Tires Falken or Nokia

I’ve got the wildpeak trails on my ‘17 2.5 and love them.

The grip improvement for dirt, mud and snow is very very noticeable. I was at 70-75% tread left after 14k miles. I think 45-50k miles on them is very possible.

I did change the tire out when I got it to Falken Wildpeak A/T’s, so the mileage could be better with different tires. As far as snow and mountain roads, the car work’s amazing.

For my SE in PNW:

~April until ~October: Stock 16” victory + stock hankooks. Great range and fine in spring/summer. No complaints until it gets cold.

~October until ~April: A second “refurbished” set of 16” victory spoke + nokian wr g4. Not enough winter for proper winter tires. They are great when it’s cold and wet, did fine in slushy melting soft ice. When the weather is nice these are way too noisy and reduced range is noticeable.

I have two sets of wheel and one set has Nokian Hakkapeliittas on them. Run them from about Nov 1 to Apr 1. And it’s really fun on snow days to be the only small car among a crowd of pickups and SUVs.

The ice performance of studless snow tires is undeniable. But if you live in an area where winter is mostly rain and powdered snow. Without much icy roads or compacted snow. Nordic winters are not for you. Stick with performance winters or all weathers. The rain performance just isn't there.

Falken Wild Peak AT3s, look good and have been great in wet and snow I've been in so far

I have them, studded. They’re a fantastic winter tire. Best winter tire I’ve ever run. I’ve tried blizzaks, Goodyear Nordic ice, Michelin x ice, and some crappy Chinese brands.

This is my first year on them and they perform well on sheer ice, hard packed snow, slush, and everything in between. Highly recommended.

Around Thanksgiving last year, I had two Michelin MXV4 Eco+ OEM stock tires that were worn and need of replacing. I followed suggestions of colleagues and Consumer Reports and bought two Falken Ziex ZE-512, and installed them on the front of my 1998.5 Turbo Passat Wagon. Although I kept the same size (195/65/R15) I was impressed immediately: much better handling, steering response, road feel, as well as seriously improved wet and dry grip. Extremely stable at 90mph+ speeds, and good cornering. After about 1000 miles however, I thought I had front-end or transmission problems, as there was this terrible WHOO=WHOO sound coming from the front. I took it to a shop and they said no trouble, just tire noise. Noise worsened, so took to VW dealer in Maine while on the road; they said that car was aligned perfectly per spec, but Falken tires were \"cupped\", and worn on the inside.

Falken Eurowinter tires are crap...

Had a new set on one of my old URS6's...they had about the same traction as a good all season. My half worn Pirelli Sottozero's were superior in every way.