Hey everyone,

I am in the market for some winter tires and i've been hearing a lot about the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R. I have had their WR-G2's but im looking for something with a little bit better winter performance since moving to Wisconsin.
The Hakka R seems to get pretty stellar reviews online, and i guess they are pretty reasonably priced in the size i need. I understand that Blizzaks and X-Ice's are cheaper but they are terrible - i've had them in the past and i have only got 1-2 seasons max out of them.
Anyway, i was just wondering if anyone had an experience with driving on the Nokians? Wasn't sure how they would hold up with aggressive winter driving.

 

Interesting feedback on Blizzaks and X-Ices.

I had Hakka 5's on my CX-7 and *loved* them. Incredible grip.

But that's the R predecessor, and...I only used them the one winter, sold the CX-7 afterwards, so no sense of longevity.

I am leaning towards Nokians for my MCS, will purchase next month or so.

 

I'm about to slap on my Blizzak's for the fourth winter season (two different MINIs).

 

I was looking at the Blizzak WS60 and the survey results and reviews on TireRack looked pretty solid. I have the Blizzak DM-V1 on my SUV and they work great in the snow, but they are pretty poor handling tires and have a ton of squirminess in the dry on a Mazda CX9.

So I am a bit skeptical how the WS60 would be, but at least it is designed for a car vs. a truck / SUV tire.

I am considering getting winters for the mini for ski season up in Tahoe area since my wife drives the SUV most of the time since our daughter is also driving and neither one seem to be taking to the manual trans in the mini. So winters would save me a lot of grief in terms of keeping ultimate flexibility in getting up to the slopes this winter. Probably $400 well spent. Seems the mini would do just fine in the snow - it's very similar to the '78 Accord coupe / 5spd that I had in college and I drove that thing everywhere in the snow with regular all seasons and never once had an issue or needed to put on the chains that I carried. These current gen winter tires are 100X better.

But I wonder if the mini would be better off with a performance winter instead?

I'm looking at either getting a 195-55-16 or 195-60-16 depending on which tire and size is available.

 

In my opinion, "performance" winter tires are a bit of a gamble. In my case, I have dedicated summer tires for spring/summer/fall and a dedicated set of wheels tires for winter. I've tried a couple of sport oriented tires in the past, pirelli sotos and dunlop winter sports, and found that they don't really faithfully carry out their task as a dedicated winter weather tire. In the case of those two tires at least, at best, you're getting halfway between a UHP all season tire and a studdable winter tire.

On the other hand, I've had Blizzak WS60s and Conti ExtremeWinterContacts, and found them to do their job beautifully in the snow. They don't generally have the best manners on warm days (noise, slip, etc.), but they're tolerable if you take it easy and no trouble at all at highway speeds.

You're going to have to make a compromise either way. You'll either have compromised snow/ice performance with a sporty winter tire, or compromised warm weather performance with a stronger winter tire. Pick your poison. In my opinion, living in the snow belt in north eastern Ohio, I'll be sticking to winter tires with better snow performance.

I picked up a set of 195/55R16 WS70s for my MINI and have them on a set of wheels in the garage. We'll see how they do this winter when they're installed. Everything I've read indicates that they're all around better than the WS60s, so I doubt I'll be disappointed.

--Matt

 

good feeback. I will probably go for the WS60's myself, due to price point especially with the $50 rebate right now.

Better to error towards the snow side of things for what I do, and I can switch back to my summers when I don't go up skiing for a few weeks and the weather is warmer.

Because all too often I go up on these kinda days, and it's already pushing things with a 2WD car vs. the 4WD I have been using the past 20+ years.



Although honestly most of the time when it's going to snow that much I would take the SUV just to be on the safe side.

 

No problem. Also, mmm, pretty S4 Avant!

 

I picked up some Federal Himalaya WS2's 195/55 16's 91H from www.tiresavings.com for a great price. Not well known in the US, but sell well in Canada and Europe.

 

Ya - never should have sold that car. It was a 6-speed too. Oh well, overall I am much happier in my current hot rod - E39 M5.

 

--

 

My MCS is coming from MINI with 17" All season tires. How big a deal would it be to use 16" winter tires on it? Is that even possible or am I set using 17's for life?

 

my cms all4 came with 18" wheels, my winter wheels are 16", so yes it is possible to run 16" wheels

you need to make sure the wheels will clear the brakes and that the offset is suitable for your mini

scott

 

I had a quick chat with the guys at Tire Rack, If I understood them correctly you can put 16" rims/tires on a MCS with stock 17" rims/tires as long as the outside diameter of the tire does not change. OK I get that. But.....

I thought the point of going down to 16" tires was to give more room in the wheel well to help prevent snow buildup. If the overall size of the tire is the same why not just stick with 17's?

 

the idea of smaller wheels is to get larger sidewalls for better pothole protection

also generally go narrower on tread width for better snow penetration

in my case,
stock = 225/45-18 = 25.9" OD
summer = 225/50-18 = 26.9" OD
winter = 205/70-16 = 27.3" OD

scott

 

What do you think about snows on the drive wheels only? I'm thinkin' about that...

 

bad idea, unless you like going backwards, all tire manufacturers recommend winter tires be mounted in sets of 4

this is similar to the tire manufacturers recommending that if only replacing 2 tires, the new tires should go on the rear axel, you want more traction in the rear so the rear of the car stays behind the front

scott

 

Blizzaks, on all 4 in any size you like. 15's 16,s, 17's.

Chad
Detroit Tuned

 

Not a good idea. One end will have a lot more grip than the other and can induce a spin in cold or snowy conditions. You'll have the two compounds of tread reacting to the temperature differently and not giving you the same traction all around.

 

Thanks all, that's what I've read online. It was so simple in the early 70s - just throw a set of retread snows on back and go for it! ;-)