Actually, I haven’t put too many miles on the R3’s yet and swapped back over to the stock wheels and tires. The temps rose above 20 degrees C or 70F around here this past week and will continue with warm and dry weather for the next couple of weeks.
I’ve used Hankook iPikes, Blizzaks, Pirelli Sottozeroes, Pirelli Scorpion winter ice, and a slew of Nokians before.
Had iPikes and Blizzaks on my Toyota truck and the iPikes slipped around while the Blizzaks gripped really well. The Blizzaks were great, but trade-off in wearing out very fast for a 6000 lb truck. I have Goodyear Duratracs with M&S rating but run Nokian Hakka 8 non-studded for winter months for safely transporting my family to the ski hills on nasty days the Teslas stay in the garage.
Both Pirellis I’ve tried are definitely a performance oriented winter tire. Good for a few inches of snow and slush, but not too great on ice. Wear rate is average or okay and tend to last about 20000km on my Tesla Model S.
The Nokians have all lasted longer than the Blizzaks and are just as grippy or grippier. The tread sipes on the Blizzaks and Nokians are definitely wider and deeper than the Michelin XIce3’s. When you’re looking for a good winter tire, you want lots of snow sticking into these sipes.
It sounds counter-intuitive by wanting snow to stick on your tires, but think about making a snowball. Snow sticks and grips well with snow and when there is snow in the tread it sticks to the snow on the ground to get traction.
I’m sure the Michelins are great tires, but I love using Nokians and have had excellent results traveling the mountain passes and local snow/ice storms too.
I’ve used Hankook iPikes, Blizzaks, Pirelli Sottozeroes, Pirelli Scorpion winter ice, and a slew of Nokians before.
Had iPikes and Blizzaks on my Toyota truck and the iPikes slipped around while the Blizzaks gripped really well. The Blizzaks were great, but trade-off in wearing out very fast for a 6000 lb truck. I have Goodyear Duratracs with M&S rating but run Nokian Hakka 8 non-studded for winter months for safely transporting my family to the ski hills on nasty days the Teslas stay in the garage.
Both Pirellis I’ve tried are definitely a performance oriented winter tire. Good for a few inches of snow and slush, but not too great on ice. Wear rate is average or okay and tend to last about 20000km on my Tesla Model S.
The Nokians have all lasted longer than the Blizzaks and are just as grippy or grippier. The tread sipes on the Blizzaks and Nokians are definitely wider and deeper than the Michelin XIce3’s. When you’re looking for a good winter tire, you want lots of snow sticking into these sipes.
It sounds counter-intuitive by wanting snow to stick on your tires, but think about making a snowball. Snow sticks and grips well with snow and when there is snow in the tread it sticks to the snow on the ground to get traction.
I’m sure the Michelins are great tires, but I love using Nokians and have had excellent results traveling the mountain passes and local snow/ice storms too.
Last edited:
