We have had winter specific tires on vehicles from 4x4 big pickups to the VW rabbits. Have use Michelin X-ice, Blizzaks, Winterforce studded and Nokian Hakka's, both studded and unstudded. Would not go through a winter without the Nokians. Last winter the big 4x4 truck ran Nokian Rotiiva's and they worked but not as well as winter specific tires. Wife's Ford Escape - Nokian Hakka's non-studded. A great ride. Good traction and road feel, snow and ice as well as base clear pavement.
I have run Nokian R2SUV full winter and am now on Nokian WRG3. I used to have mounted and dedicated winter tires, but the Nokian All Weather (not all season) are a great solution (they invented snow tires in the 30's and pioneered All Weathers). The Nokian R2's are better than the Blizzaks, Michelin Pilot Alpin and Michelin X-Ice in snow/ice. The Nokian WRG3 are approximately equivalent, but without the spongy (and no braking from Blizzaks) on dry pavement. The Pilot Alpin and Nokian WRG3 are actually fun to drive.
I’m planning on giving All Weather tires a try myself. I will be going with Nokian WR G4 in the 195 65 15 91H size for my base model GSW S. All Weather tires are definitely a step up from all season tires in the Winter.
Nice, I look forward to reading your impressions. I've been trying to find some decent reviews as well. I have bought many sets of Nokian tires since I discovered them 15 years ago. WR and Z line for the cars and I've bought several sets of Rotiiva AT (Plus) for trucks I've owned and I've been very happy with them.
I used to buy Nokian. I would say they offer slightly better ice traction over the Michelins. However they typically cost half more, and last half as long
I ended up getting nokain **all weather** tires last October for winter in thunder Bay. I never once was worried about getting stuck or slipping even in the coldest of nights/mornings. They worked amazingly
Tiguan suspension lift, 17 x 8 et35 TSW Nurburgring wheels with 225/55r17 Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 snow tires. Car has been an absolute beast in the snow, even driving through 6 to 8 inches on the road. Car handles bumps, dips, ice and snow with ease.
So, my buddy has a Mk2 Supra. He has so many cars, this one lives at my house. When he first bought the car 4 years ago, it had been sitting for a while, and the tires were shot, so he had tires-easy send a set of Nexen N3000's in close to the original size to North Carolina, had them installed so that he could drive back to Pittsburgh. So, we took the car to Hershey at the beginning of last year, and the tires have not covered that many miles since purchase, so three years of mild summer driving. They started to vibrate BAD after we started back. At first, we could not figure out what in the hell was wrong, so we stopped, and the tire had a HUGE bulge in the middle of the tread. Once again, in the middle of the tread. So, we had to throw on the 30 year old spare, a Dunlop SP3000 that looked comically old. So we started off again, and less than 10 miles later, it started to vibrate terribly again. Thinking that the spare was dying, we were stuck in a single lane cattle pen on the PA Turnpike, and were limping it at 35 until we could get to an emergency pull off. We were just about to pull it over after it crossed back over to the end of the construction zone, and BLAM! We pulled over to find the OTHER N3000 on the rear axle had **** the bed, actually blowing out the center of the tread. It looked like the belts had all just blown out of the hole. We had to wait 6 hours for a tow truck for a 4 hour tow home. It sucked. He found a couple of used tires at a place down the street from him, some old Grand Am brand tires to tide him over until he could replace all of them with a decent tire. So, after a couple of shows and sitting at my house again, I took it to Youngstown to get snow tires for my wife's new Fiesta, about an hour away, and........WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP....the third out of four started to bulge in the middle. So on went the old Dunlop spare, which got me home. I wouldn't buy Nexens again if you paid me, and I had N5000's on my truck for a couple of years, kinda liked them. BUT NEVER AGAIN.
