it’s been designed to be tough—it has a unique rubber compound for longer life and sustainability and impressive high-speed ratings for those who want to push their performance vehicles if the opportunity arises.

The Blizzak 6 is the successor to the company’s LM005 winter tire, which debuted six years ago. Like that tire, it is meant for use when temperatures consistently drop below 45°F (7°C). The tread is directional and studless (the tiny metal spikes are ideal for use on ice, but they are noisy and wreak havoc on the road surface when conditions are dry—they are banned in many areas). The tread surface, with rows of high-density sipes and thousands of smaller zigzag sipes, is meant to bite into the snow and hold it against the tire’s surface—snow sticks to snow very well, which improves grip. The directional tread design helps evacuate water and resist hydroplaning. Testing reveals that the Blizzak 6 delivers excellent braking and cornering performance in snow and segment-leading braking on wet winter roads.

The LM005 tire carried H (130 mph) and V (150 mph) speed ratings, while the new Blizzak 6 boasts significantly higher V (149 mph) and W (168 mph) speed ratings, an indication that Bridgestone has reinforced the carcass and sidewalls for extreme use. And the tire is the first Bridgestone winter offering with its new ‘Enliten’ technology—an earth-friendly approach to tire manufacturing that utilizes recycled and renewable materials with a focus on reducing the environmental impact. Tires with Enliten technology are also engineered to be lighter (for better fuel economy and an improved ride), are EV compatible, and have longer lifespans. On that note, Bridgestone says the Blizzak 6 should last about 32 percent longer than the outgoing LM product.

According to Bridgestone, the new Blizzak 6 will go on sale in May—giving consumers plenty of advance notice before winter arrives. They will be offered in 38 sizes for 17- to 22-inch wheel configurations (there are more than a dozen new fitment sizes that weren’t covered by the old LM product), targeting sporty vehicles such as the Audi Q5, Porsche Macan, Toyota GR86, Volkswagen GTI, Toyota Supra, and Tesla Model Y.