Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by edyvw
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Maybe, but will it do 3x better? Keeping in mind you can buy 3 sets of the Burmese tires for the price of one set of the Nokians, the Burmese rubber could wear out more quickly and still come out ahead.
Personally, I wouldn't run either. I avoid ultra low priced tires like the plague mostly due to ethical issues (Myanmar, for example, is not a country known for just treatment of their people) but I also think you do hit a point of diminishing returns, where you spend a lot more to get only a little more. My snow tires are profoundly middle of the road, and while you can do all sorts of insturmented tests showing that, say, Michelins are better, at the end of the day mine have never failed to get me into my driveway, so why spend more?
Personally I do not like to say tire is 3X better than some other tire or 2X better. In my vocabulary, if tire has better braking in wet and handling, it is simply better and I will pay for that price. It is the MOST important safety feature on the vehicle.
Now, I do not think Nokian is worth of money. Absolutely not, nor I consider them top tier manufacturer on par with Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone. I have their R2 on my wife's Tiguan now. I paid $167 per tire in 215/65 R16 size, which is ridiculously expensive for that size (Xi3 was $112, and WS80 was $115). But, i wanted to check it. They performed brilliantly in deep snow and are very good in ice. But in every other category they are mediocre at best and in wet they are plain scary. On top of that, performance deterioration is faster than on previous winter tires she had, Blizzak's WS70.
So I agree about price and value of Nokian's comapred to Michelin's etc. But, if only these two from video were available for purchase, I would go Nokian in heartbeat.
So...with your experience of the overpriced Nokians being mostly mediocre and "scary" on wet roads (quite important for a winter tire), you would still pay a premium for them? Ye. Gods.
Compared to Tristar? Yes. If I had only those tires as option, I would go Nokian.
I am fairly confident Noakian is going to perform second season much better than Tristar, or third season.