My take on winter tires

[ak_siberian]

Many threads on winter tires. Here is why, for where I live, Nokian is my choice and the Hakka 8 studded is what my RS5 wears:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...197743611.html

I realize it's a 2013 article and it was on an Audi RS6 not a 5, but they can be forgiven for the latter :) Hakka 8s are for me the ultimate extreme cold snow/ice tires.

siberian

[PEM]

You might be the only person on here that has snow/ice to drive on for more than a week out of the winter haha.

[ak_siberian]

It's just something that's really not worth scrimping on; whether it's the ultimate Hakka 8s or other Nokian tires, come winter

And oh yeah, certainly more than a week... :)

siberian

[Audiforumuser]

You might be the only person on here that has snow/ice to drive on for more than a week out of the winter haha.

Lots of Canadians on here eh! Studded Hakkas are a bit overkill here but I do agree that Nokians are the best.

I go with Blizzaks and Michelin X Ice. Much better than my old Dunlop winter sport 3ds. Both are solid and cheaper than the Nokians.

[ak_siberian]

Still trying to get to Inuvik with the Treg and camper.... will get there one day!

I have Blizzaks on the V6 Touareg and Hakka 5s on the V8 Touareg. Both good tires, with a slight edge to the Hakka 5s. But the Hakka 8s... now that's a totally different world. The grip is just absolutely incredible. Where I would slow down with the 5s or Blizzaks', I accelerate with the 8s.

siberian

[Gonzoe11]

Winter tires are a must ( in my opinion ) spent 1 winter with All Season Michelin Pilots on my old S6, and decided to switch to dedicated winters the following year. Night and day difference. Last 2 winters with the S5 cab, we wore Dunlop Wintersports and they were excellent. I just bought another set for the RS5 and mounted them on the Rotors. Unstoppable, but this isn't Alaska

[jamin_00]

You are one person I would listen too on this subject lol but seeing as we rarely get snow I don't bother

[doug97gxe]

I was very close to getting Hakkas but they are limited to 96 mph .. for that reason i'm looking to blizzaks .. i do quite a bit of highway driving and i don't trust myself to be under 90 mph all winter

[essfour]

^agree with this. I feel like a minimum of an H speed rating is probably something to consider in your snow tire purchase for an RS

[HazeMyth]

Studded tires are no bueno in my area. I see a lot of people drive around with them, and all they're doing is destroying our roads. We don't have snow on the roads frequently enough to justify studded winters, unless you have a dedicated snow driving vehicle.

[ak_siberian]

FWIW, Hakka 8s are, if memory serves me correctly, rated at T. Meaning max speed of 118mph or 190kph. I doubt you'll find any Blizzaks' with higher rating.

There are other Nokian models which IMHO outperform similar tires.

Studded tires here must be off the car by mid May (yes, we've had snow in June) and unless you live in real northern latitudes (yes we'll let folks in Regina be part of us) it's probably not called for. If you drive mostly on dry pavement with occasional snow you will destroy those tires in no time. But for those who live 65 North and above, and again IMHO, the HKP 8 studded are just unbelievable. The HKP 5s are a great tire and back in the day (like 6 years ago) I would have muttered that the best all around tire was the Nokian WRG, which it was for SUVs. Alas it's been discontinued and the WRG2 is nowhere near what the WRG was. Different compound, asymmetrical thread and altogether not suited (IMHO) for deep cold/snow; I ended up using them as summer tires until a sidewall rip caused me to sell the other 3 off. BTW neither are Vredenstein which I tested on an RS7.

Whatever your choice, please don't scrimp on tires. The above were just my thoughts I thought I'd share on winter tires given all that has been penned on the subject. And no, I don't work for Nokian :)

siberian

[doug97gxe]

Blizzaks are rated at 130 mph

[ak_siberian]

I stand corrected, whether they're a better tire is of course... :)

As to whether anyone is actually going to be using those extra 12 miles per hour in winter...

siberian

[iBleedOrange]

When I was shopping last year, I did take a look at getting the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 as I needed something that wasn't studded. It was the speed rating that I decided not to get them. Also due to the fact where I am, winter here doesn't mean snow covered all season long. There is probably more cold dry days here vs snow days, so I ended up with the Blizzak's LM-32 which had a speed rating of V. If the R2 had a better speed rating than H, I definitely would have love to give those a try.

[ak_siberian]

Good point. I never shopped for the "casual" (if you pardon the expression) winter dweller so I'm not familiar with the mid range Nokians. Also where I live on top of a mountain I'm more inclined to do rally type driving than racing on a freeway so top speed has never been a deciding factor for me. What I can say is that driving my wife's V6 Touareg with Blizzaks' and driving my V8 with Hakka 5s over the same course, there's just a slight edge I would give (engine size etc aside) to the Nokian. If price were a driving factor between them, I would go with the Blizzaks'. As to protecting my 80k investment whilst enjoying a spirited drive, there's no way I would put anything other than a Hakka 8 tire on my RS5 for where I live.

siberian

[PedroRS5]

My last 2 cars were RWD (RX7 & G35) and winter tyres were a necessity in Illinois. I have had Blizzaks but now prefer X-ice. The RS5 performed flawlessly after our last 7 in. snow "dusting". Many cars, SUV's and trucks laid on the ditch or median for a couple of days on I-80...

[HazeMyth]

Many cars, SUV's and trucks laid on the ditch or median for a couple of days on I-80...

I find that's usually a driver error, not a car's fault. A lot of people here forget that going isn't the hard part in bad conditions, it's stopping. They get themselves in a pickle and have to leave their cars on the side of the road.

[ak_siberian]

x2

Which is why I said top speed has never really been a concern for me vs adherence/grip

siberian

[TomPaul10]

love the hakkas, just gotta be careful with studded when on pavement, unfortunately this is what put my fathers new S4 on its roof, I'm a fan of the blizzaks and hakkas

[ak_siberian]

Details on the skid?

siberian

[cts5]

My 2010 S5 lives in Connecticut and I'm very happy with the Pirelli Winter Sottozero. 95% of my winter is on cold pavement and 5% is in 1-5" of snow/ice/rain. These tires are good in the snow and don't give up everything in the dry - they are comfortable and happy for spirited driving and 85 mph cruising with a H/130mph rating.

[PedroRS5]

Agreed, there's this little pesky thing called momentum. It's important to know how to "catch" the skid and recover before learning to drive fast.

[RVJ]

My last 2 cars were RWD (RX7 & G35) and winter tyres were a necessity in Illinois. I have had Blizzaks but now prefer X-ice. The RS5 performed flawlessly after our last 7 in. snow "dusting". Many cars, SUV's and trucks laid on the ditch or median for a couple of days on I-80...

Ha! I remember that day last winter (I'm only a few miles from the 355 / 80 interchange) and I made it to work in my G35 with 3D's on it. Actually picked up one of my coworkers on the way in when I noticed him in a ditch. Dedicated snows make such a huge difference. When I picked up the S5 this summer I decided to give LM32's a try. Looking forward to seeing how AWD and snows are this year.


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[Powderhound]

I was very close to getting Hakkas but they are limited to 96 mph .. for that reason i'm looking to blizzaks .. i do quite a bit of highway driving and i don't trust myself to be under 90 mph all winter

Good point. I went for the Hakka R2 recently, after having used Blizzaks for many years. The lower speed rating on the Hakka does have me concerned, especially since staying under 90mph all winter is not an option as the roads are often dry and unpopulated. I'm hoping the Hakkas performance on snow will be impressive enough to offset the lower speed rating and dry road limitations that come with it.

[ak_siberian]

Are there no intermediate Nokian tires between the R2 and 8s that would work for your ride?

Also seems folks are placing a lot of emphasis on top speed (never a good idea in winter given hardly visible black ice, moose or other animals) vs grip power. Don't forget only a couple of inches of the tire are in contact with the road at any given moment. Thus adherence to me is more important than (on public roads) being able to floor it. If it's a normal/open road I would think 93mph should be sufficient in winter and for a closed road the 8s are "it".

Just my 2 cents from 65 North

siberian

[Runge]

only problem with the RS in the snow!

[Powderhound]

only problem with the RS in the snow!

Snowplow!

[ak_siberian]

x2

siberian

[Johnhanson]

FWIW, Hakka 8s are, if memory serves me correctly, rated at T. Meaning max speed of 118mph or 190kph. I doubt you'll find any Blizzaks' with higher rating.

There are other Nokian models which IMHO outperform similar tires.

Studded tires here must be off the car by mid May (yes, we've had snow in June) and unless you live in real northern latitudes (yes we'll let folks in Regina be part of us) it's probably not called for. If you drive mostly on dry pavement with occasional snow you will destroy those tires in no time. But for those who live 65 North and above, and again IMHO, the HKP 8 studded are just unbelievable. The HKP 5s are a great tire and back in the day (like 6 years ago) I would have muttered that the best all around tire was the Nokian WRG, which it was for SUVs. Alas it's been discontinued and the WRG2 is nowhere near what the WRG was. Different compound, asymmetrical thread and altogether not suited (IMHO) for deep cold/snow; I ended up using them as summer tires until a sidewall rip caused me to sell the other 3 off. BTW neither are Vredenstein which I tested on an RS7.

Whatever your choice, please don't scrimp on tires. The above were just my thoughts I thought I'd share on winter tires given all that has been penned on the subject. And no, I don't work for Nokian :)

siberian

Thank you for the gracious inclusion lol. 2 years ago I still had 4 feet of snow in my backyard in May. This year I was mowing my lawn up until last week. Canada is weird.

One thing we do have in our part of the country is dry winters. This is why I avoid studded tires. They wear themselves and the pavement out very quickly On dry winter pavement.

You will never have one universal "best" winter tire. For deep snow and black ice the studs will reign champion, while on our 90% dry (albeit very cold) roads the high performance tire is great and allows the car to still be driven as it should. I am willing to comprimise given the Audi will still plow through 2 feet of snow when it does dump - just not quite as well as if I had studs.



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[ak_siberian]

"The Audi will plow through 2 feet of snow..."????????

Seriously?

I doubt it will plow through 3 inches of snow :) You must have meant inches or were talking about a Touareg :)

siberian

[Johnhanson]

60cm

....okay maybe 40


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[Johnhanson]

I guess my point is that I drive on mostly clear flat roads in winter. Boring yes. But driving 180kph on a clear cold day is no more dangerous than on a warm day given the proper tire. Now if I lived in a place with mountains or 2-6 foot dumps are the norm rather than the exception? Clearly I would go studded.


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[ak_siberian]

Well 40cm is about 15 inches (a far cry from 2 feet) and I can see the front end decorated with snow and no doubt, as was my case, the wheel well entirely caked with snow as well as rotors. It's a shame we don't get the dynamic suspension as delivered to the ROW as I really could use an extra few inches of lift.

I entirely agree with you, and reason I mentioned it above, you should never scrimp on getting the right tire for your driving conditions. Studded on dry pavement as you mention is a recipe for early tire wear, road destruction and stability issues whether you have 4 wheel drive, AWD, quattro or whatever.

I live in an area and face weather (with temp swings of 40 degrees in 8 hours not uncommon) that most people will never face so I thought I would give my take for where I live and what choice I made. Clearly for occasional run up skiing or intermittent snow condition, studded is not warranted. To wit, my other two Touaregs are on non studded tires. Two years ago we had snow followed by rain and our mountain road turned to sheet of ice in a matter of hours. Coming down on the air suspension Treg I did 3 360s and nearly went over the edge. I was lucky I was able to slam into a berm on the mountain side (rather than go over) and managed by raising the vehicle, having disabled ESP (and copious use of a shovel) to get myself out - well aided by a tow rope to a tree also helped.

Being one of the road commissioners for our 11 miles of road (we do our own maintenance since we're way outside the city limits), I closed the road until we could plow the ice off. Over 90 homes were blocked in until I managed to get a grader and dump gravel (we never salt here). Given that experience I made sure I got the ultimate tire for the RS5. And though the Nokian 5s (and Blizzaks') are great winter tires, when you hit ice nothing short of chains or studs will help. Ergo the studs and to date, as I mentioned, where I slow down on the latter I accelerate on the Hakka 8s.

siberian

PS Siberian clearing snow on his driveway...

bobcat2_snowplow

January temps (gauge only went so low...):

temp

[dolphinaudi]

Well 40cm is about 15 inches (a far cry from 2 feet) and I can see the front end decorated with snow and no doubt, as was my case, the wheel well entirely caked with snow as well as rotors. It's a shame we don't get the dynamic suspension as delivered to the ROW as I really could use an extra few inches of lift.

I entirely agree with you, and reason I mentioned it above, you should never scrimp on getting the right tire for your driving conditions. Studded on dry pavement as you mention is a recipe for early tire wear, road destruction and stability issues whether you have 4 wheel drive, AWD, quattro or whatever.

I live in an area and face weather (with temp swings of 40 degrees in 8 hours not uncommon) that most people will never face so I thought I would give my take for where I live and what choice I made. Clearly for occasional run up skiing or intermittent snow condition, studded is not warranted. To wit, my other two Touaregs are on non studded tires. Two years ago we had snow followed by rain and our mountain road turned to sheet of ice in a matter of hours. Coming down on the air suspension Treg I did 3 360s and nearly went over the edge. I was lucky I was able to slam into a berm on the mountain side (rather than go over) and managed by raising the vehicle, having disabled ESP (and copious use of a shovel) to get myself out - well aided by a tow rope to a tree also helped.

Being one of the road commissioners for our 11 miles of road (we do our own maintenance since we're way outside the city limits), I closed the road until we could plow the ice off. Over 90 homes were blocked in until I managed to get a grader and dump gravel (we never salt here). Given that experience I made sure I got the ultimate tire for the RS5. And though the Nokian 5s (and Blizzaks') are great winter tires, when you hit ice nothing short of chains or studs will help. Ergo the studs and to date, as I mentioned, where I slow down on the latter I accelerate on the Hakka 8s.

siberian

PS Siberian clearing snow on his driveway...

bobcat2_snowplow

January temps (gauge only went so low...):

temp

Damn, I grew up in the prairies in Canada and that is worse than anything I've seen. lol. I kind of miss the winter driving though, kind of fun. Always been a proponent of proper winter tires too. The worst part of driving a nice car in the winter is someone sliding and smashing into you when they don't know how to drive.

[Johnhanson]

Gross.

It did take days to clean out the wheel wells. Also the brakes thaw the packed snow in the wheels and as it sits it melts and refereezes unevenly causing the most terrible unbalanced wheels.

While bombing through deep snow is fun as shit, it's definitely not what this car was built for. And enjoy -60. Or 80.


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[ak_siberian]

John, how bad was the surface rust on the rotors when it melted? Did you get uneven rust deposits between the rotors? Yeah, I hear ya, this car is definitely not for anything over 3 inches of snow.

The auroras make up for the cold, just have to make sure there's enough straw in the dog boxes (as soon as temps dip, one of my young males shacks up with one of the older females much to her chagrin...) :)

Guess Dolphinaudi is not in the market for studded tires down in Miami :)

siberian

[Johnhanson]

Surface rust is pretty uniform and would only happen if sitting more than a couple days. It's gone as soon as I leave the block of it does occur. They stay pretty clean both from regular driving as well as me washing the car religiously.

My car has about 30,000k and my brakes have zero issues. Probably in part because I'm always in manual and engine brake a lot.


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[ak_siberian]

Thanx John. I've got very severe surface rust on front left and rear right. After only about 24 hours the front is like a sunrise in Hawaii. I've logged a call to AoA and the local dealer since I've not only got initial brake squeal but I'm concerned that if the pads now need to remove all that crap, I'll be changing pads every 4k miles. Since the other two and especially the front passenger side has no rust at all, I think it's a manufacturer defect, but we'll see what they say. I've got about 950 miles on it since I picked it up at the end of July. Always parked in a heated garage etc.

Thanx again

siberian

[Johnhanson]

Absolutely. Not normal. We also salt the shit out of our roads and zero problems. I do have to clean up my hubs every time I swap my wheels as they get a bit of rust and stick but that's it.


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[ak_siberian]

Pic of my front driver's side just for the enjoyment of a Hawaii sunrise/sunset. This after 36 hours, never parked outside, barely 5 inches of snow, nothing caked... Never had a problem on other vehicles... ever. Yet some folks here think this is normal...

Driver Front

siberian