I picked up my '00 OBS last Monday and I've been buzzing around town in it. Great car. Definitely a sleeker and lither vehicle than the second gen Impreza, and the 2.2 is a nice growly motor. I'm back in love with the boxer.

 

Anyway the Bridgestone RE-930i no-season tires on it really suck, so the next thing on my list is a set of real Nokian winter tires.

 

Two questions for those that use 'em:

 

1. Which Nokian is THE total winter tire?

2. Which Nokian is 90% a winter tire with some dry pavement manners?

 

The written descriptions on the Nokian site say absolutely nothing.

Nokian Hak 1's or Hak 10's are what you want.

Thanks Northguy. The Nokian site shows four winter models:

 

Hakka 2

Hakka Q

Nordman 1

RSI

 

But doesn't list any Hakka 1 or 10.

http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/tiresub.cfm?cid=1&sid=1

 

I'm thinking that they're no longer available?

We just picked up a set of RSI's. Haven't had too much snow yet to really give them a test but I would say they are a 100% dedicated snow tire. The car that they are being used on has a dedicated set of summer wheels/tires so this isn't really a concern.

 

For another car I was looking at the WRs, but they are more of an all season which appear to be somewhat snow capable, unlike most ALL-seasons.

 

-Heikki

Thanks Northguy. The Nokian site shows four winter models:

 

Hakka 2

Hakka Q

Nordman 1

RSI

 

But doesn't list any Hakka 1 or 10.

http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/tiresub.cfm?cid=1&sid=1

 

I'm thinking that they're no longer available?

Nordman 1's are the same as Hak 1's

I have RSi's they are great.

I'm running the Hakka 2's on my Forester & to me they are a great tire. I've heard the RSI's are very good too. I believe they are the replacement for the Q. If you are looking for a very good all season tire look at the Hakka WR.

Yeah, the Hakka 2 looks like the ticket, it has the deepest tread. The RSI looks like might give up a little deep snow bite for some road stability, but I already have that base covered with Dunlop Wintersport S2 on my other Sube. This manual-tranny car has to be shoed-up for the real hairy snow duty. Thanks all.

Yeah, the Hakka 2 looks like the ticket, it has the deepest tread. The RSI looks like might give up a little deep snow bite for some road stability, but I already have that base covered with Dunlop Wintersport S2 on my other Sube. This manual-tranny car has to be shoed-up for the real hairy snow duty. Thanks all.

How deep are you running, I had my RSi's up in the mountains running in 6 to 10 inches of snow with no problem (the bottom of the car was skating on the snow). To answer another, yes the RSi's are the replacement for the Q's. I originally ordered the Q's but was told that they were no longer available and that the RSi's had replaced them.

How deep are you running?

I wanna set this car up so I can go looking for snow banks to plow through. I don't care if they squirm a little on dry pavment.

 

I had my RSi's up in the mountains running in 6 to 10 inches of snow with no problem (the bottom of the car was skating on the snow). To answer another, yes the RSi's are the replacement for the Q's. I originally ordered the Q's but was told that they were no longer available and that the RSi's had replaced them.

Maybe it's just the photo on the site I'm not sure, but they look so much milder than the Q's. Basically they seem like a completely different tire from the Q (non-studdable, etc.)

 

Someone posted a picture of the RSI a couple weeks back, was that you? It looked a lot ballsier in the posted photo than the website photo. The only problem is that snows with a pavement-friendly demeanor seem to lose their snow effectiveness at a faster rate than big-blocky snows do (as a result of wear).

Unless things are different in AK, the Hakki 1's and 10's have been discontinued here. I wanted to buy a set of 10s without studs for my rallycross passion....I couldn't get any.

Nokian Hak 1's or Hak 10's are what you want.

Another consideration....are you looking for studless or studded tires? I prefer studless since we don't get any real snow around here and I've never had any problems with the Qs on my Brat and the WRs on my Legacy. Another thing, don't get wide tires; go for the stock width or maybe on size narrower. Look at the really skinny tires the rally drivers run on the WRC winter rally circuit.

Ed, I gotta go studless, studs are illegal here.

 

Are you hip to these Green Diamonds?:

 

http://greendiamondtire.com/concept.html

 

Kinda interesting, but they're re-treads which scares me a little. I'd be afraid to go over 50 mph (90 kph).

Ed, I gotta go studless, studs are illegal here.

 

Are you hip to these Green Diamonds?:

 

http://greendiamondtire.com/concept.html

 

Kinda interesting, but they're re-treads which scares me a little. I'd be afraid to go over 50 mph (90 kph).

Well, considering that they are winter tires, I'd doubt that they would get hot enough to throw the tread. Now if you wore them all year. . . .

Unless things are different in AK, the Hakki 1's and 10's have been discontinued here. I wanted to buy a set of 10s without studs for my rallycross passion....I couldn't get any.

Ed, the local shop has about 100 sets in the warehouse.

what you want are the Nokian WR's . You get great snow/ice traction (snowflake-hazzard rating ) and nice smooth ride on dry pavement. Leave them on year round and you should get 50-55000 miles on them. The only problem for me is that they are $180.00 a piece for my 17 inch (225/55/R17) wheels.

Boy I wish I had known that a year ago; you would have been shipping me tires!!

Ed, the local shop has about 100 sets in the warehouse.

what you want are the Nokian WR's . You get great snow/ice traction (snowflake-hazzard rating ) and nice smooth ride on dry pavement. Leave them on year round and you should get 50-55000 miles on them. The only problem for me is that they are $180.00 a piece for my 17 inch (225/55/R17) wheels.

My RSi's have a smooth ride on dry pavement, but I used them only as winter tires, I have a set of Yokahama's for my daily drives, I need the performance tires on my WRX. The RSi's have great dry performance too, but are primarily winter tires. They also cost about $180 each (after mounting, balancing and taxes) for my 16" (205/55/R16).

Thanks all. Now that's it's been made apparent that the RSI is a performance snow, I know that it's not the tire I want. I already have a vehicle shod with performance snows, which are fantastic tires, ...really I understand, but they do have limitations, especially after a few seasons of use.

 

What I need to know is, which of the three remaining currently-available Nokians are SNOW/SNOWS. Not trying to be a ball buster here :-p , but c'mon now, in all fairness it was one of two questions I asked at the head of the thread.

 

This year I'll have 30 years of winter driving experience under my belt, so I understand the various personalities of tires in the snow. This'll be my first time trying Nokians and the website descriptions are utterly useless.

 

In other words, I know what kind of tire I want, I just don't know which of the Nokians IS THAT tire. Duh...

Maybe you should look at the Nokia light truck tires.

One of the comparison tests I read compared the Hakki Q against the Michelin Alpin and Firestone(?) Blizzak. With new tread all three tires were comparable in performance; after taking 30% of the tread off the tires, the Hakkis still performed well while the other two dropped off significantly. I am now on my fourth year of the Hakki Qs on my Brat and they still gave me no trouble on our snow run earlier this month to get our Christmas tree in the mountains. I don't know what else to tell you, but google around to see if you can find some other performance reviews.

 

I have the WRs on my '91 Legacy and they are an "all season" tire. I now have 40K on them and will likely go well past 50K. Unfortunately, we haven/t seen much snow over the last four winters, but the little snow we did have gave me no trouble at all.

Thanks all. Now that's it's been made apparent that the RSI is a performance snow, I know that it's not the tire I want. I already have a vehicle shod with performance snows, which are fantastic tires, ...really I understand, but they do have limitations, especially after a few seasons of use.

 

What I need to know is, which of the three remaining currently-available Nokians are SNOW/SNOWS. Not trying to be a ball buster here :-p , but c'mon now, in all fairness it was one of two questions I asked at the head of the thread.

 

This year I'll have 30 years of winter driving experience under my belt, so I understand the various personalities of tires in the snow. This'll be my first time trying Nokians and the website descriptions are utterly useless.

 

In other words, I know what kind of tire I want, I just don't know which of the Nokians IS THAT tire. Duh...

No, actually the RSI's are the studless snow tires of choice. They are snow and ice grippers and Q rated. The WR's are like the Dunlop M3's and H rated, but are not "real" snow tires. They are designed as an all weather tire with a strong snow tire-like capability. The Nordmans are old fashioned snow tires with big lugs, hard rubber, and you can put studs in them.

Maybe you should look at the Nokia light truck tires.

LOL Their light truck tires look pretty similar to their car tires except the sizes are bigger. Nothing there'll come close to fitting an OBS.

 

Y'know, maybe I will give the RSI a go, either that or one of the Green Diamonds, but I just don't fully trust a used casing. Y'know how you see some people driving around with one tire down to about 8 psi? I'm afraid that'll be the casing I get.

One of the comparison tests I read compared the Hakki Q against the Michelin Alpin and Firestone(?) Blizzak. With new tread all three tires were comparable in performance; after taking 30% of the tread off the tires, the Hakkis still performed well while the other two dropped off significantly. I am now on my fourth year of the Hakki Qs on my Brat and they still gave me no trouble on our snow run earlier this month to get our Christmas tree in the mountains. I don't know what else to tell you, but google around to see if you can find some other performance reviews.

 

I have the WRs on my '91 Legacy and they are an "all season" tire. I now have 40K on them and will likely go well past 50K. Unfortunately, we haven/t seen much snow over the last four winters, but the little snow we did have gave me no trouble at all.

 

Ed, thanks for your help. I know I said I wasn't trying to be a ball-buster but actually I was. My apologies.

 

I've had Dunlop Wintersport M2 on my '02 OBS for three, going on four winters now, and as jcole01108 says, they're really close to the Nokian WR's. They are WAAAY better on both snow and dry than the OEM RE-92's ...no surprise. The slush & deep powder performance has dropped noticably with use, but the pack-snow and ice performance still rocks.

 

Anyway, Peace Out, Happy Honky-na, Merry X-mas, friggin' whatever!