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Hello all...
Winter is here again and new winter tires are out...The awesome nokian hakkapalita 1 is being replaced by the hakka 2. There is still the studless super siped hakka Q, which I often hear called a ice tire. My tire guy is recomending the newish Gislaved frost 3, its studdable, like the hakka 1 + 2. They also have a studless design, the soft frost 2 I believe. Anyways, The hakka 2 incorporates features of the hakka 1 and the hakka Q it seems. And I've seen good reviews of the 2. The G frost 3 gets excellent reviews too it seems. My dealer tells me that it has reinforced sidewalls that are stiffer than the soft nokians...and so their is less sway and such in higher speed manuevers like passing and such. This appeals to me for the type of driving I'm doing now, lots of high speed winter interstate driving, in all weathers...over the mountains/snow belts, in the early morning before the snowplow....no excuses, gotta be on time. Anyways, I'm not willing to sacrifice snow and ice performance for the stability at speed. The Gislaved is a swedish company I believe, but the frost 3 is made in germany. Probably the reason for the sidewall design, the autobahn. They are similar in price to nokians I think, although I found a great deal on them recently, with mounting and balancing, 100$ cheaper than the nokians. Anyways, I'm just curious to what people have to say about snow tires, particularly nokians, and gislaveds and any other "serious" snow tire. And also particularly any experiences or ideas with the new designs, and the merits of the hakka Q versus the other hakkas. Have at it guys!
thanks

my only experience with hakkas have been at Thunderbird rally in British columbia, they did great and they are the most popular tires at the rally.

I've never heard of the Gislaved frost 3. The tread patterns look pretty beefy though! http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&l ... a=N&tab=wi

http://www.a-r.ru/new_site/year2001/n20 ... laveda.jpg

I also found this: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Gisla ... .fi&rnum=1

If you can translate it, you'll find the exact same discussion going on, and it looks like it's swedish.

I am wondering why you would need them. We get quite a bit of snow here in New England and I live on a big hill where the town has to send front end loaders to plow the street. I run all seasons tires and the ones I have now are pretty bald and have never had a problem. The front end of the cars plows thru the snow and still never gets stuck. I suggest using a high performance all-seasons (H-rated minimum) and be at ease with your AWD. 345K and never been stuck! Go Subaru!

Even mediocre snow tires are better than all-seasons in the snow. The deep tread just doesn't fill with snow as easily, and the flexible rubber empties out more easily.

You may have never gotten stuck in the situations you've been in, but you could get away with a lot more with snow tires. Really deep snow up really steep hills and whatnot... maintaining full control.

I would generally say you must live in southern new england, or towards the coast or something. Or you must just not drive that much...
Cause snow tires are key, AWD or not. I ended up with Nokian Hakka 1's...they are discontinued though, so in the future, who knows...The hakka 2 looks pretty good, like a hakka 1 and hakka q cross.
Micum

I'm currently using Nordman's which are the same as the old Nokian Hakkapilleata 10s. I like them alot. The excel in deeper snow and are really good on dirt too. I think one of the top guys in Canada's rally scene ran them all year in 2001 or 2002. There pretty inexpensive too. Otherwise I'd recommend the Hakka's over the others. Consider this. Hakka's are sold by BMW, Audi, and Porsche dealers often times. Gislaved is sold on Saabs. Not a determining factor by any means but...
The biggest difference between all season and snow tires is lateral grip. On snows when you get sideways in the snow you have much more control. I grew up in Wyoming where the snow never leaves the roads over the winter and have had experience with both types and I will never buy all-seasons again. That's the only thing that scares me driving in the snow. Is all the people on Colorado roadways not equipped to drive in snow but still driving and driving fast.

Grant wrote:Consider this. Hakka's are sold by BMW, Audi, and Porsche dealers often times. Gislaved is sold on Saabs.

That tells me that where it snows the most (sweden) they choose Gislaved. Then it tells me that (stereotypically) expensive, stuck-up, snobby, penny-pinching (porsche owners) people choose the Hakkas.

I'm not saying hakkas are BAD by any means, i've used 'em and like 'em. But maybe these gislaveds are pretty good.

JasonGrahn wrote: That tells me that where it snows the most (sweden) they choose Gislaved. Then it tells me that (stereotypically) expensive, stuck-up, snobby, penny-pinching (porsche owners) people choose the Hakkas.

I'm not saying hakkas are BAD by any means, i've used 'em and like 'em. But maybe these gislaveds are pretty good.

Can't say if Gislaveds are good or not personally. I think the tread pattern looks pretty good and the stud pattern is definitely different from anything I've seen before. I did look at them last year when I bought mine and can't remember what the deciding factor was. I think they were a little pricier as the only place I found in Denver at the time that was selling them was the Saab dealer, whereas we had a group buy through SCCA rallycross program on the Hakks. Nokian's are from Finland also where they get a good amount of snow too. The thing about Audi, Porsche, etc refers to what the dealers recommend and what I have seen. I also am on a mailing group for Colorado Audi owners and I see occasional stuff about Hakkas for snow tires. Whatever you pick you'll be better off than no snow tires. Pick the Gislaved because it's a cool name. Plus you'll have a story to tell everytime you meet a girl at the bar, "Yeah and I just got these new snow tires from Sweden called Gislaveds. You want to come out to my car and check them out." They'll be butter in your hands after that.

I've had snow tires, they are nice, if you can afford it. I live in colorado. I worked at a ski resort thats about 20 miles from my house last year. I had nothing but a nice new set of dunlop sp sport A2s. Never encountered any problems. My driveway is about half a mile long, steep, unplowed. I've made it up the drive with 6 inches untracked snow on it.
Towards the end of the winter they werent nearly as good in snow(about half the tread depth) but they still worked.

if you drive well in the snow, and you have 4wd, i think you can get by with a relatively new set of all seasons. Here in colorado, the roads dry off pretty quick, i'd say they are dry 90% of the time or more. perhaps i would feel differently if i lived somewhere futher north where it stays cold all winter.

Anyone know where to get a set? I'm willing to try them out on my Colt for ice racing and snow driving for test purposes (and the aforementioned girl factor ) That and I already am stoked on the Nokians but Swedish girls are hot. I'm half swedish too so I'd be supporting my heritage. My Irish side drinks Guiness so I guess my Swedish side can drive on Swedish tires!
In all reality the thing that is turning me onto these tires is their tread pattern and the location of the studs. Not symetrical (right down the outer blocks) like on most tires which leads me to believe maybe they did some research and found the best location on the tread blocks for studs to maximize both straight line and lateral grip, which sounds very appealing to my ice racing side!

I used the Nordfrost on the Monte Carlo Historic rally in 1999 and I loved them - maybe the most versatile and effective snow/ice tire I've ever used. And I've used a lot:

Hakka 1
Hakka 10
Hakka C2
Nokian NRW
Yoko Guardex 600
Yoko Guardex 720
Yoko WR26
Yoko A034
Michelin C5
Michelin G50
Pirelli Winter 210

When I lived in Sweden, everyone used Gislaveds - no question. hard to get here, though.

ACP
www.musketeerracing.com

You know, I think I have Gislaveds on my Legacy....

Frost 2's if I'm not mistaken, I'll check in a bit as I'm about to leave work and go out into the Minus 30 degree celcius cold to go home...

Anyway, I can't give you a good, or a bad comment on them as I've nothing to compare it too as I've only had the legacy for over 2 months.

By the looks of them when they were new, they look pretty agressive, and are studdable.

EDIT: Frost II confirmed

Here's a pic of the tread design

found more info here:
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/w ... f3_en.html

Found the site Jason posted and got even more excited because they make even skinnier tires than nokians. 155/70R13s instead of 165/70R13s. (Note: These are for my Colt). Since they are owned by Continental I am going to try a few smaller dealers in the southern suburbs of Denver that carry Continental to see if they can get them. Also if I remember correctly I think one of the Saab dealers in town carries them too.

Bad news. The only dealer that I called that was able to tell me anything said that Gislaveds are not being made anymore. I'm going to try some more on Monday but he said the factory in Sweden has been shut down and that Continental is discontinuing the brand.

ever tried blizzaks? I heard they were good, kinda pricey though.

they got some cheap snows at peerless called winterforce, they look like they would work well. i almost got a pair but opted to just get a pair of toyo all seasons. figured it would be cheaper in the long run.

those nordfrost 3s do look pretty sweet