Last week I got 4 original like-new Toyota steelies for the new-to-me low mileage 2010 Camry, $160. The owner used them for 2 months, upgraded to custom wheels and then let them sit in the custom wheel boxes until he traded his Camry in.
This week I picked up some new R2's from Walmart (free ship-to-store), Nokian Hakkepiilata R2 in 215/60R16. The tires are marked "Made in Russia" and are XL load rated. Walmart sourced mine from SimpleTire. Mine have a manufacturing date of 2016 week 43, so 2.5 years old. That's OK, a buyer review noted their tires were a little old, so I was prepared for this. If they last past 5 years I know shops that will still work on them.
Walmart still has this size at the low, low price of $84.36/ea. I got 4 high end tires for $360.88 including tax, plus rims and mounting I'll be into a complete set of 16" winter wheels for ~ $570.
I made an appointment at Walmart for 5:00 and dropped by around 2:30 to drop off the rims... I could drop off the rims, but I "had to" come back at 5:00 to "check in" for my appointment or they wouldn't do the work. They would not check me in immediately. I said I never ran into a tire shop that I couldn't drop off work and then pick it up. He pointed at 2 cars in the bay and said "too busy". I said "that's not busy" and "you don't have a busy problem, you have a policy problem." So I took the tires to a local tire shop, and dropped them and the rims off. Walmart usually has the best price around for mounting and balancing, last time it was $52 to replace 4 tires and trash the old ones. Local shop mounting/balancing/valve stems all four on bare rims for $50, so no big difference. (Some other local shops, big difference).
My only recent comparison is with the Corolla's Altimax Arctic's (pre-12), which have been excellent Winter tires, long wearing and good in the wet, but mushy with lots of tread squirm. The R2's are supposed to provide a firmer ride (as per Nokian anyway).
https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-r2/
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nokian-Hakkapeliitta-R2-215-60R16-99R-XL-BW/50296137
Of course after reading nothing but glowing reviews, after ordering the tires I ran into one review that slammed them for being slippery above 40F. Daytime Winter highs in Maryland definitely get above 40F, usually not too much above, so I'll have to wait and see what happens. I won't have any driving experiences to post until the weather gets cold again later this year. I'll update this thread when I put some miles on them.
This week I picked up some new R2's from Walmart (free ship-to-store), Nokian Hakkepiilata R2 in 215/60R16. The tires are marked "Made in Russia" and are XL load rated. Walmart sourced mine from SimpleTire. Mine have a manufacturing date of 2016 week 43, so 2.5 years old. That's OK, a buyer review noted their tires were a little old, so I was prepared for this. If they last past 5 years I know shops that will still work on them.
Walmart still has this size at the low, low price of $84.36/ea. I got 4 high end tires for $360.88 including tax, plus rims and mounting I'll be into a complete set of 16" winter wheels for ~ $570.
I made an appointment at Walmart for 5:00 and dropped by around 2:30 to drop off the rims... I could drop off the rims, but I "had to" come back at 5:00 to "check in" for my appointment or they wouldn't do the work. They would not check me in immediately. I said I never ran into a tire shop that I couldn't drop off work and then pick it up. He pointed at 2 cars in the bay and said "too busy". I said "that's not busy" and "you don't have a busy problem, you have a policy problem." So I took the tires to a local tire shop, and dropped them and the rims off. Walmart usually has the best price around for mounting and balancing, last time it was $52 to replace 4 tires and trash the old ones. Local shop mounting/balancing/valve stems all four on bare rims for $50, so no big difference. (Some other local shops, big difference).
My only recent comparison is with the Corolla's Altimax Arctic's (pre-12), which have been excellent Winter tires, long wearing and good in the wet, but mushy with lots of tread squirm. The R2's are supposed to provide a firmer ride (as per Nokian anyway).
https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-r2/
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nokian-Hakkapeliitta-R2-215-60R16-99R-XL-BW/50296137
Of course after reading nothing but glowing reviews, after ordering the tires I ran into one review that slammed them for being slippery above 40F. Daytime Winter highs in Maryland definitely get above 40F, usually not too much above, so I'll have to wait and see what happens. I won't have any driving experiences to post until the weather gets cold again later this year. I'll update this thread when I put some miles on them.
