Nokian R5 winter tires, what is your experience?

[neosomatic]

Both your vehicles weigh a lot more than an Outback.

Last Michelins we used were Xi2. They performed well when new but wore out fairly quickly. Their starting tread depth was much less than the Nokians of the time. Heard good reviews about the X-Ice Snow.

Michelin states “Government UTQG Ratings do not apply to winter tires.” What tire did you have with a 40K tread wear guarantee?

Shop Michelin X Ice® Snow Tire for Extreme Weather | Michelin

Winter grip made to last, Michelin X Ice Snow tire offers shorter ice & snow stopping distances. Shop Michelin for tires that perform better in slush and snow.

www.michelinman.com

$80 rebate on R5’s through 10/31/24.

Going to measure the tread depth of the tires we have, may suffice for this season. We usually sell used winter tires when they get worn down a bit and buy new, as performance degrades quite a bit. Easy to sell winter tires for Subarus.

The X-ICE Snow have this warranty:

• Treadwear: 6 Years / 40,000 Miles (when worn to 2/32" depth) Half mileage for rear if different size than front Must be used during winter months only 9/1 to 4/30
• Uniformity Warranty: 1 Year / first 2/32" of wear
• Workmanship & Materials Warranty: 6 Years / Free replacement first year, 2/32" or 25% of wear, then prorated until 2/32" remaining depth

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/michelin-x-ice-snow

 

[Ranger83]

Sounds like a great choice for you.

 

[edyvw]

So why did you buy Nokians?

I had that POS on Tiguan and once some 15yrs before that on Lancia.
I don’t use third rated tires on BMW.
I generally like to give a chance to tires, so I know what is it. In Nokian case that was twice. Both times big mistake.

 

[NO2]

Nokian R5 is the top rated winter tire in Consumer Reports testing. Despite that, we selected Michelin X-Ice Snow because of the longer life, and they are almost rated as good as the R5s We also have CC2s for 3 season use on our '13 Outback. We live in Northern Michigan with gently rolling hills and around 150" of wet snow a year. We get slushy and icy conditions frequently in the fall and spring too. We do the changeover in November and go back to the CC2's in March, which are a lot better suited to slush and wet than pure winter tires.

Overall, unless you live in an area with extremely deep snow (we rarely get over 1' before the roads are cleared, and usually by 3-4"), I'd consider forgoing winter tires and just getting sticking with CC2s year round. The big advantage of the CC2s is if you travel in varied conditions (like we do on trips south when we experience snow and rain) they handle with confidence. Pure winter tires don't stop as well in rain on on dry roads.

 

[neosomatic]

I had that POS on Tiguan and once some 15yrs before that on Lancia.
I don’t use third rated tires on BMW.
I generally like to give a chance to tires, so I know what is it. In Nokian case that was twice. Both times big mistake.

I can tell you firsthand that the Nokians have zero issues in 2+ feet of fresh snow on uncleared roads.

 

[edyvw]

I can tell you firsthand that the Nokians have zero issues in 2+ feet of fresh snow on uncleared roads.

View attachment 244929

Absolutely they don’t. I know. However, if you didn’t notice, in winter you also drive on dry, wet, potholes, warm dry weather, cold sry weather. Making one trick pony is far from making superior tire.

 

[Ranger83]

@edyvw: still triggered by the word “Nokian”. How many years since you owned a set of R2’s, once?

Had R2’s on my WRX. In 2010….

 

[edyvw]

@edyvw: still triggered by the word “Nokian”. How many years since you owned a set of R2’s, once?

Had R2’s on my WRX. In 2010….

One thing I learned about Nokian is that improvement is always slow, really slow.
There are no such dramatic improvements in such period of time. Are they OK? Yeah. Are there better tires? Absolutely, and they don’t charge extra for marketing BS.
I call them: Liqui Moly of tire world.

 

[Pelican]

Nokia makes excellent winter tires, but the Hakkapeliitta are a breed apart. They were developed in Finland for "Snow Covered Roads" that's where the perform the best, if you drive mostly on clear road they may not be the most suitable, if on ice they also come studded.

 

[Ranger83]

One thing I learned about Nokian is that improvement is always slow, really slow.
There are no such dramatic improvements in such period of time. Are they OK? Yeah. Are there better tires? Absolutely, and they don’t charge extra for marketing BS.
I call them: Liqui Moly of tire world.

Good Lord! Are you going to pollute every tire thread with your Nokian vendetta?

You owned one set of Nokians at least 10 years ago. Did discount Tire curb your wheels or something?

 

[edyvw]

Good Lord! Are you going to pollute every tire thread with your Nokian vendetta?

You owned one set of Nokians at least 10 years ago. Did discount Tire curb your wheels or something?

Same wheels that spin Bridgestone Blizzak.
I had Nokian some 15 years before those, before they tried their pitch in North America, and it was same crap, just different package.
And, yes, I will come to “pollute.” What is this: “tap each other shoulder club?”

 

[Sequoiasoon]

For the 225/55x17:

Continental has 10/32nd tread depth, section width 9.2”, weight 24 lbs. $176 each.
Nokian R5 11/32nd, 9.2”, 23.8 lbs. Price not known.
Michelin 10.5/32nd, 9.1”, 24 lbs. $193.
Blizzak WS90 12/32nd, 9.2”, 26 lbs. $185.

Tirerack doesn’t rank Nokians (Nokian doesn’t allow discount mail order sales). The Blizzak has the highest review scores of the tires they sell.

Tire Rack does sell Nokian's just limited choices currently. Maybe that will change more as Discount Tire Direct sold many choices.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those choices. Some will be better in some conditions vs others. There is always trade offs. My last set of Nokian winter tires was on my Sequoia and they were very good. I've had many versions on different vehicles and some WR versions. The Sequoia ones got replaced with Altimax Arctic back then as they were like the #2-3 rated vs. the Nokians but 1/2 the price. I got a lot of great years from them also.

I'd like to try some of the newer Nokians but deals at times make others more attractive. For my daughters CRV I wanted to try the Michelin X-ice Snow. DTD or TR had Black Friday sales and I was able to get VikingContact 7's with 4 new TPMS sensors for the spare wheels, installed OTD for about $150 less than Michelins alone.

I know edyvw said the new WS90's are very good in wet where others were not. User on DriveAccord that is a courier runs the Michelin X-ice Snow (and previous versions) because he will do 40k during the winter months and they last and perform for him and get prorated otherwise.

A lot of it depends also on the snow and area conditions. Frequent dry powder, heavy wet cement, hard packed to ice all react differently. Experiences with each model in different parts of country will be the same, totally varied.

 

[Ranger83]

My daughter spent four years in Colorado Springs and then drove back last year for the month of February to ski. She took the Outback that had the Altimax Arctic 12’s* the car came with. They have been on the U.S. market since 2018 or 2019 IIRC.

So that was 4,000 miles of highway. Curious to see how the tread looks. Going to look at everything in the next week. THRY’ve always been a great “Bang for the buck” choice.

Based on performance profile the Continental may be the best choice for me. But last time buying the dealer (who sells them all) still recommended the R3.

* AKA Gislavid NordFrost 100.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

The first original Altimax Arctic we had was when mom had a flat Gislaved NordFrost Q that couldn't be fixed. The Altimax was the exact match. I put Altimax Arctic 12's on my sons CRV in November '17. His 15" size, on sale was less $300 OTD iirc. When the tranny went a couple years later I sold those on rims for I think $300.

I think the Conti or Michelin would work very well for you with conditions we have had. Both my kids are on Conti VC7's. My son was at school in CT and had an icy day. His friend in a newer Forester on pretty new all seasons was stuck in the parking lot, couldn't get up the small incline after struggling to get out of his spot. My son picked him up in his FWD Forte with the VC7's and went to class. His friend was cursing the whole way.

Watch for sales around you. If you get the Conti Credit card their sale is normally in November. Last year it was $110 off 4 and if you used the Conti CC they double it $220 rebate. Took like 5 months to get it. I used it at my local dealer to get 4 TrueContact Tour for my sons 3 season.

Costco/BJ's/Sams often have good sales on the Michelin and maybe better for black Friday.

 

[Ranger83]

Subaru used to equip their cars with Bridgestone RE92A’s. If you looked on the Tirerack comparisons they were ranked 23rd of 25 A/S tires on snow and ice.

A friend of mine in Maine bought a new Outback, picked it up during a snow storm, couldn’t stop at a stop sign, and got tboned. So his new Outback got totaled with 0.1 miles in it.

Not entirely fair to pick on Subaru, most OEM tires suck.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Mentioned more towards the good qualities of the VC7's. Subaru's have always been known and recommended for the very good AWD systems BUT they need to something to work with.

Same scenario on my Pilot. It was 2-3 days old about 100 miles and a heavy snow that wasn't really forecasted. Didn't wreck it but wife came home crying, get rid of this POS, I couldn't stop going down the hill, barely made it back up, I want my Sequoia back. She did slide to within a couple feet of guardrail at end of hill across a T intersection. A couple days later it had new Continental WinterContact Si's and she has been happy with it since then. She also won't get in her friends or cousins cars if snow is around (or even rain) as she knows they don't maintain or equip like we do.

Factory on hers was Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport AS and same thing, lots of poor reviews for winter, also noisy, and short life.

 

[Ranger83]

Measured the R3’s and they still have 9/32nd remaining. So probably going to run those another winter.

 

[Ranger83]

My daughter is taking the R3’s for her car so back in the market.

Stopping by our long-time tire dealer (Manchester NH) next week for new winter tires. They sell a lot of Michelin, Conti and Nokian winter tires. Going to see what he thinks about the Michelin vs VikingContact vs Hakkapeliitta R5’s. This tire-review test overall was a three way tie, with each one of the three have a particular strength.

But I’ve never seen a longevity test and don’t keep winter tires once they are worn to 6/32nd. It’s easy to sell used tires for Subarus so that’s worked for me.

2022/23 Tire Reviews Studless Winter Tire Test - Tire reviews and ratings

Snow tires, studless friction tires, extreme winter tires, nordic winter tires. This category of tire goes by many names, and they have one design goal, to be the very best on snow and ice for harsh ...

www.tire-reviews.com

 

[edyvw]

My daughter is taking the R3’s for her car so back in the market.

Stopping by our long-time tire dealer (Manchester NH) next week for new winter tires. They sell a lot of Michelin, Conti and Nokian winter tires. Going to see what he thinks about the Michelin vs VikingContact vs Hakkapeliitta R5’s. This tire-review test overall was a three way tie, with each one of the three have a particular strength.

But I’ve never seen a longevity test and don’t keep winter tires once they are worn to 6/32nd. It’s easy to sell used tires for Subarus so that’s worked for me.

2022/23 Tire Reviews Studless Winter Tire Test - Tire reviews and ratings

Snow tires, studless friction tires, extreme winter tires, nordic winter tires. This category of tire goes by many names, and they have one design goal, to be the very best on snow and ice for harsh ...

www.tire-reviews.com

I am putting tomorrow brand new VikingContact on Sequoia. I still think it is overall best snow tire (had them on BMW before). It does absolutely everything good. It is not absolutely best in anything. But it does everything good.

 

[Ranger83]