Nokian Tyres

Folks,

I keep seeing people on this web site talk about Nokian Tyres. Why do people like them so much? I don't have a preference to any tires. I just don't ever recall seeing or hearing about these tires until I got here. I like their web site, I am just wondering about how they differ from those I have heard of before.

If knowing my tire needs helps answer the question:

A: I am looking for the best of two worlds. I have a long drive to work (100 miles one way) so I would like tires that are quite.

B: I live in South West Ohio and work in Central Ohio, this year snow has been a bit of a problem, ran off the road once because of it.

C: Money is too tight to get both snow and summer tires

D: I am also going to be raising the NB 2-inches with spacers and would like a bit of off road traction. My main purpose in rasing the car is so that I can pull off the side of country roads and take pictures

Sam

I've been ranting about the Nokian WR's since they became available. I love mine. They have a 420 treadwear rating, great foul weather traction, and very respectable dry pavement characteristics. If you can only run one tire, these should be on your short list. They should be good for 50-60k miles.

[ January 27, 2003, 14:33: Message edited by: BongoBrains ]

How do they compare to Michelin Energy's or Bridgestone Turanzas? Are they in the same class? I'm in Seattle and the WRs are attractive because they appear to be tough and capable of handling wet weather and those trips over the mountain passes or up to trailheads well . . .

I'd wager that they are gonna be tough to beat in the nasty stuff unless you choose to run a dedicated winter tire in those conditions. A dedicated winter tire requires the use of a summer tire as well though.

The WR is arguably the most 'winter capable' all-weather (all-season) tire available at this point. It's the only all season tire with a 'snowflake' rating, yet the rubber compound won't wear away in 20k miles like many winter tires.

I'm going to run mine year-round. The winters here are 80% dry pavement, and I enjoy the fact that they are not limited in those conditions. They are seemingly just as capable in the slop & snow as the other dedicated winter tires I've run on various vehicles as well.

I guess the question is whether the gains in your particular poor road conditions are worth the tradeoff in dry pavement handling, if any. I wish someone would do a head-to-head with some grand touring all season tires. I'd love more info on how the dry pavement handling compares to the tires I mentioned above . . .

If you plan to keep this car for at least several years, you'll go through a few sets of tires. Why not run winter tires during snow conditions and summer tires the rest of the time? The tire costs are the same over the long run and you are not compromising performance. I love studded Hakka 1's on ice and snow .

Money is too tight to get both snow and summer tires

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If your present tires still have some wear, you could get winter tires this year and sometime later, next year?, get some summer tires.

[ January 27, 2003, 16:52: Message edited by: jmur ]

I like the idea of separate summer and winter tires (Nokian NRVs for summer and WR, NRWs or Hakka 1s for winter), but IMO Seattle's weather doesn't justify it unless (1) you go over the mountains a LOT and/or (2) drive hard. For me a quick reality check says "grand touring all season" and there are lots of decent choices in that segment at tirerack alone . . .

I've driven on all kinds of winter tires over the years, and my Nokian Hakka Qs are, without question, the best I've ever used. Unbeatable traction on ice and packed snow and yet they don't feel squirmy on dry roads and it doesn't sound like I'm always driving over metal bridge gratings. I'm on my third winter with them (November through April) and this probably will be their last winter, but that's still pretty good mileage in my book. The Qs are just a very good combination of winter performance and acceptable summer performance (better than the junk G**dy**rs that came with my original TDI) at a price that's comparable to many well-advertised tires.

If I lived someplace where I saw occasional ice and a fair amount of wet conditions, I'd be looking seriously at Nokian's NRW/WR tires or maybe even their summer tires. They're high quality tires at good prices.

Nokains have the best tires available for all weather driving. I have used the NRW's exclusively on both my Subaru vehicles so as not to change from winter to summer tires.

The WR is the replacement for the NRW and is quieter than the NRW. I have about 40K on my NRW's on the Subaru and they look new. The NRW's on my Passat TDI have about 15K and are still new.

Tread wear is excellent. My brother has the WR's on his Subaru and loves them. I will be replacing my Blizzak's (got them free) on the Golf with the WR's.

I can't say enough about Nokian NRW's and WR's. They are worth the money.

I wish this comparison included the WR



If I did decide to go with separate winter/summer tires, does anyone know who carries the NRV? www.e-tires.com carries most of their tires, but not the NRV. Tire Factory stores also sell Nokians. There's one near me, but not much info. about what they carry online . . .

[ January 27, 2003, 18:14: Message edited by: Dante Driver ]

Dante - considering our weather here would you not be more interested in wet traction performance unless you are doing a lot of skiing ??
I have the michelins but after totaling my 2000 on a wet road I wonder if I could have salvaged the ride by better performing tires in wet conditions???

[ January 27, 2003, 20:22: Message edited by: Heinz57 ]

Yea, absolutely. The WRs are supposed to be great in the wet, as are Nokian's NRV and NRH2s. Tirerack's tests seem to favor the Bridgestone Turanzas and Michelin Energies based on my priorities. What would yo get instead of Michelins? One decent reason to get separate summer and winter tires would be to get better wet weather performance. Seems like some of the "all season" tires suffer there and on dry pavement . . .

[ January 27, 2003, 21:48: Message edited by: Dante Driver ]

Originally posted by Dante Driver:
I wish this comparison included the WR

If I did decide to go with separate winter/summer tires, does anyone know who carries the NRV? www.e-tires.com carries most of their tires, but not the NRV. Tire Factory stores also sell Nokians. There's one near me, but not much info. about what they carry online . . .

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The one difference you'll see with the WR over the NRW is reduced road noise. at 195 (size i have in the NRW) there isn't too much but get any wider and i've heard reports that it is pretty crazy.

WR is basically a refined NRW - with slightly better road noise and dry characteristics with reportedly no/little reduction in snow grip. These aren't ice tires - they are snow and heavy rain tires.

I would seriously think about getting these and then picking up a set of Avus alloys with goodyear, conti or michelin factory rubber from someone upgrading their wheels. You can get those for as little as $300 for all 4. Can't beat that and you can put the Nokian's on what ever you have now and swap back and forth.

I've got ~42k miles on my NRWs now - plenty of tread left - still working great snow traction has diminished a few % from new but still working incredibly.

If you can only have one tire go with the WR/NRW - but from the sounds of it the WR is the one for you. Expensive but then the traction and performance and saftey are important factors to consider.

I'd suggest the Michelin MXV4 plus for summer and the NRW/WR for winter in areas that salt a bit and just have snow and slush to deal with. And with 2 sets you'll go 2x longer before you have to get tires - and in most cases people will sell the car before either set wears out.

one more thing
Fronts have (right now) 8/32" of tread and rears have 6/32" of tread (for those that this means something to) after 42k miles.

No I don't rotate the tires. I take the tires with the most tread on them and put em in the front each time I change. So they get a "rotation" based on wear.

What are the thoughts of WR's for use in the cold snowy mountains of New Mexico and Colorado as well as for high-speed summer travel on I-8, I-10, I-15, and I-40 in AZ and CA. I definitely need snow tires and alternatively I frequently drive my TDI Golf "Road Lear" in the hottest conditions CA and AZ deserts have to offer. Seems to me that the WR's would be unsuitable for hot southwestern high-speed driving. If they are useable in hot weather then they're the ideal tire for me. I'm trying to find an "ideal" year round tire without having to split the seasons with two tire sets.

I've had the NRW on my Passat.....Loved em, but am trying the Green Diamond Icelanders on now too. Haven't had enough driving for a really great test but I think the ice handling of the Green diamonds would be wonderful. They don't seem any louder to me....but they are cheaper.
Nhmike seems to like his.
Green Diamond Tires

GeWilli, I'm kind of tempted to go with Nokian NRVs or NRH2s in the summer and WRs in the winter. I think it would be a great combination for the Pacific Northwest, albeit expensive. As Heinz pointed out, what I really need is good dry and wet pavement performance for most of the year and something better on snow/slush/ice that is still good in the wet for the winter.

Go to www.nokiantires.com, click on "test information" and check out "NRV Test Results" and "Nokian NRH2 Test Result". Both tires performed better than the Pirelli P6000 Powergy, for example, but then the NRV is more expensive . . .

NRW's (if you can find them) are really great. Recent trip to the northlands of interior BC these tires really proved themselves. They are somewhat louder on really smooth dry pavement but on course large crush pavement, in the wet or snow covered road situation really stay quiet in stock size. Totally awesome grip. We drove over 670 miles on this ski trip and the Nokian tire is really the best tire we have ever used. The NW is the newer design and has similar tread design now becoming popular with several tire manufacturers, i.e. Falcon, Goodyear, Pirelli, etc.