Green Diamond Traction (Snow) Tires

[Bill J.]

It's the time to think about snow tires again, at least for some of us.

A couple of months ago I stumbled across a website for snow tires, Greendiamonddirect.com. The technology was originally developed by an Icelandic engineer and the tires were developed for ice racing.

I now have sets of Green Diamond "Icelanders" on two vehicles and I am awaiting a set for the third vehicle. These are all season snow tires. They are not wimpy, they are not loud, they are rated for 40-50 thousand miles. They are a great handling tire, with green carbide granules embedded throughout the depth of the tread compound. I recommend anyone who is interested in snow tires to read the information on that site.

Obviously here in Chicago we cannot use studs, and having extra dedicated sets of snow tires is a PITA. We've used Blizzaks and Nokian NRW's (all season snow tires) in the past. Blizzaks are great, during snow ONLY. They're squishy, have questionable handling and wear out really fast. Nokians are good in snow also, although not as good as Blizzaks, and they are expensive.

Go to the website and see what you think.

 

[Bror Jace]

BillJ, I've never bothered with Nokian's NRW "compromise" tire. I use their NR-10 snow tire and have friends who use their newer Hakkapelita 1, Hakka Qs and they are coming out with a newer tire, Hakkapelita 2 (I, think) which will be available in Europe before North America.

It'll be awfully hard to get me to part with my Hakkapelitas.

--- Bror Jace

 

[2533a]

Here's my Hakka tally:

'84 GTI (gone but not forgotten): NR09s - 2 sets, 10s - 1 set

'91 Camry: 10s - 2 sets, 1s - curently on the car

'91 Toyota 4X2: NR09s - 1set, 1s - currently on the truck.

The only problem with the Hakka 1s on the Camry I've found is that the studs make it tougher to do a good handbrake turn as they bite too well!

You wouldn't catch me driving in the winter months without my Hakkas!

 

[Bror Jace]

My NR-10s are not studded ... and they give absolutley fantastic traction ... even with over 20,000 miles on them.

I think my next set of snows is gonna be fully studded. I put them right beofre the first snow storm (December) and take them off in March. That way, I keep the mileage down on them.

This is the last season for my current Hakkas. By April they will have well over 30,000 miles and 5 winter seasons on them.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Soma07]

Snow? What is this "snow" stuff you all speak of?

But seriously how hard is it to drive in snow? I've lived in Florida most of my life so I've never had to deal with it.

I hear cars like mine are pretty aweful in the snow but its managable with snow tires and some weight in the trunk.

Just curious, I may not live in FL forever so I'm just wondering what I'm up against if I ever move "up north".

Thanks!

Jason
93 Trans Am

 

[Patman]

Jason, it's not as hard as you think, driving an f-body in the snow. I drive my 95 Formula in the snow, just using all season tires, and have no problems. The traction control helps give me confidence, but with a light foot it rarely comes into play anyways. I also drove a 95TA through a winter, on RSAs, and got through a lot of deep snow without incident. You just have to be a careful driver that's all. If I could afford it, I'd have separate rims with dedicated snows on them, but I don't have that much money, nor the storage space to put the other 4 wheels when I take them off. They are predicting a very mild winter for Toronto, with very little snow this year, so I hope it's true! Last year was pretty mild too.

 

[Soma07]

Thanks Patman, I dont have any plans to move to any snowy regions but ya never know what might happen

 

[2533a]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bror Jace:

This is the last season for my current Hakkas. By April they will have well over 30,000 miles and 5 winter seasons on them.

--- Bror Jace

---

I usually get "only" three winter seasons on my Hakkas, but I put more miles on (usually 10K-11K) in the winter (Nov - Apr) than I do in the warm months. Around 30K seems to be about it for these tires with me as well. FYI the Hakka 1s with studs are a LOT quieter than the NR-10s with studs.

Patman,

I keep my cars a minimum of ten years, so the extra cost for 4 steel wheels is immaterial. My pickup snow tires are mounted on $35 take off OEM steel wheels from the Tire Rack. Back in 1991 I bought four brand new OEM steel wheels from Eurotire for around $60 each for the old Camry. A lot of salt is used on the roads up here in winter and if you run alloys year round they will get trashed pretty quickly.

The added traction is worth the cost of dedicated snow tires in my opinion. When the SUVs are poking along at 20 MPH on the interstate on their all season tires I love passing them with my little FWD car. What is really interesting up in these parts is that if a vehicle is off the road during snowy conditions, most likely it is an SUV or a 4WD pickup. I attribute this to a false sense of security due to having 4WD and running tires that are compromised rather than optimized.

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Soma07:
Thanks Patman, I dont have any plans to move to any snowy regions but ya never know what might happen

---

If I lived in Florida, I'd never consider going anywhere else! (unless it was to Texas or CA or another warm state)

 

[MNgopher]

Snow driving really isn't all that bad. I drive a two wheel drive pickup here through Minnesota Winters and I've never been stuck anywhere! In my case, I run a decent all terrain tire (I run them year around for construction site work), keep an eye on tire pressures, and run 300 lbs of sand directly over the rear axle. Works like a charm! The original all season tires sucked in the snow big time! Now I have two 4wd vehicles, both with all terrain tires, a rear wheel drive pickup with all terrains, and a fwd car with a decent set of all seasons on it. Studs are illegal here in Minnesota, so they aren't an option, and I used to use snow tires, but found the setups I run now work just about as well, and I can run them year around.

 

[Dominic]

When I was in atlanta we used to just pack the bed full of shno and have kids stomp on it til we packed it into a heavy block substantial enough to drive with... worked everytime

 

[Bill J.]

Preliminary results of the Greendiamond "Icelander" all season snow tires

We had our couple of inches here in Chicago, and the ice, etc. I have to say that having tested them on three cars, summer, winter, snow, ice, they seem to perform very well. I think we have found the yearround tire to use.

 

[Bill J.]

The tread design is the same as the Continental brand snow tire, sold here in the U.S.

Nokian now uses the same embedded carbide granule technology but only for some of their tires. They are only sold in Europe. Here in North America Nokian markets the usual NRW's, etc.

 

[Bror Jace]

I put on my old Nokian Hakkapelita NR-10s (the predecessor to the current Hakka-1s) 2 weeks ago. I was driving this girl about 35 miles to a friend's house for dinner ... and back again. The forecast called for some snow and freezing rain, especially late at night. I wasn't gonna take a chance leaving on my wider-than-stock summer performance tires. I normally wait until the first week in December but I made an exception this year.

My Nokians (actually, they are Nokias ... they've since changed their name to avoid conflicts with the cell phone folks) had over 27,000 miles on them but still worked like champs on the ice ladded streets with mounds of slush here 'n there.

I was a little timid at first, because conditions were really slick. Our dinner host STRONGLY urged us to spend the night but both of us had things to do the following day ... and the weather NEVER keeps me from going where I want, when I want.

By the end of the 40 mile, hour and 15 minute drive home, I was up to my usual stunts, breaking speed limits and pulling out into the uncleared lanes to pass snow plow and salt trucks. I just had to get a dozen miles under my belt, that's all.

This is the last year for my Hakkas, though. They have nearly 28,000 miles on them now and by spring, that number will be 33-34,000. The tread will still be there, but they won't have that extra performance I have come to count on for the past 4-5 years. It will be time to break down and buy a net set of four.

I wonder what Nokian will have for next year? The Hakka-2s? I wonder if I should get studs in my next set?

--- Bror Jace

 

[Patman]

I ended up buying a pair of Dunlop SP Sport 5000 tires for my Firebird, and so far I drove in a few inches of snow with no problem, the traction control didn't even kick in.

We were supposed to get an inch or two of snow overnight but I woke up to see nothing so I'm happy about that! I hate driving in rush hour when it's snowing, it takes me almost two hours to get to work!

 

[Bror Jace]

Patman, if you had time ... or the funds, you should do up the little woman's Civic with a set of 4 Hakkas. Driving a properly set-up FWD car in the snow opens up a whole new world of "performance driving."

Just ask Johnny, rallyfan and many others here.

We'll make a rallying nut out of you yet.

--- Bror Jace

 

[Patman]

Hehe, if I had more cash the little women would not only have nice winter tires on there, but some nice 16" wheels for summer, and a nice little turbo kit on that 1.6L!

I made it to work safely today in about an inch of light wet snow. I must say that for an all season tire, these Dunlops are impressive. Once again the traction control didn't even kick in.

 

[2533a]

quote:

---

I wonder if I should get studs in my next set?

[/B]

---

Get the studs and you'll be out in the unplowed lanes passing plow trucks within six miles rather than a dozen miles! But it will be harder to snap the rear of the car around using the handbrake due to the additional traction.

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bror Jace:
BillJ, I've never bothered with Nokian's NRW "compromise" tire. ...

---

Why not? I was actually thinking of going with those next. I have Dunlop Graspic HS1 now and although the snow performance seems real good, the wet snow/slush performance is pretty scary and the wet pavement isn't that impressive either. And driving on dry pavement feels like I am driving on jell-o. I figured the NRW would improve on those while still having good snow traction.
They get the roads clear/salted fairly quick. It's not like I have to drive through some unplowed mountain roads.

 

[Bill J.]

Green Diamond "Icelanders" on three RWD cars

Summer & Fall performance - excellent handling, wear, all the way around a really good tire

Recent snow performance update....

These Green Diamond "Icelanders" perform as advertised. They have outperformed every other tire - in all conditions, including snow & ice - that we have previously used. This includes Nokian NRW's and Blizzaks.

They are 40% cheaper than a Nokian, and about 30% cheaper than a Blizzak.