Aggressive All Season Tire for winter?

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

You might want to check TireRack.com for approved installers in your area. I noticed that they list several installers in your area that charge $16 per tire for installation and balancing.

The Nokians also seem like a great 4 season tire. But I'm curious, what were the factors leading to your choosing the Nokians over the Hankooks? The Nokians are rated lower in snow and ice, and they cost 45% more than the Hankooks.

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

I bought mine locally at an independent car service location when they were having a good sale. Tires like this are stocked in our area.

Tom

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

Another WRG2 user here...put them on before winter last year...much more confidence-inspiring than the Integritties (who would have thunk it?)...really like them so far...

Chose these since 1) they were available locally, 2) reputation of Nokians esp. the winter tires and 3) didn't know about the Hankooks...

Greg

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

I have a 2007 Prius and replaced the OEM tires last Fall with the WRG2's. I now have confidence in driving in snow with my Prius here in Massachusetts. So, I highly recommend them also. A set of 4 with balancing and mounting cost me $700+. So the price other people are indicating are great prices. There are not that many Nokian tire dealers around me but that seem to be the price last year. Have the prices dropped because when I was researching these tires on this forum that seemed to be the going price last year? Anyway I recommend these tires. Best tires I have ever owned.

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

When I had my '04 Prius, the Integrity tires were absolutely horrible in a surprise Fall snow event the first year I had the car. I tried studless Dunlop Graspic DS-2 and Yokohama Ice Guard 10: both were much better than the Michelin Harmony and light years better than the Integrity on snow, and better on ice

I then went back to a studded directional tire, the Goodyear Nordic, which is sold at Canadian Tire quite reasonably and is the same as the Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 sold in Scandinavian countries

I'll never ever drive a non-studded tire in winter conditions again. The slight noise from the tire was well worth the vastly improved snow and especially ice traction

Ditto for my FJ. I had no choice but to run studless Toyo Open Country G-02 Plus the first couple of winters, as Nokian was sold out in the 265 75 16 size I needed.

Last summer I finally got 4 of the factory studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 Sport Utility tires. Put them on a couple of days before freezing rain hit, and never looked back

Folks who drive pickem up trucks or SUV's think they don't need a dedicated winter tire. They are wrong

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

My 2 cents... I the WRG2 is not even close to as good a performer in the snow as the WR. I had 4 WRs on my 06 Prius for 3 winters, and they were fantastic tires (all year round). Then someone hit my right front end and blew that tire (along with causing over $11,000 in other damage). The repair shop replaced both front WRs with WRG2s. I was really disappointed in the new tires. They had nowhere near the grip of the WRs.

When I wore the WRs on the back wheels out, I rotated the WRG2s to the back and put on some Hankook Optimo H727s on the front. I've been through a New England winter with them, and can say that they are way better than the WRG2s, and possibly just as good as the WRs were (which is saying something). And no mileage hit - better mileage than the WRG2s.

I just picked up 2 more H727s today to put on the front, and will rotate the ones with 10,000 miles on them to the back. $72 plus tax/tire. Picked them up at the Tire Rack distribution center in Windsor, CT (was in the neighborhood anyway and saved the $20 shipping).

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

I, and MANY others here, have been running 195/60R15 tires after we got rid of the OEM 185/65R15 Integrities.

I have no concerns whatsoever with running 195/60R15 tires.

In fact, if my TripleTreds had been available in the OEM 185 size, I still would have opted for the 195/60R15 size because of the better handling and braking promised by the wider tread.

For example, my educated guess is that the wider and better TripleTreds reduced my dry and wet 60-0 mph braking distances by at least 10-12 feet. See Consumer Reports' road tests of a Gen II Standard Prius with 185/65R15 Integrities and a Gen II Touring Edition Prius with 195/55R16 Bridgestone Turanza El-400s ... the Touring Edition's 60-0 mph braking distances were 10 to 12 feet shorter than the Standard Prius's. See also Consumer Reports' ratings of the dry and wet braking of the Touring Edition's Bridgestone Turanza El-400s versus the TripleTreds and the Hankooks' ratings which were even better than the Turanzas'.

 

Re: Agressive All Season Tire for winter?

Hi All,

Does anybody know anything about the Nokian eNTyre (entirely NEW Tyre) ?

 

Just picked up some Nokian Entyres in 195/65R15 for my 04. In Alaska they cost me $436 out the door. They are VERY quiet and so far the handling is much better than the 185s I took off. Lots of good features and earth friendly manufacturing in these tires. They are still new so no idea on the MPG yet. Will try to update after a few weeks.

 

The Entyre looks like a nice all-weather tire that should get good MPG and perform well in dry/wet conditions. The tread design is not as aggressive as that in the WRg2 so it would be a bit quieter, but not do quite as well in snow/ice conditions.

JeffD

 

I've driven through 2 Maine winters with Goodyear Assurance Fuelmax tires on my 2005 Prius. I've gone through blizzards on hilly windy unplowed roads and never had a problem. I've been wondering why everyone says the 2005 has problems in snow. Its one of the better winter cars I've driven.
Terry