The iceGUARD iG53 is Yokohama’s Studless Ice & Snow winter tire developed for the drivers of sedans, minivans, coupes and crossovers who want to maximize their traction in challenging winter driving conditions. Featuring Yokohama’s advanced winter tire technology, iceGUARD iG53 tires are designed to perform at their best in cold temperatures on dry, wet, slushy, snow-covered and icy roads.
Yokohama BluEarth branding is used to identify an ecologically focused series of tires designed to deliver environmentally, human- and socially friendly solutions for drivers and their vehicles. iceGuard iG53 tires featuring BluEarth branding are identified as such on their “Sizes” and “Specs” pages.
Yokohama iceGUARD iG53 Absorptive Balloons Closeup
The specialized winter compound of iceGUARD iG53 tires is molded into a directional pattern with a wide, center rib designed to increase contact with the road, or with the ice and hard-packed snow. The absorptive balloons in the tire compound help remove the layer of moisture that forms on top of ice, allowing the tire to grip the texture of the surface. Zigzag circumferential grooves help evacuate water from the contact patch while also creating edges for grip in snow and on ice, and 3D triple sipes combined with micro diagonal sipes further improve traction in slippery conditions.
The tire’s internal structure features twin steel belts on top of a two-ply polyester cord casing to blend durability and ride comfort. A nylon reinforcement ply helps to enhance handling and provides high-speed capability.
The iceGUARD iG53 Studless Ice & Snow tire meets the industry’s severe snow service requirements and is branded with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol.
Install Yokohama iceGUARD iG53 tires in sets of four only.
Due to the traction capabilities of iceGUARD iG53 tires, Yokohama recommends using them only in sets of four to provide the best handling characteristics and tire performance.
Founder at Tiresout. Used to be working as an engineer at Bridgestone Tires Akron Technical Center. The responsibilities included but were not limited to technical computing, indoor & outdoor testing of new tires.
Took a road trip to Colorado last winter but my all-season tires were useless, slipping and sliding in less than 1” snow accumulation. My car stayed parked at the cabin for entire time. For this year’s winter trip I decided to buy winter tires so that I could enjoy driving with my sports car with confidence and actually drive in the wintry conditions especially because the forecast called for much more snow accumulation for last year. Decided to go with the Yokohama IceGuard IG53 tires because they received lots of positive reviews and were definitely affordable. Had these tires installed about one week before leaving Central Texas to Colorado. The traction was fair/poor when braking while in Texas but perhaps that was due to the dry & hot temps (avg 70°F)? Throughout my 2-week stay (avg 20°F temps) in Colorado I drove in up to 3 inches of snow, and icy conditions in Winter Park, Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park and never had any issues, including traction issues. I was pretty much the only crazy fool driving a sports car in these wintry conditions, haha. Steering, braking, stability all performed great! During the 16-hour drive to Colorado, never had an ride discomfort and the noise level but pretty much the same as my all season tires. By the end of the trip I was very confident driving around town in snow & ice you would have never known I was a Texan who up to two weeks prior had never driven in wintry conditions. Definitely recommend these great tires who won’t break the bank!
These are the worst tires I have used in non-snow/icy conditions. At highway speeds, these tires feel like they have zero lateral grip and the car will constantly sway left to right during highway driving. I am coming from a Continental Winter Contact Si winter setup that I put close to 15k miles on with most of them being highway miles and have never felt anything close to this. For the minimal time I have used them in snowy/icy conditions, they seem fine, but the performance in wet and even dry conditions is so off-putting I am uncomfortable driving over 65 mph with these tires.
Since the Miata comes with 17″ Summer Performance tires from the factory, all Miata’s need snow or winter tires if it’s going to be a daily driver and you live in a place that gets snow and/or ice. In wet conditions, these tires spin just barely letting off the clutch on take off. On the higway, like others have said, they feel very unstable and the vehicle feels very loose. Not the tire I wanted, but was the only thing they had at the time of purchase as we had snow in the forecast when I purchased my wheel/tire package.
I’ve lived in the northern part of New Jersey my entire life where we experience a moderate amount of snow fall and after years of commuting with all seasons, I finally wanted to get a set of winter tires. I wanted something economical and these Yokohama iG53s seem to fit the bill. I took a bit of a gamble as these were new tires for 2019 and I could not find many reviews on them. I commute daily about 100 miles round trip on mostly highways with some backroads. We just had our first decent snow storm of the year, about four inches and these tires did very well. I purposely headed out into the snow before the roads were plowed and was very happy with how these tires gripped the roads, a huge improvement over my previous experiences with all seasons. The car accelerated, stopped, and cornered well in the snow. In dry, cold conditions, they also seem to ride pretty well. Handling could be better, although for an inexpensive snow tire I don’t think it’s terrible. When it was a bit warmer out handling became considerably more sloppy. They do not make too much noise, less than I thought they would, and my gas mileage has not been effected at all. Wet traction could be better, in just regular rainy conditions I notice more slip and I am less confident cornering than with my all seasons. All in all these seems like good tires for the money and ones I would consider getting again. I’ll provide an update later in the season.
The tires do very well with what they’re supposed to do. I live in Michigan, so snow can get pretty intense. I do occasionally drive out of state down to Illinois and Kansas. I’ve never heard of tramlining until last night of writing this review. These tires HATE grooved pavement and now I do too. These will throw your car every which way if you don’t know what you’re doing and have never had to pay attention to the grooves on highways/freeways/major roads (Utah has a huge thing for them). Other than bad tramlining, they have really nice grip.
So far so good. Put about 1k mileage on these tires. Been driving in pretty decent weather out here in Colorado Springs area with occasional >40degree weather. Only driven it on the snow once, got a bout 3-5 inches. They hold up pretty decent. As my first set of winter tires, if it improves my driving in wintry conditions, then it is a GO on my station. I did not want to drop loads of money on the Bridgestone Blizzaks so I went with these guys. Affordable. They are newly produced tires and I did not want to leave a review on it until I actually test drove my car in the snow. Most noticeable feature to me is being able to brake with confidence.