Having had ample time to drive the GT Radials on snow, I'm impressed.
Subjectively, they seem louder than previous snow tires, but I can't give a true apples-to-apples comparison because we're talking different cars over a period of years, but there is a noticeable hum at highway speed.
In a snowfall, they feel extremely confident. I did a number of stop-and-go tests in an empty, snow-covered parking lot in the past couple of weeks, and I couldn't havew asked for better traction. Only way I could lose the back end was to apply the parking brake. The tread deisgn seems to clear snow better than most - this is the part I don't like about ice tires - in snow they always seem to clog up, so you're running on a layer of the white stuff. On the Gislaved Nord Frost 3, the centre of the tread usually remains clogged with snow, but the tread near the sidewalls clears nicely with every revolution. Same with the GT Radial Champiro WT.
On a side note, I stopped at a shop where the Bridgestone Blizzak Revo1, WS-50, and Kumho KW19 were on display. Based on rather subjective tests that involved poking the tires with a pen, the WS-50 uses a soft rubber compound compared to the Kumho, though the Kumho tread is deeper with larger voids. The Revo 1, however, is extremely soft. Think sponge. Seems to make up for the soft compound with rather large tread blocks for a winter tire, and the voids are similar in size to an all-season tire. I bet it works wonders on a skating rink, but in snow? We'll see. I'll bet a number of skiers will have them this year. I arrive to races and unload gear alongside many of them. I'll drive them crazy by quizzing them on their Revo1s.
