NAM,

Just thought I'd share my experience with the Nokian Hakkapeliitta Q winter tires. We've had minimal snowfall in Cincy so far but I did have a chance to show off the new shoes this past Friday. We had a few inches of snow on our driveway which would usually scare me enough to park at the top and walk down. Our home is about 250' into the woods and the driveway has roughly a 45 degree grade going down hill. I thought I would attempt to drive down and the tires kept me from sliding an inch. My wife came home shorty after me and drove down without any problems. About an hour later my wife prepared to leave for a Christmas party. So she thought. After several attempts at moving her all-wheel-drive Jeep Grand Cherokee up the driveway she finally gave up to let me try. I couldn't get her car to budge but a few feet including shifting the car into 4wd low. Her car only has about 14K on it so the all-season tires are relatively new. I decided to offer her my MCS, very scared that is since she's only driven it once with me, so she could get to her party. I ripped up the driveway, stopped in the middle, and continued to go up like I was driving on dry pavement. I drove down the street to check out the conditions and came back down the driveway. I decided to drive her up the driveway and let her go from there. We went up the driveway in reverse and the car was just as impressive. Long story short, these tires are incredible. I have had several friends who have run these for years and refuse to purchase anything else. I just wanted to share my experience for those looking for alternative options to the Blizzaks. I purchased the tires from a local Nokian dealer and the 15" steels and MINI wheel covers from the dealer. I've included pics of the tires and wheel covers for those looking for different wheel covers for the steels.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!

Jason

 

twstlvr:

I had the Hakka Q's on my Jetta and loved them for driving in Colorado. :smile: You're right, they are great tires.

BTW, I like your hubcaps. They remind me a little of the alloy wheels on the Audi A8.

Dave

 

Dave,

Thanks for the compliment!

Jason

 

Where is the local dealer in Cincy?

 

>>Where is the local dealer in Cincy?

Grismer Tire
5031 Dixie Highway
Fairfield
829-8473

They are almost across the street from Jungle Jim's

I purchased the 185/65-15 Hakkapeliitta Q's for about $103 each including road hazard and lifetime rotation and balance. The extra $10 each was worth it for the free balancing. Ask for John.

Jason

 

We don't have much use for snow tires in South Florida, but I've had experince with these tires while working in Finland, and they rock. If you do some research you will find that they support tire sizes upto 17" that will fit the Cooper + they have Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2 which are a combo friction & studded tire design. Like I said not much use for me, but if I was in winter wonderland country I'd put these in a heartbeat.

Cheers

 

This is the thing that most people don't get: awd, 4wd, fwd, rwd really isn't the most important thing...ITS THE TIRES! Nokians are great, heck snow tires in general are great - so much better than all-seasons. I love passing 4wd vehicles with my lowly fwd passat....its all about the snow tires man! I have yet to get snows for my MCS yet...soon.

A friend of mine has an old saab 900 with some serious Gislaved (spelling?) studded snows (non-metallic studs). Those things are amazing! You do have to plan ahead though - not good in the dry He has a lot of garage space and air tools, so he only puts them on based on the weather forcast. Nokians are great... I wish more people bough snow tires instead of SUVs.

(As an aside though: awd with snows...oh that's fun! Try a scooby or an audi with dedicated snows and you are in for some serious snow travel)

 

I agree with all said above...and as I've often noted, the MINI with real snow tires is great in the snow. The only issue though is that there's so little ground clearance in the MINI that while you'd definitely have traction to drive in deeper snow, you probably don't want to unless you want to take up a side job plowing driveways. So, while I personally enjoy the extra level of security provided by snow tires, I suspect that I could get by with good all-seasons on most of the roads I choose to drive on.

 

Anyone know whether I can expect the Nokian Hakkapeliittas to last longer than the Blizzaks? The only complaint I've heard about the Blizzaks is that the tread longevity sucks.

 

>>Anyone know whether I can expect the Nokian Hakkapeliittas to last longer than the Blizzaks? The only complaint I've heard about the Blizzaks is that the tread longevity sucks.

chrisnl,

I wouldn't expect much more than 20K out of the Hakkapeliitta Q's, probably about 4 good seasons. The tire tread is too agressive to last long. I would think that the two are similar for mileage.

Jason

 

They also make some of the best mountain biking tires.

 

>>Anyone know whether I can expect the Nokian Hakkapeliittas to last longer than the Blizzaks? The only complaint I've heard about the Blizzaks is that the tread longevity sucks.


I've always heard that the general rule of thumb is 3 winter seasons is about all you can expect from any of these tires. Even if the tread is only 1/2 worn your snow/ice traction is seriously comprimised.

As far as milage goes, the one thing to watch with any of these tires is to try not to spend too much time driving them in the dry - or even worse, a warm spell in the middle of the winter. The compounds in the dedicated winter tires are designed to remain pliable in colder temps - if you have a mild spell in the winter these things will wear out a lot faster! Think of it this way, these tires function just the opposite of dedicated summer tires...anyone who has left their Bridgstone s03s on duting the winter know what I mean - the compound in "summer" tires gets rock hard in cold temps.

A few years back I had my blizzaks on during a rather mild winter and made a weekend trip to Boston (700 mile round trip from Philly area)...Wouldn't you know it right durning one of those crazy 65-70 degree spells in February!?! I swear that those tires lost a seasons worth of tread in that one weekend. Moral of the story: don't leave thse things on if it looks like it is going to be mild winter. It is a gamble...the last thing you want to do is have to put these things on and off every time there is a threat of snow.

 

>>They also make some of the best mountain biking tires.

I like Hutchenson, but I cant seem to get them to make a snow tire!

Alex