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Three sets Posted by Saana88 [Email]  (#207)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Saana88) on Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:23:47
In Reply to: Have them, OhSaabIAOh, Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:37:13 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
These have quickly become the summer tire of choice in my family. Maybe it's because the local Nokian dealer gave us a good deal on them.
The i3 is a summer tire, not to be confused with their Hakkapeliita winter tires. Yes, yes, it's made in China but with (apparently) tight quality control and oversight required to meet Nokian's specifications.
First the fleet- Dad has them on a 1994 Volvo 960 wagon. 200 horsepower, rear drive, 195/65R15 with the extra load capacity. These worked just fine in anything from driving in the rain to hauling five people and their luggage and a trailer and their bikes from New York to North Carolina in the end of May. They're competent tires. With a treadwear rating of 620, I'm amazed they grip as well as they do. At least with a lot of tread, they tend to understeer but just a little and when you start to push them. Under normal driving they're just fine, especially when a Greyhound bus decides to make its own hole in 70 mile per hour traffic in front of us with the trailer. I was driving. Kicking in the ABS with a trailer is not usually what you want to do, but the car and the tires were just fine- straight, predictable, almost composed over a 70-20 slowdown in a big hurry. Mom has them on her '99 S70M (yes, they make those with a clutch). That car is front drive and similar (physically) to many Saabs- around 2900 pounds and 60/40 weight balance. Again, they'll understeer just a tad, but given how heavy the car is, they do a good to great job of holding in there. Finally, I have them on my '92 900S convertible. I replaced tires with a treadwear rating of 280 with these at 620. Considering that these are going to last 50-60k and the predecessors (Gislaved Speed 506) had a much softer compound, I'm very impressed with their level of grip. The convertible is a little mushy and flexible around curves, but they stick despite the long life. (She's a work in progress with the original S suspension intact for the time being.) With the top down, I noticed them being a few decibels quieter than the Gizzies they replaced (the Speeds are also summer tires). It's nothing incredible, but it is definitely there. Most importantly, they brake well on dry pavement and predictably on wet pavement. They're not performance tires, but they are better than the Coopers my folks used before. Even though papa likes to exploit his horsepower from time to time, they are wearing very evenly, a typical trait of tires with harder compounds, but they don't have the handling tradeoffs of others we've seen.
More or less, we like them. They handle well, are fairly quiet, give good grip and mileage, wear slowly and evenly, and break away in a controlled fashion when pushed to their handling limits. The place of manufacture should not matter if the overlord (the company that designs the tire) pays attention and refuses to compromise on quality and quality control issues, as it appears that Nokian has. Other companies get in trouble when they try to do without a tread ply here or a belt there but the i3s are fine. Every time we stopped to switch drivers on the trip we felt the tires on the wagon as they were using up a good portion of their load capacities, and they were never more than five degrees warmer than the ambient temperature after a day-long drive.
In short- good tires.
, Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:17:42, Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:23:47 <-- Viewing This Message
, Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:30:00, Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:36:44, Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:21:55
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