Kodiaq winter tyres

[TormodL]

Winter seems to be coming along pretty early this year (snow forecast for southeastern norway this week). Anyone has some thougths about winter tyres for Kodiaq? Studded tyres or regular winter tyres? I live in Norway and have been thinking about Nokian Hakka 8 235/65R17 with studs. Any suggestions?

[FinnFred]

My Kodiaq should be coming in December, so I also have to decide about winter tires. As I will have 2WD, I am thinking studded. Here in southern Finland the last few winters have been with little snow, but it can be very icy and slippery. Also therefore studded.

 

My dealer offered me Hakka 8, 17 inch, as you are considering. They are most probably fine. However, after googling opinions, some people said they are extra noisy. That's why I'm considering Contintental IceContact 2. Both tires are the cream of the crop, but Conti seem to have somewhat more favorable reviews, especially regarding noise.

 

Nokian has a new Hakka 9, a test of which will be out soon. So I will wait for that.

[LightRain]

I know it is in the past, but didn't Nokian have some issues with cheating on product tests?

I can't recall or think of how they did though, but did that get resolved by now?

[FinnFred]

It is in the very recent past. They did not send off-the-shelf tires to the tests, so the results where better than they should have. They are nevertheless excellent tires, albeit perhaps not as good as the tests indicated.

 

In light of this, I am keenly awaiting the test of this new Hakka 9, as they are under such scrutiny that they cannot afford to cheat anymore.

[LightRain]

Right, thanks for the info.

[Macdemon]

Normal winter tyres will do just fine, studded tyres are unnecessary. 

 

The tread design on winter tyres has increased groves and is intended to 'collect' snow and the snow in the tread patterns will grip nicely on the 'road snow'.  (if that makes any sense)

 

You will also enjoy better grip and stopping ability in wet weather too.

Edited 18 September, 2017 by Macdemon

[FinnFred]

That might be well and fine when Restoring peace throughout the galaxy (referring to "Macdemon"s location, no hard feelings please).

 

The case is however somewhat different in OP's Norway and my Finland.

 

Friction tires, as we call them here, are great in snow. Not so great on ice, and rather mediocre in rain. All in a normal Finnish winter. From November through March. Unfortunately.

Edited 18 September, 2017 by FinnFred

[Rooted]

Macdemon,

Have you been to Norway or Finland in winter?

 

I read that stuff you posted in the Yeti winter tyre thread as well, Snow Attracting Snow bit,

quite funny really when you get the wrong kind of snow, or ICE.

Edited 18 September, 2017 by Headinawayoffski

[LightRain]

All being said though, in my part of northern Europe, friction tyres seem to be growing in popularity among "average" drivers and have always been popular among taxi drivers. Still, most of the consumer guidance seems to push towards studded. I think mainly because while they are worse than friction on snow, slush and wet roads, they are best on ice of all kinds, and ice is by far the scariest driving condition for many people and most likely to catch out the poor or tentative driver.

[TormodL]

Good to see that there are opinions on this topic :-)  I am not very much worried about Nokian cheating with the tests. It appears that most of the more serious tests in the recent years are performed with tyres bought anonymously from random shops and not not supplied directly from the manufacturer, just to avoid cheating. With respect to friction tires, I have tried on my wifes Octavia, which did not impress me much, so I will stick to studs......and those driving on friction tyres are dependant on that a certain percentage of us are using studs to roughen up the icy surface sufficiently to make the friction tyres work....

[FinnFred]

Here are the winners of the winter tire test of Tekniikan Maailma (an esteemed magazine, covering everything technical, the largest in the Nordic countries). They conduct a winter tire test every year, and are very thorough.

 

STUDDED TIRES, Top 3:
1. Continental IceContact 2 (8,8)
2. Hankook Winter l*Pike RS+ (8,7)
3. Nokian Hakkapeliitta 9 (8,4)

 

FRICTION TIRES, Top 3:
1. Continental ContiVikingContact 6 (8,1)
2. Sava Eskimo Ice (7,6)
3. Good Year Ultra Grip Ice 2 (7,5) ja Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 (7,5)

 

[TormodL]

Was Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 part of the test?

[FinnFred]

No, as Hakka 9 is their brand new version. But the difference shouldn't be so big. They make incremental changes, so probably would have been in the top five. Hakka 8 has won before, but they might have been better than off-the-shelf tires.

[dcl5ad]

For UK/DE/AT use i’ll be fitting some Nokian WR SUVs on my yeti’s old Annapurna alloys. Should look ok on the big bear. 

 

One thing ive noticed when searching for winters is that most of the model-finder apps only bring up the V rated tyres, of which there are very few possibilities. If you knock the speed rating down a bit the selection improves greatly (along with the price).  

[Macdemon]

On 9/18/2017 at 21:36, Headinawayoffski said:

Macdemon,

Have you been to Norway or Finland in winter?

 

I read that stuff you posted in the Yeti winter tyre thread as well, Snow Attracting Snow bit,

quite funny really when you get the wrong kind of snow, or ICE.

 

No, I'm coming in December, so get ready haha.

 

The snow in the UK is soft and wet, so my statement is valid here but obviously not where you are as the snow is a LOT dryer and has a different consistency.