Nokian Hakka R2 review
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From: NH
Nokian Hakka R2 review
We recently installed a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's on my fiancée's 2013 Cooper S. They are 195/55R16 Runflats. I picked them based on positive experiences with the brand in the past (seven winters with the same set of studded Hakka 2's on a rwd diesel wagon, and the last couple winters with the original Hakka R on my rwd sedan). My historical experience has been that I sacrifice some dry road handling for great snow/slush performance.
The Mini's Hakka R2's seem to sacrifice much less on dry roads. In fact, they feel pretty similar to the factory tires (the car was recently purchased through the CPO program and still has the original runflats in the same size). Granted, the temps I most recently drove the All Seasons in were probably too cold for them, so they were presumedly performing worse than normal, but I've been surprised at how much fun the Hakkas are on dry roads. Over the past week I've run the car through a moderate amount of snow (~4 inches), over a good amount of ice, and at speed on dry roads at temperatures between 5F and 45F. Performance on snow and ice has been at expectations (quite high) and the car has been fun to drive on the current icy roads we have - I can kick the tail out if I want but (so far) it's come back in line when I want.
I had hoped to be able to compare the Hakka R2's to the R's on my car, but I'm not sure it's possible. The Cooper S is lighter and much lower power, and the tires have stiffer sidewalls due to the RFT aspect. Frankly, my R's squirm under heavy cornering and full throttle acceleration, but the R2's seem very composed under the same maneuvers.
Anyway, I haven't seen these mentioned a ton on the forum so thought I'd post something up.
The Mini's Hakka R2's seem to sacrifice much less on dry roads. In fact, they feel pretty similar to the factory tires (the car was recently purchased through the CPO program and still has the original runflats in the same size). Granted, the temps I most recently drove the All Seasons in were probably too cold for them, so they were presumedly performing worse than normal, but I've been surprised at how much fun the Hakkas are on dry roads. Over the past week I've run the car through a moderate amount of snow (~4 inches), over a good amount of ice, and at speed on dry roads at temperatures between 5F and 45F. Performance on snow and ice has been at expectations (quite high) and the car has been fun to drive on the current icy roads we have - I can kick the tail out if I want but (so far) it's come back in line when I want.
I had hoped to be able to compare the Hakka R2's to the R's on my car, but I'm not sure it's possible. The Cooper S is lighter and much lower power, and the tires have stiffer sidewalls due to the RFT aspect. Frankly, my R's squirm under heavy cornering and full throttle acceleration, but the R2's seem very composed under the same maneuvers.
Anyway, I haven't seen these mentioned a ton on the forum so thought I'd post something up.
1st Gear
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 32
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From: Helsinki
Thanks for this. I didn't even know they were available in the US yet; anyway, I'd fit them without hesitation. Nokians have been better than any other brand I've tried, although Continentals are also pretty good.
We recently installed a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's on my fiancée's 2013 Cooper S. They are 195/55R16 Runflats. I picked them based on positive experiences with the brand in the past (seven winters with the same set of studded Hakka 2's on a rwd diesel wagon, and the last couple winters with the original Hakka R on my rwd sedan). My historical experience has been that I sacrifice some dry road handling for great snow/slush performance.
The Mini's Hakka R2's seem to sacrifice much less on dry roads. In fact, they feel pretty similar to the factory tires (the car was recently purchased through the CPO program and still has the original runflats in the same size). Granted, the temps I most recently drove the All Seasons in were probably too cold for them, so they were presumedly performing worse than normal, but I've been surprised at how much fun the Hakkas are on dry roads. Over the past week I've run the car through a moderate amount of snow (~4 inches), over a good amount of ice, and at speed on dry roads at temperatures between 5F and 45F. Performance on snow and ice has been at expectations (quite high) and the car has been fun to drive on the current icy roads we have - I can kick the tail out if I want but (so far) it's come back in line when I want.
I had hoped to be able to compare the Hakka R2's to the R's on my car, but I'm not sure it's possible. The Cooper S is lighter and much lower power, and the tires have stiffer sidewalls due to the RFT aspect. Frankly, my R's squirm under heavy cornering and full throttle acceleration, but the R2's seem very composed under the same maneuvers.
Anyway, I haven't seen these mentioned a ton on the forum so thought I'd post something up.
The Mini's Hakka R2's seem to sacrifice much less on dry roads. In fact, they feel pretty similar to the factory tires (the car was recently purchased through the CPO program and still has the original runflats in the same size). Granted, the temps I most recently drove the All Seasons in were probably too cold for them, so they were presumedly performing worse than normal, but I've been surprised at how much fun the Hakkas are on dry roads. Over the past week I've run the car through a moderate amount of snow (~4 inches), over a good amount of ice, and at speed on dry roads at temperatures between 5F and 45F. Performance on snow and ice has been at expectations (quite high) and the car has been fun to drive on the current icy roads we have - I can kick the tail out if I want but (so far) it's come back in line when I want.
I had hoped to be able to compare the Hakka R2's to the R's on my car, but I'm not sure it's possible. The Cooper S is lighter and much lower power, and the tires have stiffer sidewalls due to the RFT aspect. Frankly, my R's squirm under heavy cornering and full throttle acceleration, but the R2's seem very composed under the same maneuvers.
Anyway, I haven't seen these mentioned a ton on the forum so thought I'd post something up.
Where did you source them, and at what price point?
My Blizzak WS60's are down to 4/32 (winter tread is gone, now down to all-season rubber), and I will need to replace them with something for the next winter.
WS60's were phenomenal over snow and ice, but squirmy on dry asphalt.
a
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We paid $217/corner for tire, dismounting/mounting/balancing, and changing over the existing TPMS's. I didn't shop it around, circumstances dictated getting it done quickly and a quick online check looked like it was roughly competitive to buying them online for ~175/corner, adding in shipping, and then paying someone to mount them and change the TPMS's over. Bought them at Wilson Tire in Lebanon, NH. The company will not install non-runflats, so that's the only option if you go through them. They had a nice facility and the shop manager was quite knowledgeable in general so the overall experience was good.
Regarding the comparison on the dry to a WS60, I don't want to totally oversell the tire and I haven't compared the two. I've only had the car up to highway speeds (80 or so) once and it was 5F outside. It felt good to me, though not quite as precise as the all-seasons. My fiancée has now put about 1200mi on them between NH and CT, sometimes at 50F, and she just told me "yeah, I guess they feel a bit different... but I wouldn't have thought about it much if you hadn't asked." So for whatever that's worth...
My point of comparison is my car, which is an older MB E55 AMG that puts about 390 pound feet of torque to the rear wheels. My summer rear tire is a 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. My winter rear tire is a 235/45R17 Nokian Hakka R. The difference on a dry road between the two is huge. I have to drive the winters with kid gloves, relative to the summer tires (which are really an all season). However, the winter has a taller sidewall, bigger tread blocks, much lower speed rating/softer sidewall material, different compound, and a narrower footprint. The change for the Mini is just the speed rating (but still stiff - it's runflat), the tread blocks themselves, and the rubber compound. The size is unchanged. All I'm trying to get at is that although I'm used to a big dry road performance gap, not all of it is due to the design of the tire. The Mini has a much smaller performance gap, but I wouldn't attribute it all to the tire.
I'd still buy them again. If you're into that kind of stuff, they did real well in this year's European tire tests.
Regarding the comparison on the dry to a WS60, I don't want to totally oversell the tire and I haven't compared the two. I've only had the car up to highway speeds (80 or so) once and it was 5F outside. It felt good to me, though not quite as precise as the all-seasons. My fiancée has now put about 1200mi on them between NH and CT, sometimes at 50F, and she just told me "yeah, I guess they feel a bit different... but I wouldn't have thought about it much if you hadn't asked." So for whatever that's worth...
My point of comparison is my car, which is an older MB E55 AMG that puts about 390 pound feet of torque to the rear wheels. My summer rear tire is a 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. My winter rear tire is a 235/45R17 Nokian Hakka R. The difference on a dry road between the two is huge. I have to drive the winters with kid gloves, relative to the summer tires (which are really an all season). However, the winter has a taller sidewall, bigger tread blocks, much lower speed rating/softer sidewall material, different compound, and a narrower footprint. The change for the Mini is just the speed rating (but still stiff - it's runflat), the tread blocks themselves, and the rubber compound. The size is unchanged. All I'm trying to get at is that although I'm used to a big dry road performance gap, not all of it is due to the design of the tire. The Mini has a much smaller performance gap, but I wouldn't attribute it all to the tire.
I'd still buy them again. If you're into that kind of stuff, they did real well in this year's European tire tests.
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