Nokian Tires

I'm looking to replace the factory Bridgestones on my 2012 DCLB TRD Sport. I have decided to go with 265/70's instead of the 65's and will be installing a set of 5100's in the spring.

A local dealer has been pushing Nokian tires, a brand from Finland. They claim excellent ice and snow performance, reduced stone pick up, and long tread-life. I am looking for something with a little more bite than the all season rubber on the truck now. I guess an On/Off Road type tire.

Anyone have experience with this brand?
Any better recommendations?

Chris

 

Nokian tyres are awesome, your dealer isn't lying about that. What model are you considering? My only hesitation would be tread wear, as a lot of their winter and "all weather" tires run a pretty soft compound with lots of siping for traction (great in snow and ice) which trades off for low tread life for summer use.

 

LOVE my Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 tires! This is my 4th winter with them and they are truly awesome. My favorite pastime when I drive is "traction races" which is who can get across the intersection first. (No actual racing or speeding is involved). Two of my coworkers have bought them based on my recommendations and they also love them.

 

I have had five sets of Nokian tires - three Hakkapeliitta (unstudded snow) and two Hakka C Van (summer highway tire for commercial vans). I have only one complaint, which is that the Hakkapeliitta really get loud as the tread wears. This was on a Prius, which is a fairly quiet car. I don't think that this is unusual for snow tires, but I'm hoping that our current set of Michelin X-Ice3 are quieter over time. On my VW vans, the Hakkapeliitta were a much better match for the already-noisy vehicle. Snow traction was as good as any tire I've ever owned, and handling was consistently predictable.

Mike

 

I have had three sets of nokians, great tires. Check out the rotiva, this is their all weather truck tire. I put a set on in the fall and have been happy.

 

I had a set of Hakkapeliittas on my 1987 VW GTI when I still had it. I would have taken, and did take it, anywhere. Apart from the price and like others mentioned tread wear, the Nokians are awesome awesome tires.

 

Nokian tires get my vote as well. To an extent...

If you want a dedicated WINTER tire, go for them. I have Nokian Hakka 7's (studded) on my Audi S4, & it's nearly unstoppable in the snow/ice.

If you want a tire that EXCELS in the snow, but you can run year-round & not worry about the tread wearing prematurely, look @ General Grabber AT2 (on my rig now) or G/Y Duratracks.

My 2cents...

 

I have Nokian Rotiva All Terrain tires. They are an all season tire, but have the snow symbol on them. Only had them for a month, no complaints. Drove them on 2-3" of snow/ice and they had great traction.

Had Yokahama all terrain prior to the Nokians, but Nokians are much quieter and seem to ride better on dry asphalt than the Yokahama's. In fairness, Yokahama's only had half the tread left, so any new tire would probably ride better than half tread tire.

For the money, Nokian Rotiva are great price. I paid $160.00 per tire which included the shipping, but I had to pay a tire installer $90.00 for mounting and balance and TPMS reinstall.

 

I'm running them too, and have the same high opinion of them. Mine are worn down to about 40%, and will be my last winter on them. The snow / ice performance drops of significantly with tread wear, as the siping doesn't run the full depth of the tread blocks. I'll carefully make it through this winter, run them till next fall, and buy another set of the same. Will be the first time repeat purchase of the same tires for me, should say something.

That said, if I was running separate winters for the taco like we do on the car, nokians would be at the top of the list. The car (01 corolla) is wearing Nokian Hakkapalitta R winters, their performance on compact snow and ice is downright impressive, the extra price for the nokians is OK with me considering its my wife driving with the kids in the car the majority of the time.

 

I ran 4 Hakkapeliitta snow tires in my civic a few years back. Hands down the best snow tires I've ever used. Amazing traction, aggressive good looks, kept grip to snow and ice at low and high speeds. Great tires!!