I'm off to Suburban Tire in about 30 minutes to have a set of Nokian WR in 185/65/15 installed on my holies. Tom Skilling says we'll have snow on Thursday My summer tire season is over.

After a lot of research, I think the WR is what I'm looking for. It's sounds like it's a tire that will handle well on dry roads (no jello) and still take on the snow before the plows have had a chance to clear the streets here around Chicago. Oh, it should be quieter than a dedicated snow tire.

While not a real snow tire, the WR should provide much better snow performance than regular all season tires. One tire salesperson person I spoke with said that he's able to drive through a foot of snow in his WRs with no problem. I told him, I don't think my MINI has a foot of clearance And at at snow tire.info, someone reported that the WR is "marketed as a high speed snow tire" in Europe.

I should know in a few weeks if these turn out to be a good choice. Anyone else running these?

 

Haven't run the WR personally, but everything you've heard about it matches what I've heard about it, and I know a bunch of people that live in the Boston / NYC area that use them to get up to northern Vermont for skiing.

Since I need snow performance and am willing to sacrafice some dry road handling, I run Nokian Hakka's. If I lived further south, I'd run WR's, though.

 

I've run Hakka 2's for two winters on my Subaru. They are not a jello tire like a Blizzak. IMO they will work better in snow that a WR. Although a WR isn't a bad choice. Check out the Hakka 2's while you're at the tire store.

 

Well...you just purchased the last set he had in stock... He can get more locally but I find it being a tad funny.

 

The Glendale Heights store has some in stock.

Aside from a couple of nicks in the rim that weren't there when I gave them my MINI, the tires seem okay.

 

I'll have to hear how they run...I was looking at those or the Rsi's.

I have faith it will be a while before we need them.

 

New snow tires almost guarantee no snow. I've done my part. New Hakka's in the garage.

 

I just put the phone down from ordering a set from my tire guy. He sells Nokians among other brands and he recommended the Nokian Zs I have on my car now. I wanted to know what he thought of the WRs but I didn't tip my hand, I just asked him to tell me about snow tires. He started telling me about Blizzaks etc. then he said "but if you want to get into the upper echelon of winter performance tires, there are these Nokian WRs..."

Seems he's had a set on his van for a year and he says they are "phenomenal". Anyway, that's all I needed to hear. I've trusted this guy for years.

Oh, and then he tells me they just got a new state-of-the-art alignment machine! Life is good.

 

That's good to hear Squirlz!

I've noticed two things in my 30 minutes of driving on them - the ride seems higher (at first I thought my seat was raised) and they corner better than the P3000 that were on my holies prior. I plan on measuring the tires and my 17s this weekend.

 

What kind of price range are we talking for the Nokians and WRs? Also, what's the treadwear rating? I'm going to be buying my winter tires soon, and any advice/information would be great!

 

Anybody know of any Nokian dealers in the Bartlett, Streamwood, Hanover Park, Schaumburg, Bloomingdale area? My runflats have zero tread left which wont help me in this 12-16 inches of snow were supposed to have by the weekend.

Thanks

 

bump

 

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/locater.aspx

 

(small voice in back of room) well... michelins are great too... not jellowey like blizzaks, pretty quiet... (end small voice in back of room)

 

ZenMINI3, Call any Suburban Tire. http://suburbantire.com/locations.htm

 

Pre snow update.... We've driven about 4000 miles on them so far and I couldn't be happier. First off, they handle well. At highway speeds, they're very stable. Rain performance seems good too. They're also really quiet!! So much so that I hear the exhaust now all the time

I should probably go in for a rotation soon.

With the snow forecast for tonight, the fun begins....

 

Yes! I just put mine on last Friday and I can't believe how smooth and quiet they are.

We're supposed to get hit tonight too.

 

Did you also get your MINI aligned with their new machine? I took mine in a few days after I had the tires installed for an alignment. I had them set the rear camber down to -1.5 from -2.0.

 

Yep,

gonna switch out my spring/summer/fall shoes for my winter boots tonight.

It's an after dinner, 2 brew job. Looking forward to it.

p.s. I run 16" Pirelli Snowsport 210 boots. great for my area of mostly dry, occasionally slushy winters.

 

Has anyone had direct experience with Nokian RSi non- runflats on a Mini??

The following URL posts a recent European Winter Tire Test for 2006.
http://www.motor.no/pdf/M806_DEKKTEST.pdf


They used an Alfa Romeo 159 with 205/55R16 tires in real winter conditions.

The Nokian Hakka 5 tied for first place in the studded category.
The Nokian Hakka RSi tied for first place in the non-studed category.

 

Waukegan Tire has them. I ordered them in 215/45/17 for the Cabrio last year and am currently using them on my MCS coupe. We get enough snow here that normal A/S tires and the MCS don't mix well, so we wanted one car with a more capable tire for the few times we need it, since the Subaru is sold.

 

Thanks for the help. I got my Nokian WR's put on the day Chicago got dumped on, I went throught the Suburban Tire at Rt. 38 and Randall.. Let me say that they definitly live up to all the positive things people have to say about them!