Winter vs All-season tread

[marsgal42]

Kal Tire recommended Nokian WRs for my Delica (they fixed a flat for me, and I asked while I was there).

It came with a set of no-name all-season tires made by Goodyear, which did well in the snow a couple of weekends back.

...laura

[docsavage]

Most of the company fleet including me have the Nokians on our pickups. Seem to be good so far. I think mine have one season under their belt and studs, but they work well enough. Easy enough o spin them, but that is in a half ton V8.

James

[flooperer]

My two cents is, I just bought new all seasons and I'll use them for the first winter, they have plenty o tread. Next winter I'll put on real winter tyres. But running winters in summer is a bit like burning money.

[PolyTek]

Thats the thing about the Nokian WRs is that they are rated for 80,000km, which means they really aren't wearing out super fast during non-winter driving. Just means you don't have to spend the $ to swap tires twice a year, or to have a second set of rims and tires floating around taking up space. Here in Vancouver, with the way there is snow for a few days at a time a few different times each winter, it makes sense to run an all-season that handles snow well (like the Nokian), or have winters on seperate rims so you can just swap them in the driveway on a snowy day.

Not as big a deal with a 4wd vehicle, but I ran Deulers on my 4x4 Toyota Van, and didn't like how they a) wore, and b) performed in the snow. They were ok, but for my $$$ on a single set of tires, the Nokian WRs are a better deal. They sure aren't wearing any faster than my Deulers did, and they don't really cost much more, but they perform better in most situations, the exception being real off-road duty, where clearing mud and sidewall impact strength are issues.

Since my Delica has a pair of almost new Yokohama Geolander AT/S on the front, I'm thinking about running these all-seasons over the winter. I'll have to replace the rears because they are totally worn out. And before everyone starts pointing this out, I know its not smart to run different sized tires on a 4x4, but that's only a major concern if you're driving on a non-slippery surface, PLUS the difference in overall diameter between the 215/80R15 tires that are on the front now and the 235/75R15's I'll get here is less than 8mm. The worn out tires on the rear right now are probably 8mm shorter than the ones on the front right anyway.