I ran WR G2s on my Volvo about ten years ago. I have WR G3s on it now. The G2s handled snow a little better, but they wore a little faster than the G3's. A week ago I put Rotiiva ATs on my RWD Sierra, and we got our first snowstorm on Friday. The plow hadn't been down my street yet when I left for work, but I was able to push through six inches of fresh snow like it was dry pavement. The interstate was sketchy, but the truck felt like it was on rails. And the Rotiivas are only slightly noisier than the (terrifyingly slippery) Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts they replaced. I am now a Nokian fanboy.
Nokian Hakkapelitta R3 - Winter Tires
- Thread starter StevieC
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Originally Posted by Palut
I had R2's on my WRX. They were absolutely fantastic in snow, but truly scary in wet weather. While great in snow, they were definitely the wrong tool for my application (mostly rain/wet roads and 40°-50°). I replaced them with Pirelli performance winters, which have been much better for my conditions.
The R2's never hydroplaned, but the grip while turning or stopping was absolutely horrendous.
I have R2 SUV on Tiguan. According to tests SUV are bit better in wet than regular R2. According to my experience they are absolutely abysmal in we, and notch above abysmal in dry.
I had R2's on my WRX. They were absolutely fantastic in snow, but truly scary in wet weather. While great in snow, they were definitely the wrong tool for my application (mostly rain/wet roads and 40°-50°). I replaced them with Pirelli performance winters, which have been much better for my conditions.
The R2's never hydroplaned, but the grip while turning or stopping was absolutely horrendous.
I have R2 SUV on Tiguan. According to tests SUV are bit better in wet than regular R2. According to my experience they are absolutely abysmal in we, and notch above abysmal in dry.
Consumer Reports latest has ALL but Falken (which is lower on overall score) as poor wet braking and fair dry traction. Other parts bring the ratings up. I really want to try the R3 SUV on wifes new Pilot. I had many Nokians over the years and could be considered a fanboy. Unless some sale changes for black Friday I'll probably wind up with Continental SI. $50 cheaper per tire plus extra $70 rebate as of now. Price difference will cover most of the spare rims. A couple sites rate them higher than the Nokians, but I'm lured by the cryo crystals to see how they help.
Surprise snow last week and wife almost wrecked the 2 day old Pilot. Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S with 60 miles on them, full of mold release still, sliding down the hill. She wanted to bring it back for how bad it was in snow.
Quietly from the corner of kitchen......my 15 year old daughter...."it's not the truck Mom, it's the tires, you need the snows and it will be great!".....gotta love her. Brought a tear to my eye.
StevieC- post pics once that outer rubber layer is worn some to show those.
Surprise snow last week and wife almost wrecked the 2 day old Pilot. Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S with 60 miles on them, full of mold release still, sliding down the hill. She wanted to bring it back for how bad it was in snow.
Quietly from the corner of kitchen......my 15 year old daughter...."it's not the truck Mom, it's the tires, you need the snows and it will be great!".....gotta love her. Brought a tear to my eye.
StevieC- post pics once that outer rubber layer is worn some to show those.
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I'm really happy that my employer covers my tires and so I sprung for a really good set. After having these Nokians on for just a short time I can definitely see the benefit over the X-Ice I had on previous vehicles. I'm not saying this will be everyone case but they certainly are working for me.
R3-SUV is what I ended up getting for the van in 17"
I'll post picks of the tires later today. I have about 2,300km (1400 miles) on them now.
I can post later what the difference is after the season and the miles clocked.
R3-SUV is what I ended up getting for the van in 17"
I'll post picks of the tires later today. I have about 2,300km (1400 miles) on them now.
I can post later what the difference is after the season and the miles clocked.
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Originally Posted by Sequoiasoon
Consumer Reports latest has ALL but Falken (which is lower on overall score) as poor wet braking and fair dry traction. Other parts bring the ratings up. I really want to try the R3 SUV on wifes new Pilot. I had many Nokians over the years and could be considered a fanboy. Unless some sale changes for black Friday I'll probably wind up with Continental SI. $50 cheaper per tire plus extra $70 rebate as of now. Price difference will cover most of the spare rims. A couple sites rate them higher than the Nokians, but I'm lured by the cryo crystals to see how they help.
Surprise snow last week and wife almost wrecked the 2 day old Pilot. Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S with 60 miles on them, full of mold release still, sliding down the hill. She wanted to bring it back for how bad it was in snow.
Quietly from the corner of kitchen......my 15 year old daughter...."it's not the truck Mom, it's the tires, you need the snows and it will be great!".....gotta love her. Brought a tear to my eye.
StevieC- post pics once that outer rubber layer is worn some to show those.
All winter tires are bad in wet compared to all seasons and especially summer rubber.
I am referring as being abysmal compared to other winter tires.
As for Dualers, well they are all seasons, but particularly bad all seasons in snow. I had them on BMW when I bought it. Went out to try them in snow while I was waiting delivery of DM-V2.
Consumer Reports latest has ALL but Falken (which is lower on overall score) as poor wet braking and fair dry traction. Other parts bring the ratings up. I really want to try the R3 SUV on wifes new Pilot. I had many Nokians over the years and could be considered a fanboy. Unless some sale changes for black Friday I'll probably wind up with Continental SI. $50 cheaper per tire plus extra $70 rebate as of now. Price difference will cover most of the spare rims. A couple sites rate them higher than the Nokians, but I'm lured by the cryo crystals to see how they help.
Surprise snow last week and wife almost wrecked the 2 day old Pilot. Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S with 60 miles on them, full of mold release still, sliding down the hill. She wanted to bring it back for how bad it was in snow.
Quietly from the corner of kitchen......my 15 year old daughter...."it's not the truck Mom, it's the tires, you need the snows and it will be great!".....gotta love her. Brought a tear to my eye.
StevieC- post pics once that outer rubber layer is worn some to show those.
All winter tires are bad in wet compared to all seasons and especially summer rubber.
I am referring as being abysmal compared to other winter tires.
As for Dualers, well they are all seasons, but particularly bad all seasons in snow. I had them on BMW when I bought it. Went out to try them in snow while I was waiting delivery of DM-V2.
I'll post tomorrow morning when lighting is better, the photo's this afternoon turned out quite dark.
Originally Posted by edyvw
All winter tires are bad in wet compared to all seasons and especially summer rubber.
I am referring as being abysmal compared to other winter tires.
As for Dualers, well they are all seasons, but particularly bad all seasons in snow. I had them on BMW when I bought it. Went out to try them in snow while I was waiting delivery of DM-V2.
Part of the problem is she's been spoiled and always had snows. TR reviews show same thing for the duelers good dry/wet but poor in snow. Add no time to wear off the mold release so nothing for the snow to stick to. I was already looking for rims for the snows the day we picked it up. Still hunting.
Most of my snows I have not noticed them being that poor. I also don't drive crazy (usually) where I'm testing the limits. I can say that my old Conti ExtremeWinterContacts had awesome quiet ride and did well in rain more towards all season performance until about 5/32. At about 6/32 my snows might stay on extra couple months to wear them out pending wet performance.
All winter tires are bad in wet compared to all seasons and especially summer rubber.
I am referring as being abysmal compared to other winter tires.
As for Dualers, well they are all seasons, but particularly bad all seasons in snow. I had them on BMW when I bought it. Went out to try them in snow while I was waiting delivery of DM-V2.
Part of the problem is she's been spoiled and always had snows. TR reviews show same thing for the duelers good dry/wet but poor in snow. Add no time to wear off the mold release so nothing for the snow to stick to. I was already looking for rims for the snows the day we picked it up. Still hunting.
Most of my snows I have not noticed them being that poor. I also don't drive crazy (usually) where I'm testing the limits. I can say that my old Conti ExtremeWinterContacts had awesome quiet ride and did well in rain more towards all season performance until about 5/32. At about 6/32 my snows might stay on extra couple months to wear them out pending wet performance.
It's going down to -13c (8.6F) tonight with a cold snap so I will get to try them out in the cold weather for grip tomorrow. And I forgot to take pictures this morning... Will do it when I'm stopped again somewhere.
I've been driving 35k miles annually for 50 yrs. in the Northeast & Canada (NB/NS). The last 40 on the edge of the Lake Effect snowbelt in Central NY. I've been a firm believer & user of snow tires since 1965. I discovered Nokian tires 25-30 yrs ago and have been using them almost exclusively ever since. Have strayed at times, tried Blizzaks when the first started getting rave reviews and found them to be very good initially & quickly lost their snow capabilities when tread wore down. (which happened fast on dry roads and three week southern trip) Was flaus at one point and tried Vredestein Wintrac Extreme and found it to be the best handling snow tire in web/dry I'd ever experienced BUT snow/ice performance didn't compare to current Nokian offering at time! Over my years with Nokian I've found every new model a decent improvement over it's successor. At this point we have three AUDI A6 Avants ('07/'08/'10) on Nokians. My daughter's w/Hakka 9's w/studs as she's a new driver and the only one that has schedules to meet & g=has to deal w/weather! The 9's w/studs are amazingly civilized and quiet compared to older studded tires! The '08 has R2's which are fine in the wet/dry and excellent on snow and ice. The Hakka R3's which I just put on the '10 are amazing! They handle better in wet/dry than R2's, feeling tighter! The R2's have a small amount of squirm which you get used to when you put it into a big sweeper, you get used to it but a notice difference over the summer performance tires I usually run. The R3's feel tigher & you don't get that squirmy sensation. The '10 came with fresh 255/35/19 Conti DWS06's. They rode rough and hydroplaned in the wet and didn't feel very good in 1-2in slushy snow. The R3's are 245/45/17 and ride much better with very little hydroplaning in slush and feel great on fresh snow & snow packed roads. Overall ALL the Nokians I've used over the years are highly resistant to hydroplaning which is probably the single most important factor to me. As to cheapest place to buy them, tireseasy.com sometimes has great prices. Another source is tiresby web. I'm lucky to have a dealer a mile away who sold me R3's for $220 ea installed & the cheapes online price I found was $222 shippied w/o installation.
We've had R2s on the Civic for several years now and no problems. That said, we don't intentionally drive them in rain, and we take the Forester with Hakkapelitta 8 SUV tires when the snoq is really bad. I drove the Civic for 3-4 years with the original Rs before that, and only had problems three times, trying to stop on really bad ice; but it wasn't just me, we had a huge pileup in town one of those days due to people being unable to stop.
I found this year on Tiguan that after first winter of using R2 (maybe they have 2k on them) ice performance is not where it has been. We have new construction close by and 6 lane street that is not used currently. Last week we had a lot of ice on the road, and I tried slalom run on both cars. Found that Michelin Xi2 I have on Sienna are bit more grabby in those conditions than R2 are. I was not impressed at all with R2 in anything but ice and deep snow, but apparently loss of performance this fast I did not expect.
So far so good with the R3's I did notice the ride is a tad bit rougher now that the rubber is colder due to a decrease in ambient temperatures but I would say they still offer a good ride and they are certainly quieter than the X-ICE I had previously.
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
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Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Well, these Nokian's Hakka R2 I have on a Tiguan were last year by far most expensive. As I stated before they are abysmal in dry and especially wet. However, this dramatic decline in winter performance in second year of use (they had 2000 miles on them when I put them back in November) I have never experienced before.
These R2 IMO are pure POS of a tire. Are they better than all seasons, any all seasons in snow and ice? Yes. Are they better than Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental winter tires in snow and ice? Yes, first few thousands miles apparently. The worst $167 per tire I have ever spent.
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by mightymousetech
Originally Posted by edyvw
But remember this, worst winter tire is better in snow then best all season. So choosing any reputable winter tire will make huge difference in snow.
That is actually completely untrue.
I actually know the gentleman who was largely responsible for the whole "tri peak snowflake" winter tire designation, he works at Transport Canada. He was telling me, it is a big problem right now because many quality all-seasons are actually better in the snow than many lower end winter rated tires.
What is lower rated winter tire? What is best all season?
Three peak snowflake designation is not Canadian thing, it is world wide thing.
Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
Well, these Nokian's Hakka R2 I have on a Tiguan were last year by far most expensive. As I stated before they are abysmal in dry and especially wet. However, this dramatic decline in winter performance in second year of use (they had 2000 miles on them when I put them back in November) I have never experienced before.
These R2 IMO are pure POS of a tire. Are they better than all seasons, any all seasons in snow and ice? Yes. Are they better than Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental winter tires in snow and ice? Yes, first few thousands miles apparently. The worst $167 per tire I have ever spent.
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Originally Posted by Finn
I liked each set of Nokian R2 I had in the past very much.
Compared to anything I owned before, they lost winter performance fastest.
I liked each set of Nokian R2 I had in the past very much.
Compared to anything I owned before, they lost winter performance fastest.
The Nokian all season eNTYRES I have are wearing very fast. Only bought them a year and a half ago, 25k miles and they're down to 5mm of tread left. They started out at 11 mm per the Amazon info unless that was incorrect. Supposed to be a 70k tire but will prob get half of that. Traction in the winter is pretty good, so no complaints there. Just super fast wearing. Wouldn't buy again. But they were only $49/tire on Amazon and are now around $70 or so. No thanks. Plus kind of loud and rough on bumps.
Originally Posted by SatinSilver
The Nokian all season eNTYRES I have are wearing very fast. Only bought them a year and a half ago, 25k miles and they're down to 5mm of tread left. They started out at 11 mm per the Amazon info unless that was incorrect. Supposed to be a 70k tire but will prob get half of that. Traction in the winter is pretty good, so no complaints there. Just super fast wearing. Wouldn't buy again. But they were only $49/tire on Amazon and are now around $70 or so. No thanks. Plus kind of loud and rough on bumps.
Tire that will be good in cold is not going to wear out slowly.
When I bought R2's only reason I would purchase them again was very good snow and ice performance (Nokian is IMO third rate summer tire manufacturer, and would never purchase them for summer). Like you said, they are loud (mine compare to other snow tires) rough etc. But drop in winter performance this year, after only 2000 miles, just confirmed my thoughts that they are just overblown marketing attempt, similar to Liqui Moly oils (oversized Made in Germany letters).
Sticking to Michelin's which keep initial performance.
The Nokian all season eNTYRES I have are wearing very fast. Only bought them a year and a half ago, 25k miles and they're down to 5mm of tread left. They started out at 11 mm per the Amazon info unless that was incorrect. Supposed to be a 70k tire but will prob get half of that. Traction in the winter is pretty good, so no complaints there. Just super fast wearing. Wouldn't buy again. But they were only $49/tire on Amazon and are now around $70 or so. No thanks. Plus kind of loud and rough on bumps.
Tire that will be good in cold is not going to wear out slowly.
When I bought R2's only reason I would purchase them again was very good snow and ice performance (Nokian is IMO third rate summer tire manufacturer, and would never purchase them for summer). Like you said, they are loud (mine compare to other snow tires) rough etc. But drop in winter performance this year, after only 2000 miles, just confirmed my thoughts that they are just overblown marketing attempt, similar to Liqui Moly oils (oversized Made in Germany letters).
Sticking to Michelin's which keep initial performance.
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