[dmppdx]

I understand that most, if not all winter tires use a tread compound specifically manufactured for snow performance and include silica in the material. For some tires, I believe this is just a first 40-50% or so of the tires material so when that part of the tread is worn through, its not that much more effective than an all season tire. Is this true for all tires that contain silica or are there some tires where the silica material is the same through the entire tread? I'm just wondering when looking at new snow tires and which would hold up best since and M3 wears out tires quickly.

Also, I'm currently considering between the Blizzak LM60, the Pirelli Sottozero, and the Dunlop 3D, does anyone know how they rank in regards to wear and if any of them last longer than the others?

I'm in the PNW where we don't get a lot of snow, but when we do its fairly icy, so I'm more concerned with ice traction and less opposed to deep snow traction and wondering which would last longer for providing ice traction. Its also relatively warn around here, so they may impact or accelerate tread wear also for certain tries, but I don't know the specifics for the tires I'm looking at.

Any insight on this would be appreciated.