Studded tire recommendations?

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i have a friend that bought a toyota echo last year the first thing he did was drive it straight to kal tire and have the original equipments stripped off and nokians put on , his previous car he had nokians on he swears by them , i was thinking about putting them on my wifes x trail but i want to see how her o e tires perform first with her all wheel drive system , i like my bfg at's the were decent enough last winter but i know thier limits and wouldn't over drive the conditions , i have toyed with the idea of having a set of chains made for my tires ,( comercial grade cam lock ) i will be heading up to williams lake around christmas , i had good luck on my last 60 with pirelli scorpians at in the snow .
 
canucksafari said:
Yes, I saw the Coopers and they were 1/3 to 1/2 less than the Nokians on the web. So how are the Coopers for quality and performance? Are they a lot different than the Nokians? Anybody?
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Never driven the Nokians, so I can not compare, however I can say that I have liked the Cooper ST's. I had them on my BJ42, then moved to the BJ74, and they now are on Petra's daily driver HJ61 (255/85R16). Seem to be wearing well, great in the rain, and the limited snow travel has been ok too. The ones I have balanced easy and track well. Dunno if they would suit your needs and certainly a dedicated tire like the Nokians with all that siping would do better.

I've always been intrigued by these folks: http://www.greendiamondtire.com/ Never spoke to anyone who has 1st hand experience though.

hth's

gb
 
I have Michelin X-Ice on the Sienna, stick like glue in all winter driving conditions.
I use BFG AT/s on the cruiser, seem to work well in everything except deep snow.
GG
 
canucksafari said:
I am not into being "penny stupid". So if I get extra wear and extra performance, than I don't mind paying more money. I just don't like paying more money for a companies marketing BS. Still haven't made it down to Kal Tire, maybe tomorrow.
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All the nokians will be sold out in another week or two. Happens each year. No marketing needed.

I just mounted my ole nokians to my 16 inch 73 series rims for my wifes FJ80. This year they ride on her vehicle.

Nokians are not mainstream yet, so it's a not Levi's comparison.

My company bought Coopers this year, cause they are cheaper. We will see how they do in a month or two. By then all the good sizes are sold out for the year.


Your time is limited. Up North is about to consume all the tires. I drove in snow today.........................................
 
Update on snow tires

Finally made it into Kal Tire and got two quotes on 31x10.5x15 all mounted up

Nokian LTs (non-studded) $1,072.82
Artic Claws (studded) $ 995.80

I thought there would be a bigger price gap between their bottom line LT snow tire and the top-line snow tire. Their recommendation if I bought the Artic Claws was to stud them to ensure grip on ice and compact snow. Kal tire charges $35/tire for studding. I heard that the Nokians also came studded from the factory. I will check with a friend who works for Kal Tire in commercial sales in Langely. Maybe he can get me a better deal. There are also two online stores selling Nokians. But they are only US companies. At over $700 before shipping, taxes and duty, it is not worth considering. I picked up an impact gun and another set of stands, so it'll be quick to pull them on and off depending on the weather.
 
the nokian lt can be studded too. My bet is to buy the nokians and not stud them yet. Wait. See how they drive first. Or stud them first if you want.

I have some LT's for the wifes truck studded.

If the arctic claws need studs to bite you may want to pass on them. The tire should be awesome first with out the studs(Nokians are) then the studs are the icing on the cake............mmmm cake.
 
Well, it only took two months to decide to fork over the $$$ and buy the Nokians Studded. My daughter's coach works for Kal Tire, so I got a fairly good deal on the 31x10.5x15. I was thinking on going larger but Kal Tire suggested it was best to stay at the stock size and go larger on my next ATs or MUDs. A special thank you to Justine for the rims and to Steve for storing them for so long.:D I didn't get a chance to paint the rims. Will have to wait for warm weather to do that. The Nokian LT studded are amazing for a studded winter tire on non-snow surfaces. I expected the usual truck winter tire noise - especially some noise from the studs. They are quieter than my ATs and they turn, stop and start on wet pavement like a great rain tire. So all we need now is a lot of ice and snow.:bounce::bounce2::bounce::bounce2:

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I'm driving the same studded Nokian Happakalita's on my HDJ, went as tall and narrow as Nokian make, 235/85/r16 or about 32''. Fantastic tires in both the wet and the snow/ice, on the Duffy Lake Rd last year in a snowstorm I was sure glad to have them.

I just put studded Cooper discovery S/T's on my PZJ. They are a very aggressive tread, almost a mud tire, not as much siping as with the Discovery M/S or the Nokians but with FAR more tread depth, so they look like they will last at least twice as long. I figure with the studs a little less siping is not so important.

Note: Coopers are about 30% cheaper in Bellingham, even including the washington state tax. I ended up buying locally because it wasn't worth a whole day of driving and border madness just to save $150, but if I was buying more expensive tires I'd be down there.
 
Jonathan... I got 235/85R16 nokians this winter on yer old 80(beige one). Drives awesome in the snow.
 
BB, I am looking forward to giving them a good test. Jonathan, I was considering the Coopers from Discount Tire in Bellingham. But I got as good a price on the Nokian studded here and of course the Kal Tire service throughout the province. Next time I will be getting my MTs or ATs there. I have had to have my ATs balanced twice now in less than a year at nearly $200. That would have been covered if I had bought them fom Kal Tire. And they will have to be rebalanced when I put them on after the end of the snow. Every time I go into any mud hole, I seem to spin off the counter weights. :confused: Guess I will have to try to stay out of the mud this spring. :frown:
 
brownbear said:
Jonathan... I got 235/85R16 nokians this winter on yer old 80(beige one). Drives awesome in the snow.
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Cool! Glad to hear it stayed local. I'm off up to Tyax resort near gold bridge over x-mas with my HDJ (nokian studded) and wife's driving our 15 passenger E350 van (Cooper studded S/T on a dually rear conversion). Promises to be a fun drive with all the snow we've had. I've got a set of chains for the van just in case but I can't see us needing them.
 
jcolvin said:
Cool! Glad to hear it stayed local.
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Almost local.... I'm up in Smithers... :)

I took that funny front bumper off it and now have an ARB up there.... was that old bumper off a JDM 80? With Japanese bling spotties?? They were huge holes.... and nicely cut. But it didn't matter as my wife demanded to have an ARB on there :grinpimp:
 
Tested the Nokians out today with a round trip to Princeton. No problem running at 100 kms/hr on hard pack, ice or fresh powder. Ran about 5 inches of slush down near Sunshine Valley. Ya, it was one of those all conditions trips starting out with the usual Fraser Valley weather. Only problem was all the vehicles in the ditch on the Hope Princeton. The highways was closed at Rhodo flats when we got there on the way back. They finally opened it and were only allowing alternating traffice through about 6 kms where it was iceing up and where there were two accident scenes. Even noticed quite a few full size trucks running BFG ATs and they were sliding while we inch forward. Don't they have the snow flake? The worst thing about the trip was getting caught behind all the people driving at 50 kms/hr. :mad: If I had it my way, people would have to prove they had good winter tread before they were allowed to travel in the winter.

Oh, even though they are a great tire, I was able to break them loose into a 4 wheel drift in a couple corners.:) But, it is very easy to stop the slide by letting off on the skinny pedal.:rolleyes:
 
yah I would be in favour of much stricter requlations regarding highway winter travel. Even though I am prepared the next guy isn't. And there the ones that hit you. Hence a good ARB bullbar on the rig. Shear the mofo apart :)
 
canucksafari said:
Tested the Nokians out today with a round trip to Princeton. No problem running at 100 kms/hr on hard pack, ice or fresh powder. Ran about 5 inches of slush down near Sunshine Valley.
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Hey Canuck-

What time were you on the road? I think I saw your truck in the lot when we pulled into the A&W in Princeton mid-afternoon, we were on our way to the Kootenays in the HJ60 (and had already lost about two hours with the truck overheating). Good to know we made it over before the roads got too rough, we were grinding away at 50 most of the way as well...

:cheers: Andrew
 
Was that you in the Silver 60? My son and I first saw you at the top of the Burn Hill. I thought you were stopped for a B break. I saw you pull into the A&W but you didn't stay. I think you came in with your wife and two small children, right? Actually, I noted that my temps were climbing like it was summer. When I arrived in Princeton it was clear that snow and ice were blocking air circulation to the rad. That heavy wet snow can clog things up pretty quick. Glad you made you destination.
 
canucksafari said:
Was that you in the Silver 60? My son and I first saw you at the top of the Burn Hill. I thought you were stopped for a B break. I saw you pull into the A&W but you didn't stay. I think you came in with your wife and two small children, right? Actually, I noted that my temps were climbing like it was summer. When I arrived in Princeton it was clear that snow and ice were blocking air circulation to the rad. That heavy wet snow can clog things up pretty quick. Glad you made you destination.
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Hey Canuck-

Yep, that was me alright. Dropped the family off to relax for a bit while I ran to Lordco for more coolant :mad: When you saw me stopped the truck was boiling over. Very interesting to hear you were having similar problems as well, that's actually a big load off my mind. I had a sense that there was a lot of frozen muck in the rad but wasn't sure if that was enough to cause the problem (this was our first run into the mountains with the 60). There may yet be a problem somewhere but complicating things is a less than reliable temp gauge (see my thread on overheating in the Diesel forum). Anyhow we did make it another 350+ Km but we took most of the hills super slow (a 8 hour trip turned into 12). I'm hoping I can trobleshoot it tomorrow for the run home.

Nice to hear from you, should have asked about your truck wile I was there.

:cheers: Andrew
 
Just was up Sumas mountain for a Boxing Day drive with the family. I ended up having to recover a big quad cab GMC 4x4 (well over twice the size of my Safari) which was stuck in deep heavy snow. Three young guys had tried to make the sumit but where bloocked by an abandoned 4x4 and they had tried to turn around at a switchback. The kid was telling me his truck was such a great 4x4 and had a LSD rear. I don't think he thought my little 6 cylinder diesel was going to get that big hulk out of the snow it was stuck in. They had a snow mobile and were trying to recover the truck with it. Now that was funny. All they wee doing wwas burying both the snow mobile and the truck in heavy wet snow. I didn't even take more than 3 feet of slack and I pulled him out so quick I almost spun him off the other side of the road. I was snatching him at 45 degrees so was also pulling all the snow. He had to back down quite a ways while I turned around where he had gotten stuck without spinning a wheel. :p I think that hurt his pride most. Hehehe!
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But it was almost as sweet as recovering a Land Cuiser:lol:.

So I have tested the Nokians now in almost all winter conditions and snow types and give them a big thumbs up.
 
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