Nokian tires - need advice

Goodyear makes better tires

 

I bought my fiancee a set of WRs for her Corolla last September. She is very satisfied with them. IMHO, you cannot find a better all-weather tire on the market, although, there are other tires that will match the WRs. They are also superbly quiet. That style tire (with sipes) is superior in snow to most anything on the market excluding studded. I drove year-round for the past five years on a similar tire - the Veredestein SnoTrac. They were superb in both rain and snow, and although other people who owned the same tire thought they felt "mushy" on dry pavement, I thought that the mushy feeling was actually because they were a better tire and were by far, more responsive than any other tire I have ever owned.

I should be taking delivery on an '06 seaside package 5 Prius within the next week or so, and the first thing that I am going to do is get rid of the stock Integritys and put Nokian WRs on the car. The Integritys will be up for sale on e-bay shortly thereafter. Other Prius owners have also put WRs on their Prius and have found no degradation in MPG. If you search PC for "WR". I'm sure you will find the other posts that detail experiences with the WR.

So, my vote is for the WR. Personally, I don't think you will go wrong with this tire especially if you live in a rainy or snowy area.

 

Too bad you don't get much snow....Nokian makes killer snows.

I don't quite buy the LRR because it has silica in the tread. I think LRR is more a function of tread design and contact patch.

 

I bought a set of WRs for my '04, based on positive comments in forums such as this. I am disappointed at the road noise. My WRs growl at low speeds. I don't really know if it's louder at low speeds than high, but the Goodyears were silent by comparison.

And I inflate them to 40/38. They are stable and have excellent rain traction. Tread wear remains to be seen, but for $99 each, I'm expecting more than 50K!

 

I switched the stock tires for i3's on our '06 Prius. Only have about 1,400 miles on the car, so can't really offer much real world experience yet. The couple times I was out in the rain, it didn't seem scary like the OEM tires. Also, MPG has been over 50 on average so it doesn't seem like it gives up anything on that front. Noise is less than the OEM, but can't compare them to other Goodyears as I've never had anything but the OEM tires. One note of minor disappointment with the i3's... like many things these days, they are made in China. Their quality seems fine; they are built using Nokian molds, rubber compounds and pass their quality checks. It's just that some things in this world should be sacred like where Nokian tires come from.

Unless you plan on driving in the snow, I don't see any reason to consider the WR. The WR is a great tire, but it place in the market is as a good all around tire which ALSO has a true snow tire rating (the snowflake on the mountain symbol).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gordonr @ May 22 2006, 06:00 PM) [snapback]259424[/snapback]</div>

I'd be interested in hearing whether anyone else has experience/comments re the Nokian i3. They claim to be environmentally friendly and quiet.

Click HERE for info.

 

I liked the i3 on 2001 Prius. Car is in other hands now, but if he does his homework they will still have >3 mm tread at 55k odometer. No experience with the other nokians. Yes my Nokians said 'Engineered in Finland' in big letters and 'made in China' in much smaller ones. But they performed very well.

If anyone is doing mail order, give tirefactory.net a chance at the deal. I am a satisfied customer there. If anyone is near northern W. Virginia, see what TIRE LADY'S RAINBOW TIRE both locations, WV (304) 864-3999 in Masontown or Morgantown have to offer. Most fun I ever had in a tire store (now, don't over-interpret that).

Of course most of us want to pay the least possible for tires. But figure it in cents per mile with reasonable tread life estimates. You will probably find that expensive tires (Nokian, Michelin, etc.) are not much more that the bottom of the heap. Safe, well-maintained tires are A Good Thing.

 

Has anyone had the i3's in the snow? I live in NJ, where snow is only an occaisional problem and am trying to decide between the i3 and the WR. I do a lot of highway driving.
Thanks

 

I am also looking for replacements. I'm learning lots about tires. I'm in the Chicagoland area: mixed weather of rain, ice, snow, heat. Think I'll go to badboytires.com and look at the price, etc. Michelin is making "energy savers" suppose to beat their Hydroedge. Tread life on the Hydroedge 35% higher than M's "Energy". I want something that will give good mpg and not wear out at 33,000 like the OE tires. Forget that.