Drove all the way up to Portland to have my dad put some new sneakers on my girl - rims too.
Dan was nice enough to find me some winter rims (I'll post pics soon)
Got some of the Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi's and I have to say they look like they're up to the job! I've not had to test them yet, no snow, but I will be adding a review.
So far, they are noisy - expected for a full blown winter tire with loads of grooves etc. looks nice for the ice with all of the cuts too. On take offs and shifting from 1, 2 &3 I can hear the treads streatching and snaping back...I can't wait to test these in real life situation.
I'm including an image of the tread - They really look great on the car too.
Judging by the curious name, I'm thinking I've heard of those before. All I hear is that they're pretty fan-flippin-tastic, but tough to come across (if it's the same tire).
My baby shall be rocking the Pirelli P6s for a third winter in a row. I think maybe for next winter I'll get some dedicated snow rubber.
Nope, no playin' for me this year. I'm not going to risk parking this focus in another guardrail!
These actually weren't hard to come by at all. The original Hakkapeliitta's aren't being manufactured anymore. They have been replaced by the Hakkapeliitta 2's. These are a Winter/Ice tire (the RSi's) Dan and I did the research and read the reviews and these should give me the best wear and traction for the winter. The Blizzaks which I was looking at would only give me 2 maybe 3 good winter seasons before the tread wears down to an all season. These are meant to last longer and are full on winter treads all the way through.
My dad got me these - he's the co-owner/partner of a shop in Portland, ME They were less than $90 each mounted and balanced and the prior price, as Dan stated was going to be $120 ea.
If you dig around enough you're bound to find some good deals.
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Funny. I Think the name, "Hakkapeliittas", sounds Hawaiian,(I know it's not), and I can't help thinking what the hell are Hawaiians doing making snow tires??
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Michelin Arctic Alpins from last year ought to be good for this year. Problem out here is that it gets cold and snowy, then warms up a bit leaving nothing but ice. Then we'll get a chinook and everything dries up and the temps will hang in the 60s-70s for a week. Wears the winter tires out in a hurry. No real option but to have a couple of sets of rims with snows and all seasons and be prepared to do swaps a few times every winter. Blizzaks wear out in one season.
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A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
lil duratec wrote: Wow Codger that sounds like not very much fun at all!!!!
Guess that it's whatever one is used to. Like anything else there's good and bad about any situation. I'll let you know one thing about it. When you've gone through a solid 10 days of -30 to -40 and a chinook blows in and takes the temps to +60 to +70 it feels great. Drives some people nuts, specially those with sinus problems but for the rest of us it's almost a breath of life. If I have to change wheels a few times over a 4 month period it's a small price to pay. Most people just use all seasons.
Dressed up one day so that I look like the freakin Michelin man and out in jeans and a golf shirt the next works for me.
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A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
Codger wrote: lil duratec wrote: Wow Codger that sounds like not very much fun at all!!!!
Guess that it's whatever one is used to. Like anything else there's good and bad about any situation. I'll let you know one thing about it. When you've gone through a solid 10 days of -30 to -40 and a chinook blows in and takes the temps to +60 to +70 it feels great. Drives some people nuts, specially those with sinus problems but for the rest of us it's almost a breath of life. If I have to change wheels a few times over a 4 month period it's a small price to pay. Most people just use all seasons.
Dressed up one day so that I look like the freakin Michelin man and out in jeans and a golf shirt the next works for me.
This sounds familiar in many ways C-man
Growing up on the seacoast we'd get slammed w/ a big Nor'Easter and dump the snow feet deep. Mixed, like you mention w/ sleet, freezing rain and rain: followed by plumiting temps below zero freezing everything w/ a crystal coat of glass-like ice. Worst part is packed snow, soaked w/ the sleet & rain and then driven on. It can be like skating rinks. I'm interested in seeing how my new tires fair. The wear is something that I was considering when shopping and what you said about the Blizzacks seemed to be a common comment.
Thanks for sharing. I love to have personal experiences from others to open my shopping options.
We'll see how my new ones work. She didn't really get challenged this past storm because we drove to the seacoast and it changed over to just rain. I can say, dan had to tromp on his to get it up the steep grade of his mother's driveway. Pushed it to 40mph and burnt rubber smell filled this raw air. I just chugged gently up with my RSI's. I'm looking forward to the performance of these.
Oh, BTW - I'll be posting pics soon, but they are being supported by some Cougar 15's.
____________________ Get in, Sit down, Shut up and HANG ON!
Let us know how the RSi work on glare ice when you get the chance. I found the Michelin's better than the Blizzaks on the really polished stuff. We have a large number of people here that seem to believe that the way to get moving after a stop sign is to just put their foot in to it. Results in perfectly polished ice at every intersection. The other thing that I noted about the Michelins was that they are directionally more stable than the Blizzaks. The Michelins don't dart around on the glass ice the way that the Blizzaks did.I just took a look at mine and I may actually get 3 seasons out of them. Bonus!
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A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
I've been using the Nokian WRs for the past 2 winters and love them. Mine are a "All-Weather Tire" not all-season or dedicated winter...they are great..they are very quite and have a 80,000 km rating...
