Curious what people think of the new Nokian Hakka R5 SUV tires?
I have them on our 21 Subaru Ascent and they replaced a set of Nitto SN2 winter tires that I sold to a buddy of mine. I only had the Nittos on for 5-6k miles and they had winter great traction. But would track with the lengthwise grooves on the interstate and would sway back and forth as it follow those grooves. That was a really un-easy feeling when the road was partially snow covered without knowing if it was the grooves in the road or loosing traction on the snow-covered portions causing the sway. The Nokians on the other hand are fantastic on dry roads and very quiet. But I'm on the fence for winter traction?
Here's my experiences with the Nokians...
I always "test" the road conditions before hitting the main roads or get out when the weather is bad to play around when there is very little traffic. Not like a hooligan teenager, I just having a little middle age fun in the family hauler. lol
The Nokians seem to brake well in snow and other wintery conditions, no complaints there. But acceleration grip and lateral grip seem to be lacking or at least not what I expected. When accelerating from a stop while turning, the rear end wants to kick out more easily than I expect it would given the throttle input at the moment. While I do prefer oversteer vs understeer, the VSC is very sensitive on the Ascent and cannot be turned off. So just when I am starting to correct for oversteer, the VSC kicks in and that causes me to over-correct since the VSC is fighting my natural rally driving instincts. haha Turn-in at constant speed is decent, but not as good as I expected. At constant speed when somewhat simulating emergency avoidance maneuver (not excessively yanking the steering wheel, just faster than normal), the rear seems to loose grip somewhat unpredictably. I don't know if it's Subaru's AWD Active Torque Vectoring doing this or it's the tires? I don't recall the Nitto's being this unpredictable in snow last year, nor do the Falken AT Trail tires react that way on gravel. I haven't tried the Falkens in snow though to compare behavior.
I was between the new Michelin X-Ice Snow and the Nokian R5 to replace the Nitto's before the snow started flying. They were the same price but the Michelins were going to take 3 weeks longer to get, so I chose the Nokians. The studless Nokian Hakka 9's on our 2012 Ford Fusion FWD really impressed me and exceeded my expectations. All of the tire tests/reviews I found put the Nokian R5's at the top or top 3 out of all studless snow tires. So I guess I expected more given previous experience with Nokian and great reviews.
Pictures for viewing pleasure.
I have them on our 21 Subaru Ascent and they replaced a set of Nitto SN2 winter tires that I sold to a buddy of mine. I only had the Nittos on for 5-6k miles and they had winter great traction. But would track with the lengthwise grooves on the interstate and would sway back and forth as it follow those grooves. That was a really un-easy feeling when the road was partially snow covered without knowing if it was the grooves in the road or loosing traction on the snow-covered portions causing the sway. The Nokians on the other hand are fantastic on dry roads and very quiet. But I'm on the fence for winter traction?
Here's my experiences with the Nokians...
I always "test" the road conditions before hitting the main roads or get out when the weather is bad to play around when there is very little traffic. Not like a hooligan teenager, I just having a little middle age fun in the family hauler. lol
The Nokians seem to brake well in snow and other wintery conditions, no complaints there. But acceleration grip and lateral grip seem to be lacking or at least not what I expected. When accelerating from a stop while turning, the rear end wants to kick out more easily than I expect it would given the throttle input at the moment. While I do prefer oversteer vs understeer, the VSC is very sensitive on the Ascent and cannot be turned off. So just when I am starting to correct for oversteer, the VSC kicks in and that causes me to over-correct since the VSC is fighting my natural rally driving instincts. haha Turn-in at constant speed is decent, but not as good as I expected. At constant speed when somewhat simulating emergency avoidance maneuver (not excessively yanking the steering wheel, just faster than normal), the rear seems to loose grip somewhat unpredictably. I don't know if it's Subaru's AWD Active Torque Vectoring doing this or it's the tires? I don't recall the Nitto's being this unpredictable in snow last year, nor do the Falken AT Trail tires react that way on gravel. I haven't tried the Falkens in snow though to compare behavior.
I was between the new Michelin X-Ice Snow and the Nokian R5 to replace the Nitto's before the snow started flying. They were the same price but the Michelins were going to take 3 weeks longer to get, so I chose the Nokians. The studless Nokian Hakka 9's on our 2012 Ford Fusion FWD really impressed me and exceeded my expectations. All of the tire tests/reviews I found put the Nokian R5's at the top or top 3 out of all studless snow tires. So I guess I expected more given previous experience with Nokian and great reviews.
Pictures for viewing pleasure.
