halfon

In the Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...=1026296450133

they reviewed the Nokian WR. To me it sounds as the perfect tire for northern climates. But which size should we buy ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Nokian WR is a contradiction in terms: it is an all-season tire that carries the severe snow rating from Transport Canada. It is the only all-season tire to achieve that rating — even many winter tires don't have it.

The Nokian is part of Finland's Hakkapeliitta group of companies, and these companies have been making severe winter tires since snow was invented. So if anyone can make the miracle of an all-season tire work in snow, it would be the Hakka crew.

The WR is not the stiffest all-season out there but it ranks stiffer than average. Some people will enjoy this taut ride because it makes for fast steering response, but others may find it just a tad too jiggly over frost heaves. The rather open tread pattern made for an above-average amount of road noise.

In snow and on ice, the Nokia lives up to everyone's expectation of a Scandinavian winter tire. It provided sure traction, good steering on loose or packed snow, as well as reasonable stopping distances. So this is the first all-season tire I've tested that gets two thumbs up for winter use.

Summer use of a winter tire typically wears the sipes and they lose their edges, resulting in poor performance the following winter. To some degree, Nokia has overcome this by interlocking the sipes. They call this the "Haka sipe."

Under load conditions of braking or cornering, sipes lean against each other and close up to save wear and tear.

(Sipes are thread-like slits in the tread that help evacuate water for better wet traction and act as biting edges in snow.)

The WR is available in 43 sizes, in aspect ratios of 70 to 35 and rim diameters of 14 to 19 inches. At Tirecraft in North York, a P225/60R16 lists for $256, but Tony Sacco discounts it to $195 plus tax.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BoxerGT2.5

I know they can be hard to find atleast in the states. I will be getting them as my snow tire this fall. I hear they are better than the Blizzaks and Dunlops.

Gord96BRG

Maurice (CanZoomer) is using the Nokian WR on his car for winter tires - a simple search for Nokian WR in this forum should turn up threads discussing them. Unfortunately, Nokian does not yet make a proper size for the 8 - ideal winter size to keep the same diameter as the OEM tires is 215/55-17; 225/50-17 is a similar diameter but less desirable because it's wider. Maurice went with 205/50-17, deliberately sacrificing diameter to get the even narrower width.

As for Blizzak and Dunlop - be careful saying 'Blizzak' without specifying the model number, because not all Blizzaks are created equal. The high-performance LM-22 version is a good RX-8 winter tire; the more common WS-50 Blizzak is a terrible winter tire on an RX-8 (good ice grip, OK snow grip, horrible on dry pavement), there are MUCH better winter tire choices out there than a Blizzak WS-50. That said, the Nokian WR is not quite as good as a dedicated winter tire - the LM-22, Dunlop M3, Toyo Garit HT, Pirelli Winter210, and Michelin Pilot Alpin will all at least as good as the WR. Remember, the WR is Nokian's winter-oriented all-season tire, and they also market pure winter tires for better ice/snow grip.

The WR is by far the best choice if you want an all-season tire for winter use, but that doesn't make it the best winter tire.

Regards,
Gordon