Tires Firestone or Nokia

I bought a set of these in stock 255/40/19 size for my 5.0 on Christmas Eve, and am coming up on the 2,000 mile mark. I decided to do a little review mainly because in all the glowing reviews out there, I only ever found one bad review and it was a guy running 245s on a Maxima. Truth is, most people don't run snows this wide, so there aren't many (any) reviews out there, let alone on a RWD car, so I figured if nothing else I'd give a data point on a wide set for people for future reference. After all, a lot more cars are coming with big brake kits that can't have pizza cutter snow tires. I know EliteDeltaForce was curious, even if nobody else is. So, impressions for a wide 255 Hakka on a RWD car: 1) Fresh Powdered Snow: Literally unstoppable. I can make 90 degree right hand turns at the end of my street faster than should be possible and the rear doesn't kick out whatsoever. 2) Slush: The tires are designed to avoid slush planing, and this works really well. Haven't slush planed yet. 3) Packed snow: Again, they don't disappoint. They seem to dig right into packed snow with confidence, and this is the stuff I have to deal with most here in the Twin Cities - it will snow, and then get very cold, and we will have pure white packed snow roads for 3-5 days afterwards. Very happy with the performance on this. 4) Sheer Ice: This is the one area they only receive a passing grade, and get a little iffy. I'm talking after freezing rain and when the road literally looks like an ice rink. They are not awful, but this is the one situation where I don't have the confidence inspired by the three cases above. These on ice are like a RWD car on a worn performance all season on snow. Doable with a lot of caution, but not a lot of confidence. Need a long time to stop and need to really feather the brake pedal. 5) Stopping in all of the above situations: They stop so well on snow/slush/packed snow it's almost comical how quick you can step on the brake pedal and they just bite and stop with no drama. Sheer ice, not so much, you'll slide if you do that. Other: 6) Dry road handling: The sidewalls flex a lot to me, but I have Pilot Sport A/S 3s for summer, so that's maybe not entirely fair. I did notice a couple times in the day or two after I had them put on that I actually thought the rear was coming around on a curve and I got that pit of the stomach feeling until I realized it was just the sidewalls flexing on the rears as I pushed through a curve. Now I'm used to how the tires behave, so it's not a big deal. They are a tool to serve a function, that being getting through snow. 7) Noise: They are not super quiet, but they aren't bad. Again, frame of reference is very quiet Michelins. On some road surfaces they just have a noticeable hum at 60+ mph, but then on some other surfaces you almost get that thwomp sound like cupped tires. Note I had a 4 wheel alignment done at Ford immediately after they were put on, so this isn't what's really happening. 8) Looks: They are fairly sporty looking for a snow tire and look right at home on a performance vehicle. They don't seem as knobby as other snow tires when viewed from the side, and the tread pattern from a distance doesn't look like a snow tread pattern, it looks like a cheap performance pattern from some second rate tire company like Cooper, lol. 9) Wear: To be determined, but most people say they wear really well. 10) They are a directional tire, so if you have dedicated snow wheels, they can only be rotated front to back which kind of sucks. But if you're like me and swap tires on factory wheels 2x a year, you can rotate them side to side as well each time they come off, which is nice. Overall: 9/10, I don't think you can do better. Like many other reviews, I agree, the dry handling performance approaches that of a middle grade all season, which isn't too bad considering they pretty much dominate on snow. I have no concerns about starting on a snowy hill in a RWD car with these. I would like to see a little better ice performance, but I don't know how realistic that is for any studless tire. Overall though, you get what you pay for and it shows, even if they are a couple hundred bucks more than other higher end snow tires. Would buy again without hesitation.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8s 205/65 r16 "Good tires are cheap insurance"

Just a quick follow-up on my 4Motion GSW with the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2s. This is an amazing winter car. I've been driving on bad winter roads for 30 years, and this is the best winter car that I've owned, including my 2005 Subaru Outback. Winter is in full force in Calgary and it feels like I'm driving on dry pavement. So much grip.

I've been using Nokians for 20 years and have never been disappointed.

Nokian WR G3. It is a all-weather tire (all-season with the mountain-snowflake for severe winter conditions). They are available in 225/45r18 It's not going to have the dry road grip of the DWS06 or A/S3+, but will easily outperform them in the winter, that we are suppose to have.

So, this year, I banked big and bought the test-winning studded tires from Nokian (Hakapeliita 8). And let me tell you, I don't think I'm going back to studless tires ever, unless studded tires suddenly become illegal here.

- The grip and handling-ability on ice is unmatched. Everyone who sais that studless tires have come such a long way that there almost isn't a difference anymore has never tried a studded tire and should shut up. Especially the difference in brake-ability on ice is huge. Studded tires outperform studless in any icy-condition, that is for sure and any other claim is wrong. these tires really have given me confidence that no other studless tire has before.

Nokian's I've just put on the Hakk R2s for this winter. I was running WRG2s which I was thoroughly impressed with.

Car and Driver tested several studless snows and Nokian killed the competition

Another vote for the Firestone Winterforce tires... Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with LOTS of snow, and I travel the entire area. Most of what we get is snow, minimal ice, and after experimenting with several different brands we go back to the Winterforce every time.

I had a set of Firestone Winterforce 2's on the WRX, and they were downright dangerous if they were on anything other than snow.