Nokian R5 winter tires, what is your experience?

[krzyss]

Self proclaimed "premium tire company". Interesting choice of words.

Krzyś

 

[TacoFergie]

Nokian was not always known for its snow tires. That is what marketing does: "first snow tire," etc.
20-25 years ago, you could not identify them on the European market, which is by far the largest snow tire market in the world. Even Bridgestone, which is a household name here, was always a mediocre performer there and, actually, still is.
Nokian was present in their local market. The reason why they were mediocre performers is that the largest snow tire markets have very complex demands around performance, and Noakian was never good at delivering in every category. That cheating scandal happened during that over-the-top marketing push, and they desperately wanted to take away market share from manufacturers that "own" the European winter tire market: Continental, Good Year, Michelin, and Pirelli.

That's some good history there, thank you!

I've never been a fan of Pirelli, but maybe because it's not a popular tire around my area? I likely should have just gone with the Michelin's. Maybe I'll stick with the Nokians for now since winter is almost over, but Iowa sometimes throws some curve balls. haha

I suppose I expected more. Maybe the tires are fantastic and it's the vehicle dynamics that are mediocre? I don't know? If I had another vehicle to swap them on to try out, I would love to.

 

[TacoFergie]

Viewing pleasure?

Sure, why not? People like pictures and sometimes a picture can produce logical responses based off something someone notices that I could have looked over.

New Nokian Tyres Snowproof – First class safety and reliability for all conditions: Nokian Tyres Snowproof is born for winter / Nokian Tyres

Finnish premium tire company Nokian Tyres is introducing a new flagship range of winter tires by ren...

www.nokiantyres.com

Is there any context? I know the tire, the company and have visited their site. Plus many other sites prior and post purchase.

 

[edyvw]

That's some good history there, thank you!

I've never been a fan of Pirelli, but maybe because it's not a popular tire around my area? I likely should have just gone with the Michelin's. Maybe I'll stick with the Nokians for now since winter is almost over, but Iowa sometimes throws some curve balls. haha

I suppose I expected more. Maybe the tires are fantastic and it's the vehicle dynamics that are mediocre? I don't know? If I had another vehicle to swap them on to try out, I would love to.

Michelin in Europe was always good perfomer, but not as good as Continental and Good Year. Good Year was absolute king in 1990’s and up until 2005/6. But Continental pushed it out.

 

[IndyIan]

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?

Do you have visible rear toe in and rear negative camber? My Focus did the weird back end shimmy on grooved road with whatever tires I had on and the same thing on patchy ice in the winter with new blizzaks. My regular mechanic said it was in spec(barely) so I took it to an alignment shop and told him to do the very minimum rear toe in and keep a little rear camber.
Car tracks straight now in grooves, broken pavement on one side only, and patchy ice. Maybe slightly more neutral handling on dry pavement, but that's a fine compromise for me anyways.
It sounds to me like your rear toe in has the rears fighting each other for grip in the snow and so break away easier than the fronts.

 

[TacoFergie]

Michelin in Europe was always good perfomer, but not as good as Continental and Good Year. Good Year was absolute king in 1990’s and up until 2005/6. But Continental pushed it out.

I've seen good things about the Conti's too, but they aren't available in my size. We had the Goodyear WRT Ice on our 12 Fusion and those were horrible, barley better than the General RT43's we had for summer use. Not saying Goodyear can't make a good tire, but the only one I have liked is their Duratracs.

Do you have visible rear toe in and rear negative camber? My Focus did the weird back end shimmy on grooved road with whatever tires I had on and the same thing on patchy ice in the winter with new blizzaks. My regular mechanic said it was in spec(barely) so I took it to an alignment shop and told him to do the very minimum rear toe in and keep a little rear camber.
Car tracks straight now in grooves, broken pavement on one side only, and patchy ice. Maybe slightly more neutral handling on dry pavement, but that's a fine compromise for me anyways.
It sounds to me like your rear toe in has the rears fighting each other for grip in the snow and so break away easier than the fronts.

I haven't noticed any excessive toe or camber visually. My dealer has a camera/laser system (Hunter Quick Check) that measures alignment and tire condition when pulling into the service lanes and showed no issues. Apparently that system is more accurate than I would have imagined after talking with one of technician friends who works closely with a Hunter rep. Pretty cool system.

Anyways, I haven't had the alignment checked since new (now 32k) and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Can't say the factory is perfect every time too. Though when I had the Nitto's, the car had less than 1k miles when I put them on and had issues with them tracking weird. I have seen rear toe affect handling in weird ways back in my technician days too. It might be worth having an alignment done anyways just to make sure everything is up to snuff.

 

[IndyIan]

I've seen good things about the Conti's too, but they aren't available in my size. We had the Goodyear WRT Ice on our 12 Fusion and those were horrible, barley better than the General RT43's we had for summer use. Not saying Goodyear can't make a good tire, but the only one I have liked is their Duratracs.



I haven't noticed any excessive toe or camber visually. My dealer has a camera/laser system (Hunter Quick Check) that measures alignment and tire condition when pulling into the service lanes and showed no issues. Apparently that system is more accurate than I would have imagined after talking with one of technician friends who works closely with a Hunter rep. Pretty cool system.

Anyways, I haven't had the alignment checked since new (now 32k) and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Can't say the factory is perfect every time too. Though when I had the Nitto's, the car had less than 1k miles when I put them on and had issues with them tracking weird. I have seen rear toe affect handling in weird ways back in my technician days too. It might be worth having an alignment done anyways just to make sure everything is up to snuff.

IMHO, the factory alignment ranges can allow too much toe in and rear camber which when near the maximum together makes a nervous rear end on snow and ice. Get the read out anyways, then you know what you've got instead of "in spec".

 

[edyvw]

I've seen good things about the Conti's too, but they aren't available in my size. We had the Goodyear WRT Ice on our 12 Fusion and those were horrible, barley better than the General RT43's we had for summer use. Not saying Goodyear can't make a good tire, but the only one I have liked is their Duratracs.



I haven't noticed any excessive toe or camber visually. My dealer has a camera/laser system (Hunter Quick Check) that measures alignment and tire condition when pulling into the service lanes and showed no issues. Apparently that system is more accurate than I would have imagined after talking with one of technician friends who works closely with a Hunter rep. Pretty cool system.

Anyways, I haven't had the alignment checked since new (now 32k) and it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Can't say the factory is perfect every time too. Though when I had the Nitto's, the car had less than 1k miles when I put them on and had issues with them tracking weird. I have seen rear toe affect handling in weird ways back in my technician days too. It might be worth having an alignment done anyways just to make sure everything is up to snuff.

GY doesn’t bring stuff from Europe here. Occasionally some models. WRT was not available there.

 

[Nesterenko]

Sure, why not? People like pictures and sometimes a picture can produce logical responses based off something someone notices that I could have looked over.

Because a photo of two ordinary looking wheels and two ordinary looking Subaru's does not constitute pleasurable viewing in most people's book.