nokian tires: any experience other than WR?

On recommendation from some of the messages on this forum, I purchased the Nokian i3 tire, 185/65R15 (great deal from BadBoyTires.com).

However, they appear to be 887 revs per mile, which is higher than the stock 855.

I live in the San Francisco area and got about 45 mpg on I-280 with the Integritys, which wore out at about 29,600 miles. Now I am hard pressed to get 37 mpg under similar circumstances The new tires have about 200 miles on them now.

I increased the tire pressure by about 2 psi over stock. The tires were already hot when I stopped at a gas station, and were reading 42/40, so I increased to 44/42. The sidewall of the tire says max. inflation pressure is 47 psi.

The front end alignment chart from the tire dealer indicates that the toe was out of adjustment prior to alignment (-0.15 /0.20), and they set it to (0.03/0.02).

Does anybody know why the mileage has dropped so much?

Thanks!

 

As a tire wears down the rolling resistance goes down as well. So even if you had put the exact same model of tire back on your car you would have experienced a mpg loss until you got back to a similar worn condition on the new tires. You ned to get a bunch more miles on those i3s before they are considered broken in.

As for the Rev/Mile that dosn't make much sense. The tire is exactly the same diameter as the stock Integrity at 24.4". How do the revs/mile increase even though diameter stays the same? I've seen the stats you are looking at and I'm not disputing your comment but I am curious if the copy and pasted data on the sales site is correct.

 

Has anyone used the i3s in the snow? I live in NJ, we don't get a lot of snow, but we do get some, and I am trying to decide between the i3 and the WR.
Thanks for your help.

 

The i3 is a summer tire and is not meant for snow. look at the WRg2 as a compromise (one tread edge WR, the other edge i3).

JeffD

 

DJL,

You need to measure tire pressure when they are not hot. If they were 42/40 PSI when hot, the real pressure should be ~3-5 PSI lower than the actual.

45 MPG to 37 MPG? Wow. I am running my I3s with 47/45 PSI and hovering around 54-55 MPG in NY area. That's about what I got with the Integrity at 44/42 PSI.

Could it be you have a bad tank of gas? Keep us posted. Try 47/45 PSI to see how you like the ride. I find the harshness of the ride about the same as Integrity 44/42 PSI.

 

They list I3s as summer tires but more info from Nokian Tyre site:

Properties:

• Maintains a good grip in rainy and cool conditions
• Excellent hydroplaning properties
• Rolls easily and consumes little fuel

Nokian i3 maintains a good grip in rainy and cool conditions. The full silica composite (Nokian cool silica compound) is designed for Nordic conditions. The tyre maintains its grip properties in cold spring mornings and in the cool early autumn, even when temperatures drop below 10 degrees centigrade.

 

I think you must be correct about this. I went out and checked the tire diameter with a tape measure. It's hard to be accurate since the sidewalls are lower than the center, but it appears to be just shy of 24-1/2 inches.

Unless my math is wrong, if the specified 887 revs/mile were correct, then

D = (5280/887) * 12 / Pi = 22.74 inches

Thus, the 887 revs/mile does not make sense. I emailed Nokian, asking what the revs/mile were for this specific size of the i3, and the reply I got back from Al DiBaggio was "887 thanks for thinking of Nokian".

DJL

 

Hi usbseawolf,

I haven't had time to do much more than notice the drop. I don't live close to a gas station that doesn't charge for air, another excuse not to check them while cold.

I thought all CA gas was the same, produced by the same monopoly of 8 refineries that create the CA blend?

Thanks for your comments,
DJL