Hey radioguy, what'd the blizzaks run you price wise?

 

get the snow tires, seriously..
the difference is night and day.

 

Do you really want 'pretty' to run in the sand and salt? Some Z 17's or 18's might go nice...Garnet Canuck runs some Z wheels in winter. SMarinoZR in Edmonton is selling some nice 5-spoke 17s CHEAP on my350z.com:

http://my350z.com/forum/wheels-tires...ken-tires.html

Check their classified, as well as the Cdn G35Driver classifieds for others.

 

i got them off tirerack for $96 each. Idk what they cost now on there i assume around $100.

 

I'm pretty sure Wayne (GEE35X) has run Hakka's in the past.

I always wondered the same thing.... about the extra $
JMO but the trouble with long tread life on most winter tires is
that the grip diminishes even though there's lots of rubber left.

I don't know if the Hakka's do a better job in this regard or not.

 

Hey Christian,

All my work vehicles (rear wheel drive cars) are equipped with BS WS series tires in the winters. They are a good tire however in my opinion they don't hold up to the Nokian offerings. While I haven't personally used the Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi, my father has used their predecessor for a number of years on his 2003.0 5AT Sedan and has been very happy with them. The Nokian tread life is longer than the BS WS series and they do stay "sticky" longer than BS as well (ie further down the tread wear). I personally am going to be putting Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5's on my 06 6MT Sedan for this winter. Call me a little bias but I greatly prefer the Nokian offerings and really wish they would put them on the work vehicles.

My opinion is if your going to be doing any touring miles where snow removal could be questionable look at Nokian Hakka RSi, if your just looking for a great city tire to deal with mud slush and snow where normally the snow is quickly removed however you are dealing with COLD temperatures the BS is also an excellent choice.

What kind of driving are you planning on doing and where are you located in the Great White North?

Regards

S.Dunn

 

I live and work in Calgary, and like most cities the main roads are cleared quite quickly but the side streets and alleys here can be a nightmare. I also snowboard, so I choose to use the highways when conditions are at their worst and the snow is at its best. I had Toyo Garit KX performance winters last season and they worked ok.

 

Hey Christian,

I sure you will find that the BS WS series is a vast improvement over the Toyo. I wasn't even aware that Toyo made a winter tire... never scene them before. I totally understand what your saying as far as the side streets, I remember that treat in Edmonton ALL THE TIME.

The long and the short of it is the Bridgestone isn't a bad tire in fact its a great one. If your looking to get the Nokian Hakka RSi be sure your getting NEW Stock as that is not a NEW Tire this year the Nokian Hakka R is. I would be interested to see the price difference from your dealer between those two tires (The RSI vs the *NEW* R). I would bet that they are trying to sell you last years stock that they purchased at higher prices to get them out of the stock room.

I don't think your going to be disappointed with either tire, they are leaps and bounds above winter performance and even with a "T" rating should get you to the ski hill safely and timely. Should be an improvement over the Toyos.

Last questions are you mounting these to a stock rim or do you separately mount them to a winter only RIM? What wheel size are you looking at?

Let us know what you go for.

S.Dunn

 

I will mount the tires on a winter only rim on my Acura TSX, so I'm planning to downsize to 16".

 

I HAVE THE ANSWERS YOU NEED....

Buy some 19's with summers for your summer setup, then just buy some 17" winter tires and throw them on your stock rims for the winter. Why spend $$$ on another set of small 17' rims?

 

All sounds good. I would suggest either tire, further I would probably state that you wouldn't see a huge difference in the performance from one to another. That being said I would suggest that the Nokians will probably last longer through their tread life. Take a Look at the new "R" as well as the RSi.

Good luck and let us know what you think.

S.Dunn

 

I found this APA article on Winter tires to be somewhat useful. Some valuable tire information as well as their own ratings of some major manufacturers rubber. I was surprised to see that neither Bridgestone nor Michelin made the top 3.

http://www.apa.ca/template.asp?DocID=97

To me the APA is like the Holmes on Homes of the Canadian auto market.

Comments on the article?

 

I wonder why they are recommending a Nokian 5 studded tire? I thought most major cities were moving toward not allowing them due to the damage they cause to the roads.

 

Funny... I was thinking the same thing about the Hakka 5 and "in city driving". It is really a fantastic tire however. Imagine all the benefits of one of the best designed ice radials combined with the power of STUDS. It simply has to be a great combination.

rpm&my_G35 thanks for posting the link. Sounds like a great place to do some research. I just skimmed through it for now, however I was very surprised at how low the Blizaks rated. Everyone rants and raves about that tire, it has to be the number one winter sport sedan/coupe tire out there (at least that I have scene). I wonder how many numbers are generated just from the Bridgestone name?

Anyway, thanks so much for the information. Its always good to have other tires to look at especially if you can improve performance and minimize cost!

S.Dunn

 

I am currently in the process of looking for snows for my x. I didn't get the sport package, and I bought a set of 18" couple wheels for summer. Now the 17" are going to be dedicated winter.

A local dealer gave me a price of $577 for 4 Hakepeliitas R's mounted and balanced. I think that was a great a great price fromw what I have seen. They didn't even mention the old Rsi's.

My other choice is Blizzak Ws 60 for $464 from tire rack. Then I have to mount and balance so say another 60 bucks. That's $520. Not at all a huge difference.

Does everyone think the hak are worth it? I am still deciding here.. Can't decide.

One note on the performance winter. I had Mich. alpin performance winter tire last year. Before that I had the Mich. non performance I get the names confused. Anyway, the perfomance winter DID NOT have the same level of grip and stopping abilty but I would say it was better than any all season by far. I am going back to true snow tire. Although the performance winter really felt like a normal tire when it was dry out which was outstanding.... Not much noise and handled great. I will miss that for sure.

By the way, I am in Vermont. We get plenty of snow and cold winters.