sauceman

Cliff Notes: Hooray for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 with studs!

Hey folks, as some of you veterans may remember, I get to drive my TSX around a lot for work. Things have slowed down in the past few years because I was transferring a lot of the mileage to the Smart.

But lately my bosses have asked me to start working in Northern Ontario in addition to Northern Quebec. Now the distances in North On is on a whole other scale.

I've stated in a previous thread (read here: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=Nokian) I wrote on the WRs that I wanted to try the Hakka 2 studded. I actually bought the all-new Hakka 5 studded, and what better place than North On. on a week like this week to fully test their performance range! (For you T.O. folks who wonder what I'm talking about, in Timmins and north, the road conditions were a near disaster from Wednesday on and still are, as I've freshly arrived from there this morning and got to drive my 4500+ km trip in all that mess)

BTW, I now have the WRs mounted as true all season tires on the 17" rims and as expected they simply completely outperform the OEM Michelins in every single aspects. This is the most ideal setup for my needs, bar none.

So, back to the Hakka 5's with studs:

I've met the following conditions:

Dry pavement and wet pavement: Both the same impression. Not the best suited for these conditions. The sidewalls are softer despite the 40PSI setup, and the studs made it that on a few passes, at 140kph in 4th gear I had the VSA start working because I actually started spinning!! But let me tell you that it was the only area where I wasn't impressed.

Wet with curling-grade ice: This is the worst ice conditions you can find on the road. Sometimes the sheer camber of the road will be enough to deviate you in the ditch. But not with the Hakka's! when I started driving on that surface (was treated to about 80km of it) I immediately felt that ice is the Hakkas' specialty. I have never felt confident driving that specific surface before last week. I was simply amazed at the level of grip and traction offered.

Blue Ice: Here again, the Nokians were more than apt. Business as usual for the Studded Hakka 5's.

Deep, heavy and wet snow: While these conditions are trying for any tires because they can just pull your car around because of the weight of the snow relatively to the speed you travel and the force needed for the tires to dig down to the harder surface, I found the Hakkas to have just as much bite as the best other tires I got to drive in these conditions. But there is still no secret: Slow down!! Especially when driving over snow drifts or snow that has been "contaminated" by salt. I've seen half a dozen tractor-trailer trucks in the ditch this week in such conditions. No matter what your weight, you are a passenger only if you drive too fast.

For the prudent driver, the Hakkas will let you have the edge in traction (when comparing with another open-diff'd FWD car)

Light snow over blue ice: I got to drive for about 1200km of that yesterday and last night while driving back from Hearst. The nails are really efficient here, and the level of bite and stability inspires such confidence! Not only am I back home safe, but that's even with less than a half hour late on schedule over a 1200km distance!

Before I call it a day with this thread, I have to say that the Hakka 5's with studs mounted on 16" steelies have cost me around 200$ each mounted + taxes. Addding that to the other safety upgrades (replaced my old sealed beams for new ones) cost me over $2k. But with the mix we've had this week up north on the roads, these upgrades have already paid for themselves in full.

The Hakka 5's are not for everyone who reads here. But if you're going to be driving in serious winter conditions, it will be a very good call if you go with the Hakka 5 studded tires.

To me, they now rank on top of the "food chain" of the best performing winter tires I've tried over time. Kudos.

curls

Holy crap... sauceman is back!!!

ON topic, my wifes' car has Nokian Hakka 1's and those, although 4 years old now, are amazing tires. Traction is impeccable although they are a bit noisy on bare roads. Nokian makes really, really good winter tires.

sauceman

Yeah, after what I drove through this week, I just had to check in and report.

Nice seeing you still here Eric!

jlukja

sauceman

Hehehe.. Unbelievable, eh?

mg7726

welcome back!

can't afford hakka's but still loving my winters, they work wonders in the fluffy stuff.

chuson

Driving up North does need some serious stud tires.

I went to Mont-Tremblant during the New Year Eve, and when I came back to Toronto on Jan 1st, it was terrible. I've seen more than 25-30 cars flipped or fall to the side of the hwy 401. What amazed me was a Corolla driving @ 80km/h in front of me, not slow not fast, start to swing left and right (I'm guessing the heavy wet snow is pulling), and all of a sudden, it just swing 360 and side swap to the right side on a big pile of snow, and flipped. I wasn't driving my car, and the car wasn't equipped w/ winter tires either, but I'm glad I got home safely and within time schedule.

I will give Nokian tires a try when my Viking Snowtech blad, for now I'm still impressed w/ the cheap tires in poor weather condition.

loulinjai

i wonder when sauceman will hit half a million km's.
what kinda maintaince do you have to perform on a tsx with that mileage? and how is everything running?

sauceman

Just the regular schedule. The car's actually been pretty reliable for the last 150,000km, after the early production problems have been solved.

At this rate, 1/2 mil should be in 4-5 years still.

sauceman

Yep, I remember that day was pretty bad. Just stopping at lights and the car was getting snowed up to the point where I should have had to get out and brush it away.

curls

Saucman, did you ever get any engine problems (burning oil) fixed? I take it you remember my stories w/ Camco acura, etc... and how they finally fixed the problem?

sauceman

Yeah, I remember they finally got you a whole new block altogether.

I actually didn't do anything about it, but oil consumption has stabilized to about a pint per 1000 - 1500km depending on how I drive the car.

Every now and then I give the engine a good, long hard drive to redline to make sure I blow out as much soot as possible from the cat and the exhaust line.

So far, no further issues.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Their a bit pricey but i love my nokian wr.

i got 150 a piece, but they lasted a good mileage range about 3 winters so rough 45000 miles.
(buffalo, ny)

Only problem is if you get a blowout and flat its hard to find a replacement.