Winter Tires: Nokian WR tires
#21
Re: Winter Tires: Nokian WR tires
Thanks for the reply and input from "up north". Not many posters from your area. As for studded tires, they are illegal (road damage) in the state of Pennsylvania as in many other states.
Pennsylvania is not flat. Winter normally does not bring consistent sunshine. Temperatures frequent break the freezing mark during the daylight and then drop below this mark at night. The snow is known to transform and roads that are cleared after snowfalls, can ice up (black ice) during the night. Or, the roads are not cleared immediately after the snowfall and traffic will pack (and rut) the snow down into a hard base that needs warmth from sunshine to melt and breakup. Then there is my personal recreational activity of nordic skiing. There is a lot more snow around these areas than in the cities you have heard of. Some of the nordic ski areas are "off the beaten path" and snow tires have saved my skin more than once.
My biggest grip about snow tires is the treadwear. I may only mount snowtires on my vehicle 3-4 months a year and the tires are wornout during the 3rd season. Is it possible to find tires suitable for winter conditions that provide more than adequate treadwear? Can the Nokian WR tires fit this request?
The Nokian WR tires are one of the few "all-season" tires to carry the severe service emblem of a peaked mountain wth a snowflake.
The Nokian WR tires carry a 50,000 mile warranty. This is significantly better than the pure winter tires I normally mount. One set of Nokian WR tires should outlast two sets of pure winter snow tires and might be cheaper than the total cost of two sets of winter tires. I haven't heard from anyone using these tires and I might have to find out myself in the future.
Pennsylvania is not flat. Winter normally does not bring consistent sunshine. Temperatures frequent break the freezing mark during the daylight and then drop below this mark at night. The snow is known to transform and roads that are cleared after snowfalls, can ice up (black ice) during the night. Or, the roads are not cleared immediately after the snowfall and traffic will pack (and rut) the snow down into a hard base that needs warmth from sunshine to melt and breakup. Then there is my personal recreational activity of nordic skiing. There is a lot more snow around these areas than in the cities you have heard of. Some of the nordic ski areas are "off the beaten path" and snow tires have saved my skin more than once.
My biggest grip about snow tires is the treadwear. I may only mount snowtires on my vehicle 3-4 months a year and the tires are wornout during the 3rd season. Is it possible to find tires suitable for winter conditions that provide more than adequate treadwear? Can the Nokian WR tires fit this request?
The Nokian WR tires are one of the few "all-season" tires to carry the severe service emblem of a peaked mountain wth a snowflake.
Winter Driving Facts from Nokian
Tires marked with the severe service emblem of a peaked mountain with a snowflake meet specific snow traction performance requirements and have been designed specifically for use in severe snow conditions.
Tires marked with the severe service emblem of a peaked mountain with a snowflake meet specific snow traction performance requirements and have been designed specifically for use in severe snow conditions.
The Nokian WR tires carry a 50,000 mile warranty. This is significantly better than the pure winter tires I normally mount. One set of Nokian WR tires should outlast two sets of pure winter snow tires and might be cheaper than the total cost of two sets of winter tires. I haven't heard from anyone using these tires and I might have to find out myself in the future.
#22
Re: Winter Tires: Nokian WR tires
I suspect what most of us are using up here is fairly hard compound "All Season" tires with studs.....and so our tread last longer. I can run them on my truck for two seasons (an F-250/460) and then have the tires restudded. After two more seasons, there still is quite a bit of tread, but the studs are shot and there is not enough meat to redrill them for new studs.
The thing about road damage is for real. It eats the roads here....you wouldn't believe how rutted they get in just two or three seasons, but so much of the state/city are mountainous while other parts are flat. I have one friend that, for most of the winter, has to start out with chains on their studded snow tires to get down to some of the main roads, then stop and pull the chains, drive on......reverse of the procedure to get home.....MOST days during the winter. On the other hand, they're a third of the way up a mountainside with few neighbors.
There are some very soft compounds that stick very well in winter, but they go away pretty fast.....especially if they're run on bare pavement a lot, and especially if they get run much in the heat.
I know the conditions you're talking about....we get very similar things, but probably for a few more months each year than Pa. I suspect my Conti's will last many years at the rate they're getting used (about 5 K a year), and I can't WAIT each spring to get the studs off.
Since we change them every winter, the spare wheels make sense, and it lets me wait as long as is reasonable to switch. Like everywhere else, the first day it's bad the tire shops are all slammed for a week. Mounted, balanced, so I switch them at home. If I had a long nice stretch, I could switch them back out. Hasn't happened yet, but I've only been here 20 years.....
The thing about road damage is for real. It eats the roads here....you wouldn't believe how rutted they get in just two or three seasons, but so much of the state/city are mountainous while other parts are flat. I have one friend that, for most of the winter, has to start out with chains on their studded snow tires to get down to some of the main roads, then stop and pull the chains, drive on......reverse of the procedure to get home.....MOST days during the winter. On the other hand, they're a third of the way up a mountainside with few neighbors.
There are some very soft compounds that stick very well in winter, but they go away pretty fast.....especially if they're run on bare pavement a lot, and especially if they get run much in the heat.
I know the conditions you're talking about....we get very similar things, but probably for a few more months each year than Pa. I suspect my Conti's will last many years at the rate they're getting used (about 5 K a year), and I can't WAIT each spring to get the studs off.
Since we change them every winter, the spare wheels make sense, and it lets me wait as long as is reasonable to switch. Like everywhere else, the first day it's bad the tire shops are all slammed for a week. Mounted, balanced, so I switch them at home. If I had a long nice stretch, I could switch them back out. Hasn't happened yet, but I've only been here 20 years.....
#23
Re: Winter Tires: Nokian WR tires
Your Friend should get a snowmobile!
And leave his car at the park-n-ride!
And leave his car at the park-n-ride!
I have one friend that, for most of the winter, has to start out with chains on their studded snow tires to get down to some of the main roads, then stop and pull the chains, drive on......reverse of the procedure to get home.....MOST days during the winter. On the other hand, they're a third of the way up a mountainside with few neighbors.
#24
Re: Winter Tires: Nokian WR tires
I think you're right to advise BillyK to try it with the stock tires. The Ford does very well......we just get that handful of days where it is bizarely slick. I've watched people slide at 2 mph and have no control, and no ability to stop if they were on a slope (and not much of a slope). One spring a friends truck parked in our driveway while we were all in Mexico, when the breeze changed, so to speak, slid down the drive and out into the cul de sac....completely out of the drive, all on its own. Sitting on ice, and the air warmed up. Where he is in Pa may or may not get that kind of stuff, but it does sound like the ground gets good and cold, and then they get warm air, and those are the days that I think create slick days.
With studs on, you really can drive an AWD Escape almost without concern for the conditions. It would be my go to car in bad conditions unless I thought the snow would be high enough to come over the hood, and then it would have to be the truck. The car really does quite well.
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