Volkswagen ID Forum banner

Nokian summer and all season (US terminology) options

1 reading
714 views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Dougie01  
#1 ·
One feature of the Hakkapeliitta studded tires is that they have aramid (aka Kevlar) sidewalls. These are, per Nokian advertising at least, more resistant to failure from road hazards like potholes.

One of my complaints about the many tire testing websites and blogs and YouTube channels is that they do exhaustive tests of stuff about performance of the sort that racing car designers care about (braking, corning, etc.), but they do little to no testing of what causes most tire failures. Namely, punctures and sidewall damage.

Nokian has made winter tires for a long time, and they are trying to break into the regular summer and all season tire marketplace in the US. One of their offerings is the Nokian One, which is an all season tire available in the 19" 235/55 and 255/50 sizes used on the ID. 4. A feature is their "Pothole Protection Program" which is made possible, they say, by their aramid sidewalls.

They also have an all-weather tire and another A/S tire, both with aramid sidewalls.

I'm wondering if anybody has tried these yet.
 
#2 ·
Colorado’s highways are in pretty bad shape. Here’s a pothole on Interstate 25 in Denver.
Image


Here’s one on Interstate 70.
Image
 
#3 ·
Nokian has made winter tires for a long time, —
Nokian renkaat has it’s roots in a rubber company which started 1898 (no typo). Famous rubber boots etc. Tire manufacturing started in 1932, and the first ”winter tire” in the world was manufactured by them in 1934.

The reason you may associate Nokian with winter tires is that the summer tire market has way more competition and therefore brands than winter tires. And why they’ve probably not made a push into all season is that those are not legal during the winter months in northern Europe… and Nokian is a Finnish company. Quite a lot of their market is the Nordics and used to also be Russia.

So they’ve been making both summer and winter tires 90+ years, summer tires slightly longer.

Also Nokia, who made everyone’s phone 20 years ago, is a spin-off of the same company. Now that company builds networks.