Am looking at 15" winter tires for our 07 R56. Like the looks of the Nokians, but at $55 cheaper for the Blizzak Revo 1s, are they a good enough tire? We live in the lower hudson valley of NY and wife's school teacher (the Mini is her's), so when there's snow, schools are usually closed. It's the times that she needs to do the 22 mile commute home if the snow starts during the day and she's already in school.

Any insight into the performance of the Revos would be helpful.

 

I love my REVO1's, and I think they are even on clearance at Tirerack.com right now for SUPER cheap. They are definately a true snow tire with great snow/ice performance and compromise non snow performance due to that. I am not a Nokian expert, but I have heard that Nokian is also a great tire. With all of the different models of snow tires out there, there are also some tires that might give up a bit of ultimate snow performance to have nicer non-snowy manners. It all depends on what you want.

Jason

 

I love the Nokian's. We have 3 cars running on them in the winter. Nokian Hakka 2's on the MINI & a Forester & Hakka Q's on another Forester.

I needed snows for my sons Civic. I just couldn't pass up the Revo 1's for $57 each from Tire Rack. I've not driven on the Revo's yet, but I trust Jason's opinion of them.

 

Thanks Jason, looking for non snow use also; any thoughts on the Blizzak WS-60?

 

I've had several sets of Blizzak WS 50's. They are a great snow tire. Their dry road performance was just adequate, but not great.

The Nokian Hakka 2's on the other hand are great in the snow & good on a dry road.

The WS60 replaces the discontinued WS50. My guess is that it's an improvement in all areas over the WS50.

 

I've had my WS60s on for a little over a week now, and my previous winter tire was the WS50. I haven't pushed the car too hard yet, but the new WS60 seems to be more competent on the dry roads than the WS50. Haven't seen any rain, ice or snow yet.

 

My dad runs Nokian WR's (all season) on his jeep liberty and it has gotten him through 2 winters with absolutely no issue. My dad just convinced me to get a set of WR's for my Mini and so far they have been great.

Nokian makes a killer tire, expensive but really worth it in my opinion.

 

Those WR Nokian's are the only all season rated as a true winter tire. They have the mountain symbol on the tire that proves it.

 

i loved my haakas on the mini, back for that one winter i actually drove it in the winter. I also have them on a mustang thats never seen snow, and were on a altima, and they were great on that too. Now on 2 minivans, but havnt had them in the snow on either. They were great on the mini in the snow tho, i went threw wet snow that my bumper notched a 3 inch deep trench out of, in second gear. The lower half of the grill in the bumper was packed solid, and it just pulled right threw, and the motor was bogged down, cause i should have been in first anyway. Those tires would go threw anything.

Beecher

 

I had Blizzak WS's on my prior car, and while they had great grip in the slippery stuff, panick stops, caused well, panick as the car hada tendency to fishtail slightly as the tread compressed and 'squirmed'

I currently have Nokian Haka's (first 100 or so mi) and love them... but I haven't had them in slippery stuff yet... Being 10+ # lighter per side than the stock runflats may help...

HTH.

 

Jason, what flavor of Hakka's do you have? I have the Hakka 2's & my wife has Hakka Q's. Both are great, but on ice I give the nod to the Q's by just a bit.

 

Has anyone used Pirelli Winter 240 SnowSports instead of the Brigestones or Nokians?

RichS

 

I haven't but, I have to say that any modern snow tire is going to work well. Pirelli's included.

 

Consumersearch.com is a web site that compiles many reviews of products. A couple years ago they did a review of snow tires. What they did in the snow tire review is they took a look at a comprehensive review by a paper in Sweden where snow tires are a way of life. Some time later they posted this update:

"However, in the stringent tests conducted by Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper, the Blizzak shows its age. Although editors say the Blizzak WS-50 was an icon a decade ago, it no longer compares as well to newer technology. In terms of ice and snow braking and acceleration, the Blizzak was the worst in the test group. Tires easily lost traction in icy slush. In fact, Aftonbladet's review found nothing positive about the Blizzak WS-50 compared to other non-studded tires like the top-performing Continental Viking Contact 3 (not available in the U.S.), Gislaved SoftFrost 2 (*est. $85), Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi (*est. $90)..."

Unfortunately their review is a few years old now but at the time as you can see they liked the Michelin X-ice. By the way, now the Continental Viking contact 3 is available in the US.

I will add that Tirerack customer surveys rate the X-ice highest although Tirerack seems to push the Blizzaks WS50 more.

I have Viking snow techs which is a European brand made or at least distributed by Continental. They are a good inexpensive snow tire and are rated high for dry pavement. For me in Northern IL they work fine. When it snows here it is generally only a day or half a day before it is cleared and so dry street performance is important.

I am about to put snows on one of my other cars and I am going to get either the X-ice or Nokian rsi. The Nokians are, by all accounts, the best but substantially more expensive than X-ice.

The Blizzak WS60 is new and as someone earlier stated, they seem to be an improvement over the WS50. I have seen no reviews of it yet other than Tirerack but I am a little distrustful (only a little) of the Tirerack review since they also love the WS50 which is totally trashed per the above quoted review.

 

Although the Bridgestone and Nokian brands seem to dominate discussions, I went with Pirelli Winter 240 SnowSport 205 X45 VR X 17 in a run-flat, which are "snowflake" rated. I live in Anchorage, Alaska and I experience all types of winter conditions. I have no complaints so far. The only conditions I avoid are very poor visibility, because of all the pickup trucks around here can't see a small car with ton of snow on their window; but that has nothing to do with the tires.

COOL S

 

I ran Nokian Hakapeliitta SUVs on my VW Touareg. I run Nokian WRs on my wife's Passat. When I bought my MCS last December, the first purchase was Nokian RSIs. Needless to say, I am a big believer in Nokian tires. The only issue I have is deep snow.

 

Nokian makes a great product, as does Vredestein but due to their rarity in the US market, they command a price premium. We were able to work out some group buy pricing through the Wholesale group at Waukegan Tire. I believe I paid $620/shipped for 215/45/17 WR's. Normal price was $800+ shipping. I can dig up the gent's info if anybody is interested...no promises they'll honor a discount this year.

 

Tires-easy.com (I don't know anything about them) is the only on line dealer I could find for Nokian They have the Nokians, both the WR and the Hakkapeliitta Rsi, for about $750 shipped for a set of four 215/45/17. So your Waukegan Tire deal was definitely a good one.

 

Heh, oddly enough Nokians are the only type of tire my local tirs shop seems to stock (or at least display).

 

I am from Montreal Quebec, i know snow and winter.
(this is a good day in February )
http://www.garretwilson.com/photos/1...ntrealsnow.jpg

Nokian.

Hakka's

 

TiresByWeb.com is another online Nokian dealer. I have order from them in the past. No problems.

 

+1 for tiresbyweb as your source for Nokian tires.

 

My last set of Nokian Hakka 2 snows 185/65/15 cost me $83 each.

GREER ENTERPRISES
1909 S. 74th Street
West Allis, WI 53219
Phone: (414) 545-2296

 

The pricing of tires is amazing. For one of my cars with a 16 inch wheel the Nokian RSI is $118.50. For the 17 inch wheel on my MINI they are $174.50.

 

19" tires cost 2x as much as 20" tires. Go figure