Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3
 

Nokian has a new Hakka tire... The R3. Supposedly it's as good or better in snow than the R2, but much improved in the dry.
http://www.tractionnews.com/nokian-u...3-winter-tire/

I'm thinking about the R3 "SUV" version for the Chevy Colorado.

The only other winter tire available in 255/65-R17 are the Michelin X-ice xi2. The xi2 seem to do great in all the professional tire magazine reviews, but when you read user reviews a number of people say they are the worst tire they've ever driven in slush and wet snow. Apparently they hydroplane like crazy.

The biggest advantage of the xi2 over the R2 was the dry performance. With the R3 improving it's dry performance maybe the R3 wins across the board now.

I thought of not even bothering with winter tires. The stock all-terrain tires ("Goodyear wrangler all terrain adventure with kevlar") did great in deep wet snow, with the big gaps between the tread. But I'm guessing they'll suck on ice. I just hope the Hakka's aren't a big downgrade in the deep snow. It would suck to buy snow tires and have them be worse than what I have.

If you are keeping the AT anyway, just go for the more serious winter tires.

Meaning the hakka, right?

I have had Hakka SUV tires on the LR4 (since Dec 3013) and they are spectacular.

Hakkas are fantastic in snow, slush and ice. I have a set for the e46 wagon and rocked it in the blizzard of a couple of years ago. It was shockingly unstoppable.

Just to add, I'm sure the LR4 system is impressive (with center and rear locking e-diffs), but in 5 years of Boston winters I can hardly recall the traction control coming on. Braking is also excellent (but you can't cheat physics either).

I can imagine. A good 4WD system make even all-season tires seem stellar in the slippery stuff. Winter tires should be all that much better.

Surprisingly, the OEM Contis that came with the LR4 are junk in the winter. They are ok in terms of comfort and quiet but pretty much suck at everything else. This is my last season with them. Contó has come out with a very quiet and comfortable all terrain tire that I will install next spring.

Are the Haaka's good for areas that get relatively little snowfall but have frequent ice storms, like where I am? I've have winter tires (Blizzaks) on the Mazdaspeed since new and it's time for a new set this winter. Are the Nokians overkill for what we get? I've never really had a complaint about the Blizzaks other than, well, they're winter tires, so on days with no snow or ice they suck to drive on (squishy and vague).

John

In the Focus ST, I had mixed feelings every spring when swapping the Dunlop WinterSport 4Ds back for the GY summer tires. The WinterSports were comfortably soft, quiet, and completely not nervous in comparison. But they were kinda squishy and limited in dry traction.

Trying to decide what to do for the Camaro. A lot of people on Camaro6.com say the GY A/S that come on it do fine enough in the type of winters we get here. But I don't like the tires to begin with, so why not put something made for cold/wet/snow/ice? Seems like TireRack is trying to blow out 2014 production WinterSport 4Ds in a size that will work, but Blizzaks. Hmm...

The Hakka R2 reviews suggested it wasn't the world's best snow tire in the dry. I'm not sure I'd go with that for an area with minimal snowfall. The R3 is supposed to be better, but who knows.

Why not a performance snow instead? I really liked the Pirelli Sotozero 3's. I think plaz did too. I admittedly never actually spent much time on snow/ice with them though, but the reviews are good there too.


I won't ever run a full snow unless they're on a car that is reserved for snowy driving. They're too mushy in the dry to drive often on clear roads.

We always ran the Blizzak performance snows or the Michelin Pilot Alpins. No complaints about either except for the random really hot days in DC winter.

The Hakkas are extremely noisy and pretty aggressively biased to bad traction. They are great in slush, ice, and other foul inclement environments, but aren't great in the dry.

for the R2 that's the case. But they're saying the R3 changes the game a bit.

I think the right answer is to just buy whatever is on sale at tirerack. I hate all-season tires and I don't mind switching tires a couple times a year on the daily driver. With the ice storms we get here it's still worth it to me to have a tire meant for those conditions even if it means sacrificing feel / grip on January days where it's just cold, not snowy/icy.

edit: I was wrong, the tires I have on the Mazda's winter wheels are Pirelli Sottozeros, but they're old... probably three or four years old... so I'm not sure what model.