Nokian WRG4 - Just Got New Rubber!

[alkfung]

Get your head out of the gutter, not about protection for nocturnal activities...... Talking about car shoes...

I had to replace my tires since my OE Contis were running about 3.5mm in the front. The rear was about 5.5 or so... Thinking about selling them since one of the rears was replaced about a month ago due to a sidewall puncture and the other still had really good tread left...both could be used as a spare on a fifth wheel or something...

In any case I was quite excited today as I went to America's Tires with about 21,000 miles and got the Nokian WRG4 installed today. And of course it started raining a little bit here in San Francisco as well. My intial thoughts are:

1) Very quiet. I think comparable to the OE Contis.
2) Very stout but also absorbs bumps pretty well. For those that are familiar with Cali roads you know what I'm talking about.... we pay all these taxes but we have no idea where the money goes...
3) Very grippy in wet. Haven't had a chance in dry yet!
4) Love the aggressive tread!
5) No experience in the snow yet but definitely has the SNOWFLAKE on it. Probably might get a chance next week as I'm heading up to Truckee again.. our driveway usually has a bit of snow on it up there...

So that is it for the first day. Tomorrow will get a chance to take it longer during my commute to work and back and we'll see. So far I love it as I was considering the Scorpion AS before. Here are some images but not so great since it is late and dark.

Oh BTW.... you may notice the lug covers are all off... I was irritated so went ahead and popped them off and reinserted them afterwards....

 

[alkfung]

Update after 2 days. Still great as they are pretty much now worked in.
- Road noise is very quiet, impressed about this and comparable to the OE Contis
- Not scientific but over the same road I ran Decibel X. OE CONTIs averaged 86.9 db and the Nokians averaged 85.6
- Energy-wise still comparable during my commute. OE Contis gave me about 450-480wh/mi since it is San Francisco and Marin (hills) on the way to work. Nokians came out about 468wh/mi on the same route.
- Feel was great, more luxurious to be honest in my opinion and took on bumps much better than the Contis. There does appear to be a very slight and softer feel to the turns but not a lot, just noticeable. I also have an BMW M3 with Potenzas and that car feels tight and crisp, but this is an SUV so I don't expect it to feel like a sports car. Also I'm not running the P100D wtih 22inchers!

 

[B2FiNiTY]

Never heard of this brand. Where are these tires made?

 

[alkfung]

Never heard of this brand. Where are these tires made?

They are not so well known in the US, but for those who have been looking for winter tires they have been looking at the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 and many loved it. They are based in Finland with a distribution center in Chicago (I think). Since they are popular in Europe especially in Nordic countries, they seem to have great experience designing this well-rounded wheel. Obviously it is not a miracle tire but biased towards the wintry and slippery conditions with a very good urban character.

Since I am in San Francisco but make frequent trips up to Truckee (Tahoe) I need a good balance on my 20s and decided to go with the WR G4 as they have been really well received and are rated for winter use (with the snowflake), not just an M+S. The dealer (America's Tires in Burlingame) also said they have been extremely popular with the Model X owners in Burlingame since they service a lot of Teslas and many of us in the Bay Area take our Xs up to the snow.

I was thinking about getting a separate set of 19s and mount the Hakkas for winter use, but saw the WR G4s and decided to see how this would go as a compromise and if I can bypass the second set for winter only. There has only been one time that I ever had to use chains with the OE Contis but that was really bad (we had to climb a relatively steep road to get to our house in Donner) and also the OE tires were OK, just had to be careful.

I've read about the Scorpion winters whereby 1/2 life the tread will not hold very well in the snow\ice.

 

[HugoBoss]

Nokian makes great tires. Their haka line of snow tires are top rated every year.
When we got our X and i wanted snow tires the hakas were not available. Tire shop recommended the wrg3. They are rated as an all weather tire, meaning they are also good in snow. We have gone two winter's with wrg3 and love them. Really good in the snow and it's not very noisy. And yes they are a bit softer, That's the snow tires aspect of it
When the stock Contis need replacing I will prob get nokians wrg whatever number they are on and get hakas for winter.
thumbs up for nokians

 

[StealthP3D]

Update after 2 days. Still great as they are pretty much now worked in.
- Road noise is very quiet, impressed about this and comparable to the OE Contis
- Not scientific but over the same road I ran Decibel X. OE CONTIs averaged 86.9 db and the Nokians averaged 85.6
- Energy-wise still comparable during my commute. OE Contis gave me about 450-480wh/mi since it is San Francisco and Marin (hills) on the way to work. Nokians came out about 468wh/mi on the same route.
- Feel was great, more luxurious to be honest in my opinion and took on bumps much better than the Contis. There does appear to be a very slight and softer feel to the turns but not a lot, just noticeable. I also have an BMW M3 with Potenzas and that car feels tight and crisp, but this is an SUV so I don't expect it to feel like a sports car. Also I'm not running the P100D wtih 22inchers!

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Those look nice but assuming you keep your cars a few years, I would pick up a second set of wheels to run some nice summer tires for the warmest 4 months of the year. That will increase your summer driving pleasure immensely. Yes I know it's an SUV but it's one of the best driving SUV's out there. And this will also preserve the rubber compound for your trips to the mountains so they still work well in the snow and ice next winter. Hot roads at speed can ruin the winter grip, especially on a heavy car. Those look like they will work very well in the snow but unfortunately, there is no all-purpose silver bullet, their snow/ice performance will degrade after a few extreme heat cycles.

If you decide to keep them on all summer, keep them aired up religiously to limit the extreme temperatures they experience. I wouldn't even let the cold PSI get down to the recommended PSI (summer or winter).

 

[alkfung]

Thanks StealthP3D. For the summer months I switch to my "old-school" ICE (BMW M3). Depending on how things go for these may get a second set. I haven't had enough of time on these guys.

 

[AWDtsla]

Update after 2 days. Still great as they are pretty much now worked in.
- Road noise is very quiet, impressed about this and comparable to the OE Contis
- Not scientific but over the same road I ran Decibel X. OE CONTIs averaged 86.9 db and the Nokians averaged 85.6
- Energy-wise still comparable during my commute. OE Contis gave me about 450-480wh/mi since it is San Francisco and Marin (hills) on the way to work. Nokians came out about 468wh/mi on the same route.
- Feel was great, more luxurious to be honest in my opinion and took on bumps much better than the Contis. There does appear to be a very slight and softer feel to the turns but not a lot, just noticeable. I also have an BMW M3 with Potenzas and that car feels tight and crisp, but this is an SUV so I don't expect it to feel like a sports car. Also I'm not running the P100D wtih 22inchers!

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Any range updates? Tesla's OEM Pirelli 240 Sottozero's are pigs compared to the MXM4's

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Nokians seem to be very under rated outside of Finland. They're a good tyre at a good price.

One of their big advantages, apart from the performance on snow and ice is that they cope with standing water very well, so if you live in an area where you get a lot of rain they will help prevent aquaplaning. That goes for their summer tyres as well as the winter/all season tyres.

 

[StealthP3D]

Any range updates? Tesla's OEM Pirelli 240 Sottozero's are pigs compared to the MXM4's

I like the MXM4's in the cold/wet also. But I found the Sottozero II's to be comparable to them in terms of corner grip and steering response until it warmed up. Then neither one did that great but the MXM4's didn't degrade as fast as the winter Pirelli's (but that's to be expected of a winter tire).

 

[ecarfan]

Energy-wise still comparable during my commute. OE Contis gave me about 450-480wh/mi since it is San Francisco and Marin (hills) on the way to work. Nokians came out about 468wh/mi on the same route

Thanks for your report on the Nokians and for the wH/mi numbers. I am very familiar with the SF and Marin area as I often work there, but am somewhat surprised at your average energy usage for your commute. Yes, you must be going up and down a lot!

I would pick up a second set of wheels to run some nice summer tires for the warmest 4 months of the year. That will increase your summer driving pleasure immensely. Yes I know it's an SUV but it's one of the best driving SUV's out there. And this will also preserve the rubber compound for your trips to the mountains so they still work well in the snow and ice next winter. Hot roads at speed can ruin the winter grip, especially on a heavy car.

That would be my concern as well about using the Nokians year-round.

 

[goneskiian]

Nice. Thanks for the review. Just took my WRG3 SUV's off after about 2.5 years of year round use and some long road trips. Was hoping to nurse them through this summer but they're too far gone. Will very likely get these as replacements. Pretty much the perfect tire for here in the Seattle area.

They're also marked as "low rolling resistance" tires and defintely improved my range. Just put my original 22's with Pirelli's on and did a short weekend road trip. My nav range estimate would drop close to 15% over the course of an hour of driving. Meant I had to do an extra stop halfway through a 3 hour drive. Grrrr.

 

[goneskiian]

Oh, just noticed they look to be both assymetric and directional. Bummer. I was able to swap my G3's across the axle every few thousand miles or so to maximize their life.

 

[AWDtsla]

They're also marked as "low rolling resistance" tires and defintely improved my range. Just put my original 22's with Pirelli's on and did a short weekend road trip. My nav range estimate would drop close to 15% over the course of an hour of driving. Meant I had to do an extra stop halfway through a 3 hour drive. Grrrr.

anyone know if the non-SUV ones are marked as LRR too?

 

[goneskiian]

anyone know if the non-SUV ones are marked as LRR too?

I don't see why it wouldn't be. It's the same tire just for passenger cars and they recommend it for electrics and hybrids.

Nokian WR G4 - All-Weather tires / Nokian Tires

 

[yyzbig6]

I don't see why it wouldn't be. It's the same tire just for passenger cars and they recommend it for electrics and hybrids.

Nokian WR G4 - All-Weather tires / Nokian Tires

Just wanted to add - I've been using the 18 inch ones on the M3 since November. It was awesome in the Toronto winter and now that it is warming up, it is still awesome. Noise is low. Grip has been nice since the beginning. And I'm impressed with the efficiency - I'm getting sub 150Wh/km in 20 deg. C (241Wh/mile @ 68F) -- better than the rated range.

They really need to promote this tire better in N. America.

 

[TLej]

I have the WR G3s on my S, it's about the 6th set of Nokians I've had on various cars, dating back to 2002 with the original WRs. Love these tires, but they do tend to get noisy as they wear. Mine have about 30,000km on them now and one tire is so loud I thought I had a wheel bearing going bad. I figure I'll get one more winter out of them, and possibly next summer as well. I miss the way the OEM Michelins handled in the summer, these definitely don't have the same summer grip, but as others have noted they are really good in the rain in addition to the snow.

 

[AWDtsla]

Just wanted to add - I've been using the 18 inch ones on the M3 since November. It was awesome in the Toronto winter and now that it is warming up, it is still awesome. Noise is low. Grip has been nice since the beginning. And I'm impressed with the efficiency - I'm getting sub 150Wh/km in 20 deg. C (241Wh/mile @ 68F) -- better than the rated range.

They really need to promote this tire better in N. America.

Always loved the Nokians, only lost them when I decided to trust Tesla with their assembled winter tire package. Horrible snow and slush traction, noisy, and massive consumption increase.

Will have to assembly a set of the WRG4's for 2020.

 

[goneskiian]

Nokian has a bit of a niche following for sure. I learned about them from the Subaru owners forums I frequented with my last car. They're definitely popular here in the PNW!

The G3's I had got really noisy close to their end. It's been really nice not hearing that anymore. I wonder if there are any more of those available.

 

[Ross88]

Would love to get some feedback on how they hold up in hot summers? I'm considering getting them for all year driving in NY instead of winters and summers/all seasons.