Running Winter/Snow tires in relatively warmer temperature areas

[manoftaste]

Order placed for four.

Per their site Nokian offers 30 day return option if unhappy for some reason, and I have confirmed it with the reseller. If all goes well then I will order the fifth one for the full size spare.

Really hoping that the ride quality, bumps/minor potholes handling, and specially the braking is much, much better than my POS stock contis that I have on as of now. Really bad performance in the above categories are also the main reasons for me to get rid of the contis with only 7.5k miles on them.

Anybody tried fitting all four tires in the cargo area with success or did you have to fold the rear row down to make em fit?

 

[ttforcefed]

ive been usibg nokian hakkas and wr for 20 yrs living in metro NY area. there is no substitute for the nokian WR. the only downside is they dont come in all the sizes ive needed. On my full size RR SC i use hakkas. On my lr3 and l4s ive used WR abd i get about 30k miles out of them using them 365 days a year. no issues on 100 degree august days and no issue on zero degree snow/ice days in feb.

 

[mbw]

Using any true winter tire in above freezing temps... and summers in new york state... makes little sense to me. Just buy another set of wheels and get some good tires for the warmer temps. You extend the lift of the winter tires drastically if you do that.

 

[TCM75]

The Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs come in 255/55/19 and would be a good all-terrain option if you want to stay with a 30" tire.

I live in Northern New Jersey and can vouch for the Duratracs. I removed the stock Contis after 5k miles and now have 25k miles on them. They are my only tire and are great in the snow and wet conditions. Rides great and only slightly louder. I’ll probably get the same tires when it’s time to replace them.

 

[manoftaste]

Cant seem to find the specs for WRG3 SUV in 255/55/19 size, including Nokian' own site. Looking for overall diameter specifically.

 

[manoftaste]

Been doing some research on the Hakkas 9 Studded and the non-studded versions.

Man, would have loved to put those on my LR4 for my winter/snowy mountains, high elevation trips this year. I could imagine LR4 being pretty much unstoppable with the studded version

But here in southern cal there is no way in hell I could subject that rubber to the dry 100 plus miles/55-60°F lead up to the area that those tires were really designed for.

114 miles to and 114 miles back, that would be 228 miles of dry freeway run at temps way above mid fifties.

 

[catman]

Cant seem to find the specs for WRG3 SUV in 255/55/19 size, including Nokian' own site. Looking for overall diameter specifically.

https://www.tires-easy.com/255-55-19/nokian-tires/wrg3-suv/tirecode/T428849

 

[manoftaste]

https://www.tires-easy.com/255-55-19/nokian-tires/wrg3-suv/tirecode/T428849

Thanks.

 

[manoftaste]

Finally got them installed. Ordered thru Discount Tire at $199 piece and had em mounted at my local trustworthy tire shop that i've known for a bit.

Have to admit, since there aren't that many pix of WRG3 SUV on LR3/4 out there, I was a bit skeptical as far as the looks of the tire, but the first thing I noticed right after the truck was lowered back on the floor was how great the tires look on my rims. The aggressive tread pattern looks really nice:

 

[manoftaste]

Mine came with the Nokian' Aramid Sidewall tech.

So far only about 30 some miles on the dry pavement in 60s F, so dont really have much to offer yet. Want to properly break them in for about five hundred miles or so before I could really judge the tire.

But coming from the ****** stock contis, my initial impressions driving around city streets are that they are a bit firm and skittish at the moment and the steering turns feel very light while standing still. I am attributing it to the layer of mold coating that needs to wear off as the tires accumulate more miles and all the inside layers of steel, fabric, and rubber seat/bed in properly.

One thing I noticed the first day after the install as I was making a turn that the tendency to oversteer has been reduced a fair amount vs what I had gotten used to with my stock contis.

I am keeping the PSI levels to the factory 37 Fronts / 43 Rears at the moment.

Will keep you guys posted. Here is another pic with better exposure :