Winter tyres? Say what?

Winter. In Canada. While it certainly whips up images of waist deep snow, biting winds and bone chilling cold I don't believe the majority of Canadians can complain about our winter to date. It's almost over for us here in Manitoba actually. We'll just get that one last dump of snow in late april/early may that will lead to many fender benders as people quickly forget how to drive in the winter. Funny thing for a province that spends most of the time in winter or something nearly like it.

Speaking of winter and of driving, let's talk about winter tires. I've had the luxury of experiencing three different brands (and types) of winter tires since October: Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi, Michelin X-Ice and Nordic Trac Ice Trac.

To be fair, all three brands were on three different vehicles, so vehicle dynamics will most likely make a slight difference in the capabilities of the tires. The Nordic tracs will only get a partial review due to certain circumstances that I will cover later.

A look at the tread pattern on the Nokian:


In order of perference

Hands down the best tire has been the Nokian Hakka RSi. While it is an all around winter tire (hence the designation, R(ain), S(now), i(ce)) it excels in all three areas. Dry pavement handling is excellent for a winter tire but definitely feels softer than an all season. In the wet the tire handles like it's dry. On ice, the tire offers great stability and predictable traction loss - and it's no trouble to hear the tire trying to get grip when sliding. In the snow however is really where this tire shines. Through hard packed snow, or freshly fallen, at low speeds or highway speeds, these tires offer confidence and communicate well with the driver. As with it's ice characteristics, it is predicatable and easily read while driving in snow. Even when most of my street was snowed in once this winter I was still able to drive out with little difficulty and if the tires were alive, they would have been laughing and enjoying themselves.

Second place would be the Michelin X-Ice. While the Nokians were on a 2005 PT Cruiser, the X-Ice were on my wife's 2005 Nissan Altima. One advantage the x-ice did have over the Nokians was road noise. While there are differences in sound deadening between both cars I am basing the road noise level on the different between the all season tires and the winters on both. The X-Ice was a just a more quiet tire on the tarmac. Grip during acceleration was good but the tire was just not as predictable as the Nokian. Handling in snow wasn't as good either. That may have been due to a wider tire (205 x-ice vs 195 Nokian), but the tire just felt "slippy" in snow. The Nokian tracked with confidence, while the X-Ice felt slightly unsure of itself. All in all, it's still a really good winter tire but price slightly higher than the Nokian.

The Nordic Trac can't get a full review due to some... different circumstances. We purchased a 2000 Chrysler Neon in January that had two Nordic tracs on the front and a pair of all season Goodyear LS on the rear. I knew that wasn't recommended, but not how much that it would affect the cars handling and dynamics. The nordics were newer while the Goodyears had 100,000 km on them and 2/10th tread depth. The rear would whip around unexpectedly on turns, even in wet weather. From what I could gather the Nordics would be comparable to the Michelin's for traction, but are much louder and don't offer the same lateral support. The tires on the Neon were replaced with a set of BFG Tractions T/A.

With respect to my better half who is now driving the PT, she says the Nokians are also hands down the better of the tires. I feel very comfortable having the one I love drive any vehicle equipped with those tires. To get technical I believe the siping (I'll leave it up to you the reader to look that up) is better on the Nokian.