How good are nokian tires

[Voleak]

I have used Nokian eNTYRE 2.0, and eNTYRE C/S' and I can say that I am a Nokian fan. Love the all-season performance, handling, comfort, durability, and price. I am currently running the eNTYRE 2.0 on my Crosstrek, and will replace with same tire when the time comes.

Here is a list from Consumer Reports. I know, I know take it with a grain of salt, but I really like Nokian all-season tires.

 

[NewEnglander]

The best I've ridden on for New England weather year round. Highly, highly recommend.

 

[ram_man]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the nokians the factory size was 224/40r18 I went ahead and upped the sidewall to a 45 the darts that run the 17s run 225/45r17 . I did this to get a little better ride. The tires ride good and track well. They are a little edgier than the bf Goodrich I took off. They just offer quicker response to steering inputs. But they ride good didn't take much weight and they are quiet. I'd say I probably sacrificed a hair in the handling Dept but for the added comfort I'm ok with that. They are made in Russia which I thought was interesting but so far so good .

 

[NewEnglander]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the nokians the factory size was 224/40r18 I went ahead and upped the sidewall to a 45 the darts that run the 17s run 225/45r17 . I did this to get a little better ride. The tires ride good and track well. They are a little edgier than the bf Goodrich I took off. They just offer quicker response to steering inputs. But they ride good didn't take much weight and they are quiet. I'd say I probably sacrificed a hair in the handling Dept but for the added comfort I'm ok with that. They are made in Russia which I thought was interesting but so far so good .

Very cool! Congrats. Sorry if I just missed it - but which tire did you go with from Nokian?

 

[Andrew1972]

Made in Russia is really nearby from Finland where the home country for Nokian Tires.

 

[ram_man]

The z line a/s it's the first tire installed on this car without any vibrations or needing to be road forced.

 

[NewEnglander]

Originally Posted by ram_man
The z line a/s it's the first tire installed on this car without any vibrations or needing to be road forced.

Excellent choice. Beautiful tire. All three sets I've owned came from the same Russian factory and have been the best tires I've ever had for the weather and type of driving we do around here.

A lot of Nokian tires come to the US from the Russian factory at the moment. Going forward that will change in 2020. Nokian is building a new factory in Dayton, TN that I assume will produce the bulk of Nokian tires for North America. Perhaps will make costs more competitive as well!

 

[ram_man]

I paid 550 for the set of 4 with an instant rebate. I am happy with them so far.

 

[y_p_w]

They used to be part of Nokia. Interesting history of this company which included the Finnish Rubber Works making both tires and rubber boots.

https://www.gizbot.com/news/nokias-pre-telecommunications-era.html

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I paid 550 for the set of 4 with an instant rebate. I am happy with them so far.

That's a good price I think--I just dropped $500 on a set of RT43's but that included an alignment. And grossly overinflated tires.

If entires are running that low in price I might check 'em out next time. I thought they ran higher.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by geeman789
Originally Posted by edyvw

Nokian snow tires are excellent in deep snow. But they are lacking serious skill in dry and especially wet. Noise and comfort is also far behind Michelin, Continental, Pirelli or Bridgestone.



Where do you learn this stuff ... ???

Like, I have Nokian's R2 right now on Tiguan.
Compare to Michelin Xi2 that I had on BMW and now Toyota, or Bridgestone WS70 I had on Tiguan before R2, they are champion in 1ft of snow or some ridiculous drift. In EVERYTHING else they cannot hold candle to those tires, especially wet, which is sometimes borderline dangerous.
They came useful during bombgenesis we had months ago. But that happens once in 10 years, maybe (last storm that bad happened in the Front Range in 1997). Problem is they seriously underperform in dry and wet, which consists of majority driving in the winter.

 

[ram_man]

I'm going to be honest when I worked in tire shops I saw many of Michelin dry rotted cracking after a couple years. I also saw tons of out of round good year tires right off the truck. I saw Bridgestone tires that commonly wore out quick. I personally think all of those companies are living off their name. My last set of tires were bf good rich and before that I have Uniroyal both Michelin owned companies and they were all pretty much crap. Rode hard. The bf's wore out super quick both had amazing dry weather grip but in weather were average at best. I have a set of Toyo proxes on my vw they are good so far in everything they've seen. I will not buy a Michelin or good year tires again. Not unless something with their products drastically chsnges.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I'm going to be honest when I worked in tire shops I saw many of Michelin dry rotted cracking after a couple years. I also saw tons of out of round good year tires right off the truck. I saw Bridgestone tires that commonly wore out quick. I personally think all of those companies are living off their name. My last set of tires were bf good rich and before that I have Uniroyal both Michelin owned companies and they were all pretty much crap. Rode hard. The bf's wore out super quick both had amazing dry weather grip but in weather were average at best. I have a set of Toyo proxes on my vw they are good so far in everything they've seen. I will not buy a Michelin or good year tires again. Not unless something with their products drastically chsnges.


Michelin makes some of the best tires in the world. Yes, they own other brands that produce cheaper products, but saying you won't buy a Michelin product because their lower tier BFG product didn't meet your standards, what were you expecting? You aren't getting PSS performance from a BFG, but those products aren't at the same price point and there will be detractors for any product that is at that level.

The LTX M/S and M/S2 were some of the best tires I've ever owned. Incredible ice performance for a non-winter tire, wore like iron but rode incredibly well. The Pilot Super Sport, which replaced the Toyo Proxes Sport that were on my M5 blew them out of of the water in every possible metric: wet performance, dry performance, feel, ride comfort, they were just worlds better, and the reviews, not surprisingly, supported that, as do the comments regarding them by others on this site who have run them.

I put the Latitude X-Ice2 on both the Durango and our previous RAM because, even if they aren't the best in snow, for a non-studded winter tire, their ice performance is incredible, and I have 4x4, it's stopping I'm worried about. I want my wife and my kids to be able to avoid hazards and stay out of the ditch. The ONLY thing the I-Pike's on my Jeep do better is deep snow, in every other way the Michelin destroys them.

The OEM tires for my SRT are insanely expensive Pirelli's; we are talking over $2K US for a set. Michelin now, finally, makes the A/S3+ in my size, and I fully expect to be as pleased with them on it as we were with their predecessor the A/S3 on my wife's former Charger R/T. If they made the Pilot Sport 4S, which is currently THE benchmark for a UHP summer tire, usurping the previous king, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, I'd run those in a heartbeat, but alas, they don't, so I can't.

Not all of their tires of course are spectacular, but they do have several ringers and their Pilot products are typically near the top if not best in class. That's not a company resting in its laurels. If you demand that level of performance and are willing to pay for it, you'd be hard pressed to find anything equal, let alone better.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I'm going to be honest when I worked in tire shops I saw many of Michelin dry rotted cracking after a couple years. I also saw tons of out of round good year tires right off the truck. I saw Bridgestone tires that commonly wore out quick. I personally think all of those companies are living off their name. My last set of tires were bf good rich and before that I have Uniroyal both Michelin owned companies and they were all pretty much crap. Rode hard. The bf's wore out super quick both had amazing dry weather grip but in weather were average at best. I have a set of Toyo proxes on my vw they are good so far in everything they've seen. I will not buy a Michelin or good year tires again. Not unless something with their products drastically chsnges.

I never had those issues with any Michelin, Continental or Pirelli. Issues I had with Bridgestone is that they are well known to be on heavier side and several high performance ones I had needed substantial time to warm up.
But, in all, regarding are they on lower spectrum of performance or high, they were all well rounded tires that were good in all conditions that they are made for.
For example, Nokian Hakka R2 I have on Tiguan are absolute champion in deep snow. But that is about it. They are borderline dangerous in wet, in dry they underperform to all snow tires I had ( nad had probably more than 40 sets), bit loud, not that comfortable and over bridge connectors they make some loud metal sounding noise.
On other hand Michelin latitudeX-ice I have on SIenna are going through deep snow with authority. Are they going like R2? No. But, theya re several light years better in wet and dry. Theya re not making pretty much any noise, they are comfortable, and not wearing nearly as fast. Same happened with those tires on my X5. Even Brdigestone DM-V2 I had on X5 were better overall than Nokian, and I was not particularly fond of those tires.
I will keep R2 one more winter on Tiguan, and than get Continental Viking7. As for Nokian summer or all-season, I would not put them if someone gave it to me. If their snow tires are like this (and they are apparently expert in that) than I do not want to know how are their summer or all-season tires.

 

[UG_Passat]

Since I actually have the Nokian Z-line A/S... I would have to comment...

Plus:
They have a lot of lateral grip for when I go canyon carving.
They are very resistant to hydroplaning when new, as the restriction in my speed was more in my wipers keeping up with the rain
Fairly quiet and comfortable ride.

Minus:
They seem to wear pretty quickly. I'll have to go through my tire rotation records, but 20% worn after the 1st season running them.
Compared to the OE Continental ContiProContacts, my MPG's suffered. They may be low rollling resistance, but it's relative to likely the class of tire (UHPAS vs a GTAS)

When these wear out... Probably have to go with the Entyre C/S, and by that time, the US plant should be making them.

Would I use these in the winter? No. The multiple solid ribs say it is a 3-season tire. Plus I ran 3PMS tires in the winter anyway.

 

[krzyss]

Nokian summer zLines are decent but fast wearing.
They were 80$ in 205/50R17 and 215/50R17 which is rather cheap.
I would have bought them again if they were similar price but Nokian decided to replace them with AS version in NA.
Thank you!

KrzyÅ›

 

[geeman789]

Originally Posted by edyvw
... As for Nokian summer or all-season, I would not put them on if someone gave it to me ...


Originally Posted by krzyss


Nokian summer zLines are decent but fast wearing.

I would have bought them again ...


KrzyÅ›


Good to see some nice consistency in the Nokian tire opinions ... !

 

[krzyss]

As you may have noticed edyvw writes about Hakkapeliitta R2 (or SUV R2) and I am writing about summer zLines. Opinions and even test results may be completely different as these are different models.

I did buy 3 sets of zLines in total and then Nokian discontinued them.
2 sets for Volvo S40 (205/50R17) and 1 for Ford Focus SE (215/50R17). or the other way around ;-)

I have never bought Nokian winter tires as I do not think they deserve super premium pricing that they want.
My experience with 1 set of X-ICE Xi2 and 2 sets of X-ICE Xi3 does not warrant switch to even more expensive tires when Michelin delivers similar performance for less money and longer distance.
Each set was in different size for different vehicle.

Krzys

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by ram_man
I'm going to be honest when I worked in tire shops I saw many of Michelin dry rotted cracking after a couple years. I also saw tons of out of round good year tires right off the truck. I saw Bridgestone tires that commonly wore out quick. I personally think all of those companies are living off their name. My last set of tires were bf good rich and before that I have Uniroyal both Michelin owned companies and they were all pretty much crap. Rode hard. The bf's wore out super quick both had amazing dry weather grip but in weather were average at best. I have a set of Toyo proxes on my vw they are good so far in everything they've seen. I will not buy a Michelin or good year tires again. Not unless something with their products drastically chsnges.


Michelin makes some of the best tires in the world. Yes, they own other brands that produce cheaper products, but saying you won't buy a Michelin product because their lower tier BFG product didn't meet your standards, what were you expecting? You aren't getting PSS performance from a BFG, but those products aren't at the same price point and there will be detractors for any product that is at that level.

The LTX M/S and M/S2 were some of the best tires I've ever owned. Incredible ice performance for a non-winter tire, wore like iron but rode incredibly well. The Pilot Super Sport, which replaced the Toyo Proxes Sport that were on my M5 blew them out of of the water in every possible metric: wet performance, dry performance, feel, ride comfort, they were just worlds better, and the reviews, not surprisingly, supported that, as do the comments regarding them by others on this site who have run them.

I put the Latitude X-Ice2 on both the Durango and our previous RAM because, even if they aren't the best in snow, for a non-studded winter tire, their ice performance is incredible, and I have 4x4, it's stopping I'm worried about. I want my wife and my kids to be able to avoid hazards and stay out of the ditch. The ONLY thing the I-Pike's on my Jeep do better is deep snow, in every other way the Michelin destroys them.

The OEM tires for my SRT are insanely expensive Pirelli's; we are talking over $2K US for a set. Michelin now, finally, makes the A/S3+ in my size, and I fully expect to be as pleased with them on it as we were with their predecessor the A/S3 on my wife's former Charger R/T. If they made the Pilot Sport 4S, which is currently THE benchmark for a UHP summer tire, usurping the previous king, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, I'd run those in a heartbeat, but alas, they don't, so I can't.

Not all of their tires of course are spectacular, but they do have several ringers and their Pilot products are typically near the top if not best in class. That's not a company resting in its laurels. If you demand that level of performance and are willing to pay for it, you'd be hard pressed to find anything equal, let alone better.


There are more than several accounts of dry rot. How do you account for that? Some of us-think it's chemical composition change from their previous way they formulated and/or manufactured their tire.

 

[Jarlaxle]

At a guess...he is a Michelin Tire Cultist.