WINTER Tires? NOKIAN... vs the rest?

[GTS]

Hey fellas... I come here for a quick advise...

The Neon is in the shop getting a new gearbox but in mean time we got to get the RAV4 read for winter.

With that comes the question... which winter tire is the best.


I am looking at a price range of 70-80$/tire

I can purchase the following...

NOKIAN NORDMAN 4



FIRESTONE WINTERFORCE



HANKOOK IPIKE 409

[Mopar_Korean]

I have the ipikes and love them. The Firestone seem to wear pretty quick. Ive had a few customers order the Nokians. But none of them have had them long enough to comment.

[NickKo]

I have the ipikes and love them.

I have these on both of my 1st gen Neons.

I don't know anything about the Nokians, but these seem to be very similar to the I-Pikes.

I tend to AVOID 'Firerock' tires.
I've never been happy with any Firestones, on any car I have had, or driven in.


- Nick

[GTS]

I have the Hankooks as well on my car, had them since 2006, they are rock solid tires...

Tirerack has the Firestones for 64$/tire for the size I need...

But for 79$ I can have the Nokians which is probably the best tires, that most use in Canada and the very northern parts of the world.

But considering what we get for Chicago, I am trying to decide on two factors... best bang for the buck... and also tire wear.

If the nokians are going to wear too fast then thats a problem since we see 80% dry roads, and 20% snow covered.

Te firestone I hear is too noisy too, and very squishy, so that SUV is gonna feel like JELLO

But the cost is 300$ for the set, where the other two are 340$ and 368$

[NickKo]

Te firestone I hear is too noisy too, and very squishy, so that SUV is gonna feel like JELLO

But the cost is 300$ for the set, where the other two are 340$ and 368$

I would not run 'squishy' tires on an SUV.

Think about it.... the extra weight and strain on the tires will cause them to wear out sooner. ( not to mention, possible loss of traction in an emergency situation)
There goes the 'saved' money.....

Something to think about.


- Nick

[Swordfish2Cowboy]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... er+Carving

[LilSparkPlug]

I've had the firestone winterforces on my SXT since last winter (never changed them out for summer tires). I adore them. They're way quieter than the Kelly Chargers I previously had, they cut into snow like it's nobodies business and owned my Blizzaks (which I HATED). I will definitely be purchasing another set when the time comes.

[Canada]

I had the old style Nokian Hakka1's on my old '05 and I had amazing experiences with them.

I used them for 2 winters and wear was not noticable, they still looked almost brand new.

I then gave them to a friend who ran them on his Spirit year round for two years and I just got them back now, and they still have a good 40% tread left on them.

Was extremely happy with these tires.

[CaLiBuM]

Im using the I Pikes on my car and I'm pretty happy with them, this is my 2nd season with them and still have tons of tire tread left after 5000+miles on them