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Nokian WR G3 Review

10K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  AKdonkey 
#1 · (Edited)
Rationale

I got these for winter driving and intend to swap these for all-season tires in spring time. Most of my driving is around the Denver area but I like to go up to the mountains, especially when the weather is (considered to be) bad.

Even though I'd like a dedicated snow/winter/ice tire, I realise that I'll be driving on dry roads for the most of the time. I'd still like to have something more capable in the snow and ice when driving up to the mountains. I'd also like to have a tire that is capable across a greater temperature range, allowing for more lead in and out of the winter season.

First 2000 miles

Got these early November. Initially, temperatures would range between 45 and 70 F with no precipitation.

  • Tires are comfortable on dry pavement at both city and highway speeds.
We recently had some significant snow fall and very cold temperatures which has provided for more insight into winter handling.

  • Tires grip well in fresh and a combination of fresh and frozen snow when moving forward or braking in a straight line.
  • Tires pull up nicely on ice but have a bit of trouble braking on ice at which time the ABS can be noticed while the tires are slipping.
  • Strong cornering on ice or else snow in the process of freezing is when the tires may loose grip. I'm capable of throwing the rear part of the vehicle out of the corner. This occurs when making 90 degree turns (too fast) or else when going too fast through a hair-pin curve. I've also managed to loose grip when going through a moderate curve at too high a speed. The rear part of the vehicle is the first to break out of the curve (at which point things get interesting due to lack of VDC on my vehicle, but that's a different story).
Up until now, I'm very happy with these tires as they conform to (most of) my expectations. I like the higher speed rating as compared to the Hakka and other (dedicated) snow tires. I can comfortably drive at highway speeds, with or without snow. The tires don't perform as good as I would expect of a dedicated snow tire when cornering on snow (or ice), but still retain good traction and grip when one is considerate of the road conditions. If I'm not pushing things to the limit, the behaviour is very predictable.

Videos

Here's some videos I shot, ordered from most to least recent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LbFEnCeGtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdmdeV3vkkE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16xOdndB2mE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3v6pJmtd2o (amateur brake testing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVQfNLagtSI

Specs

Dimensions: 205/70R15 on 15" steel rims.
Speed rating: 100H (XL)

The tread is just over 8mm when I got these.
 
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#2 ·
I look forward to your longer review as you get more miles on the tires.

Are these all year or winter only tires for you?
 
#5 ·
2000 to 8000 miles

After 8000 miles of driving since November 2013, I just had the tires rotated (front to back). Front tires had worn from 8 to 7mm and the rear tires were just under 8mm.

I've thus been driving these through the summer with no complaints. They're not noisy nor are they squishy. They're fine at highway speeds (and above). No issues driving through the rain.
 
#6 ·
I want to add this in case it helps. I just swapped out the Contis for G3 SUVs at 2500 miles.

I finally had ****ing enough of the lousy OEM Conti GX's and took my 14 OB 3.6L to the local chain for a set of Nokian WRG3 SUV in 225/60-17 mounted. In the four months I've owned this car I've never been happy with the on-center feel on rural two lane roads, especially with a few undulations tossed in. The car always seemed to want to deflect or "wander" in either direction. I suspected the suspension settings (e.g. Toe) but knew I hated the way the OEM tires rode anyway. Too much "boing" in overinflated tires to compensate for the lousy steering. I thought "I've got to try the G3s before I look into trading or otherwise not liking this seeming-unstable car".

Nokian WRG3 SUV tires are H-rated (130mph) tires with a higher load rating (103 vs 99) than the OEM Contis. They are also rated A for temperature and A for traction. I believe the higher speed and load ratings give the tires a stiffer sidewall, which should provide better steering response at perhaps a somewhat stiffer / busier ride.

Initial impressions:
(+) ahhhh! Seriously, the car now tracks straight and true even on undulating rural roads. No ****ing wandering, and a single hand on the wheel is all that is needed. The steering response is significantly better, and the car seems to handle curves as well if maybe better than the OEM Contis. The Outback now handles like my last 2 Foresters: Normal.

(-) These do have a stiffer sidewall, so I feel a bit more of the road now. It's not obnoxious at all, but is noticeable. YMMV. I had my Contis inflated to 34psi all around to try to make them more stable. The Nokians might also be a tiny bit louder than the OEM Contis. It's hard to tell, as it began raining while the tires were swapped. Nokians are very heavily siped tires, and sipes are known to increase the "whine" of tires when wet.

I was thinking of going to 18" wheels and tires to deal with the handling / stability issues. No need now.

I will update this once we have had some serious snow.


Disclaimer: I'm a bit of a Nokian nut. I've had Nokian WRs (2x), WR G2s (1x) on Foresters before. They have always improved the winter performance of the cars with a minimal reduction in handling and steering response compared to performance-oriented all season H rated tires. They are not high performance tires like the Pilot Sport A/S tires I had on our Audi, but they are much better in snow. Those Pilot Sport A/S tires are marginal all season tires, let alone winter tires. My only gripe with Nokians (which Geolanders also shared) was the marked increase in noise as they reached the end of life. Then again most tires seem to also exhibit this issue. I also had Yokohama YK520s for a couple of years, and while their summer handling was superior to any of the above, their winter performance lagged.


YMMV
 
#7 ·
Add: 2 days later on dry pavement.

These tires are somewhat / a bit noisier than the OEM Contis on dry pavement. It's mostly noticeable when braking to a stop below 20mph. I attribute this to the somewhat chunkier tread block design and the fact that I'm braking. When cruising at highway speeds the difference is there but not objectionable. It's perhaps less than I've noticed with the G2's but I can't say for sure.

Not obnoxious at all, but not as quiet as the OEM tires.
 
#9 ·
I have used the original WR, The W2 but not the W3. So I can 'report' as a long-term user.

I have said this before about the Nokian WR-series. The imbedded silica which 'reveals' new biding edges is a GREAT technology which really improves traction on ice. The "All Weather" rating makes them very good in all 5 Vermont seasons.

HOWEVER: As the WR wear-down, they become UNBEARABLY NOISY. Riding in the back seat sounded like a freight-train rumbling. This noise starts at about 2/3 word down and gets louder from there.

Due to the noise, we replaced our WR long before they were worn out.

In the end, one must consider their tolerance for LOUD NOISE from their tires when considering NOKIAN WR tires
 
#10 ·
Update: I have a couple of thousand miles on the G3s and we have had a couple of snows and icings.

Snow: We had 5" of snow which was quickly cleared by the highway dept. But the winds picked up and we had 2-3 drifts across the highways. So far I would say these tires as equivalent to the G2s. The tires do not grip the road quite as well in the dry as the original Contis. I have a 3.6, and I can now break one or two tires loose while flooring it away from a turn, resulting in a little chirp. Perhaps it's the result of larger tread blocks and larger grooves between the blocks? On wet pavement they feel equivalent to the Contis. Here are a couple of things I've noticed about these:

1. They are a little noisier already than the Contis. The noise level is about the same as the G2s, so I expect them to get noisy as they wear out.

2. They "sing" on snow. On dry pavement they are OK, but when you cross a 2-3" drifted signet they emit a little bit of a higher pitched "whirr" noise. Nothing else, just a tone. And they grip perfectly fine.

Today we had lots of light flurries with temps around 30F and falling. Iced overpasses and dozens of spinouts everywhere. Lots of stopped traffic/etc. We took lots of back roads to avoid the worst of the congestion. I never felt s a loss of traction or any issues on iced overpasses.

This isn't much of an update, but I thought I'd toss in the note about the singing on snow. Odd.
 
#11 ·
I had to retire my Nokians due to excessive wear on the front driver's side tire which is due to a) play in several parts connecting with the knuckle and b) not having rotated the tires in the last 12000 miles.



I got 25000 miles out of them and could have got a bit more if I had rotated more often. Drove them for 2 winters and one summer. The rear tires still show 4 mm of tread together with the snow symbol.





I never had issues with noise, but the Michelin Primacies I now have are more quiet. I initially thought the Primacies were making noise much like the sound of an electric car but then noticed the noise was coming from the drive/propeller shaft underneath the car which I had never previously noticed.

I had the steering rack and tie rods, all 4 struts, the front strut mounts, the front brake rotors (which were probably warped), all 4 brake pads and the rear bushings on the front control arms replaced. Also had all fluids replaced/flushed, including differential fluids. After an alignment, the ride is now smooth as silk. I also used to get incredible vibrations when braking, especially at high speeds, even more so when travelling down hill. That's now gone. The vibrations could have been due to warped rotors, but I've even experienced that when the rotors were replaced just after I bought the car (some 3 years ago). From the looks of the bushing, that could well have been the cause of the vibration issue while braking but with all the replacements, it's hard to say.



Remarkably, there's still some(what minor) vibration across all speeds but mostly at around 55-65 mph. The mechanic noticed that the transmission mount had cracked on both sides. I'll probably get this replaced soon.

At about 21000 miles I had a puncture while coming down the mountain (around Georgetown CO). I noticed a slapping sound and soon after was hearing air escaping (while highway driving). Drove all the way down to Denver, did some shopping then drove to Discount tire where they fixed it for free. They inflated the tires to spec which was 4 or 5 psi lower than what the tires were at. That noticeably increased traction on snow. As an aside, DT followed the tire inflation pressure according to spec, but that spec applies to 225/60R16 tires, while I was driving 205/70R15. The Subaru manual actually states that 205/70R15 should be inflated somewhat higher than the stock tires. I asked DT for the piece that punctured the tire and now have this souvenir:



I've been pleased with these tires. The issues I've had when (somewhat fast) turning on snow could well have been due to the play in practically all the parts connecting to the wheels. The Michelins I now have are on my 16" wheels (225/60R16) and I'll be getting more snow-like tires for the 15" wheels next winter. I'd get the WRG3 again but now that I have a set of non-winter tires I'm considering dedicated snow tires (maybe Hakka R2).
 

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#12 ·
I have the WRG3 for my summer tire because we get some snowfall sometimes before or after we get our winter tires on/off. They work extremely well in rain and light snow. The hard pack and ice they do not corner like a true winter tire, but that is expected. I have about 5,000 miles on them not loud at all. Ill chime in as I get more miles from them.
 
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