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Monique

bounceswoosh
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Studs wear down when you drive them on paved road without snow - which will be the majority of her driving.
 

Tom K.

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The "outlier", in our experience, is the Nokian WRG3. It's got the snowflake, it's used all over the world in snow and winter weather, and it's a heck of a summer tire.

It's not terribly expensive these days. It used to be. Google "Subaru, Nokian WRG3." Lots of info.

By no means the only choice, or "the best", but one that I'm very familiar with on a variety of Subies. Turbo and NA, standards and Automatics.

Worth a look.

My Dad sadly retired from skiing recently, so he doesn't need full-on winter tires anymore, and we chose the WRG3 based on the local tire cos "you'll love them, or we'll figure something different out" approach. They are surprisingly VERY good in snow.

While we are at it, the best non-studded snow tire is the Hakka R2.:D
Although, it's expensive compared to the Michelin X-ice 3 when you consider wear rate :(

Agree. Amazing tire. But very disappointed with the wear rate compared to our previous Michelins. They aren't enough better to justify that, so I'll be back to France for tires again next fall, unless I go the WRG3 route.
 

Muleski

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The Nokian WR's are really a great tire for a mix of conditions, surfaces and temperatures. We kind of see it all just north of Boston on the coast. Temps in the winter can be zero to 65. Rain, slush, ice, snow, sunbaked dry. Handles it all, and I agree it has a winter bias, and does very well in snow. Full disclosure, I have only used it on AWD cars. It would be my choice of a year round tire for many cars. In our experience, good wear if you watch your tire pressure.

I have had Nokian Hakka R2's on, I think, four of our cars. Tremendous snow and ice performer. Very limited life span. We'd get two seasons, and that's going on late. Coming off early. I found the tires with 20K of wear to be very different that at 15K. But for pure winter driving...they work.

Seems like a LOT of tires do these days. I have one season left of a set of Hakkas on a Land Cruiser, so I have year to figure that one out.
 

newfydog

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Studs wear down when you drive them on paved road without snow - which will be the majority of her driving.
Yes but the rubber wears faster, so they are always protruding. The studless soft tires rely on deep flexible sipes, which become less deep and less flexible with wear. I have not seen a test yet, but I'd would put a well worn studded tire up against any well worn non studded tire in a hockey rink test.

And I don't worry about snow one bit. It is only the shiny glare ice that really scares me.
 

Muleski

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One set of snow tires that we had, which had a LONG life were Hankook I-Pikes, which we had studded. That tire is/was a Korean knock off of a Nokian R2. Almost identical tread pattern. If you read reviews, people love the price and also can't believe how fast the nice soft gummy surface wears off, leaving then with rock hard tires that have almost no siping or ice grip. Our studded tires lasted us, and I'm guessing, probably 50-60K miles. They were not terribly noisy, and they were as good at 50K miles as they were when new on anything real slippery and firm. Now, when we had them, we lived in a slightly colder winter climate, with more snow on the road, etc. We ditched studded tires after that, but there are plenty of drives when I wish I had them.

It's all about compromise. I really think the Nokian WRG3's are pretty great. Bet they will be a good choice.
 
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Monique

bounceswoosh
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Yes but the rubber wears faster, so they are always protruding. The studless soft tires rely on deep flexible sipes, which become less deep and less flexible with wear. I have not seen a test yet, but I'd would put a well worn studded tire up against any well worn non studded tire in a hockey rink test.

And I don't worry about snow one bit. It is only the shiny glare ice that really scares me.

It's also a pretty crappy thing to do to the roads if you don't need it.
 

newfydog

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It's also a pretty crappy thing to do to the roads if you don't need it.

Well, when I lived in Colorado they did a study to determine if they needed to put a surcharge on studded tires. I would be happy to pay one for the safety they provide, but the study showed the great majority of the road damage was from heavy trucks, not studded tires. I remember Governor Lamm in a press conference with some massive truck tires next to smaller auto tires in the background, explaining why Colorado was increasing the fees on heavy trucks, not snow tires.

We drove the new Atlas, with studded tires, up a forest service road to 5900 ft today, at which point the snow was too deep to push on. Took the dog for a romp, and she went absolutely ape. Bachelor opens this week, 44' settled base, 34" fell this week, and 107" since Oct 1st.
 
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Monique

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Well, when I lived in Colorado they did a study to determine if they needed to put a surcharge on studded tires. I would be happy to pay one for the safety they provide, but the study showed the great majority of the road damage was from heavy trucks, not studded tires. I remember Governor Lamm in a press conference with some massive truck tires next to smaller auto tires in the background, explaining why Colorado was increasing the fees on heavy trucks, not snow tires.

Huh. Interesting.

Don't studs skitter on non-snow/ice surfaces?
 

newfydog

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Studs can really slide on wet roads, but I have never had a close call. I could type the rest of the evening of my adventures driving on ice.
 
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ChrisFromOC

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Agree with @BGreen.

The "outlier", in our experience, is the Nokian WRG3. It's got the snowflake, it's used all over the world in snow and winter weather, and it's a heck of a summer tire.

It's not terribly expensive these days. It used to be. Google "Subaru, Nokian WRG3." Lots of info.

By no means the only choice, or "the best", but one that I'm very familiar with on a variety of Subies. Turbo and NA, standards and Automatics.

Worth a look. Agree 100% with @BGreen. You need the snowflake, IMO.

Thanks again for all of the input. It was fairly difficult to locate the Nokian tires in So Cal, but I did get the WRG3s installed today. I’m hoping they work well for my daughter when she takes the care to CO. Based on the many reviews I read, it seems like this should really be a good fit for the type of driving whe will see.
 

Slim

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and if you are really concerned about her winter driving skills, you can send her to the Bridgestone school in Steamboat Springs for a day.
dm

I live in north easstern MN, a pretty cold part of the world. You’d think there would be a plethora of winter driving classes, but I can’t find a single one.
I took skiing lessons just for fun, I sure would take lessons to keep me safer on the road if they existed around here.
 
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ChrisFromOC

ChrisFromOC

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Thanks again for all of the input. It was fairly difficult to locate the Nokian tires in So Cal, but I did get the WRG3s installed today. I’m hoping they work well for my daughter when she takes the care to CO. Based on the many reviews I read, it seems like this should really be a good fit for the type of driving whe will see.


Nokian update: we were in Breckenridge over the weekend, got a nice amount of snow Sat night thru Sun. My daughter drove her car back to Denver mid-day Sun and it did really well in the snow with the WRG3 ties. So far so good in all types of conditions.
 

Ken_R

Living the Dream
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Denver, CO
Nokian update: we were in Breckenridge over the weekend, got a nice amount of snow Sat night thru Sun. My daughter drove her car back to Denver mid-day Sun and it did really well in the snow with the WRG3 ties. So far so good in all types of conditions.

Sunday and Monday (Morning) were a tough test for tires here in Denver and up in the Mtns. Glad they passed :golfclap:
 

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