Tires (tyres!) are a product where I believe you truly are getting what you pay for. (Assuming you are buying from a reputable retailer) thanks for a detailed report and observations. A friend recommended Michelin Cross Climate 2s for my Subaru - we’re both in MI and Southern ON and these have been great.
I love how quickly the Bolt can come to a stop. It saved me from a bear head on collision as someone turned left into my lane from opposing traffic. I was shaken because I've been in that position before and it led to pretty bad collisions.
Your front tire/tyre pressure may be slightly high for the load in that position. I don't know the weight balance and standard recommended pressures of your Bolt, but guess it is slightly lighter in the front (which would warrant lower pressure there). Try 1/2 to 1 PSI lower and monitor how this affects their performance and wear.
I am glad to hear about the noise - or relative lack thereof - of these tires. The previous gen (I think) were *quite* loud; on a Subaru sedan that my former boss had - I mean louder than the worst old-school snow tires were, back in the day.
Thanks for the very informative video. In Switzerland we have a rule that says: once temperature drops below 7°C (44.6F) the summer tires should be exchanged for winter tires. Why? Because the rubber used for the tires have different characteristics in relation to temperature. Summer tires become too hard below 7°C and winter tires become too soft above 7°C. How do those Nokian handle the temperature range?
Curious to see how they do in actual winter weather. The biggest complaint that I have about all of the all-weather tires out there right now is that they're just as useless on ice as a summer tire. Ice is one of the biggest concerns that we have in the PNW, not just snow, because almost any time it snows, it thaws slightly during the day and re-freezes at night. Even studdless winter tires struggle with this, but they do exponentially better than any all season or all weather tire. Even the Michelins which are praised for doing well on snow (for an all weather tire) are useless on ice and terrible for efficiency. Personally, I'm not willing to sacrifice performance in the summer and the winter by getting a "jack of all trades, master of none" tires, so these probably aren't for me, but I'll still be curious to be proven wrong.
You are absolutely right. The best of the winter non-studded tires that are competent on ICE are Michelin X-Ice Snow and Nokian Hakka R5. They have not only 3PMSF symbol, but Ice Grip symbol on them. They are rated for ice traction and are more expensive. Unfortunately, their dry/wet grip and stopping power is not very good.
I have 95 load range Nokian Ones on my Bolt euv (on forged oem Cruze eco wheels, which I highly recommend for a Bolt), as the stock Michels were too fragile for the roads where I live. My plan this fall is to get 205/65x15" wrg5s and put them on 15" alu Sonic wheels for winters, as I'm on the Canadian Pacific northwest coast, and the wrg5s should stay in good shape, not being used in the summer.
Did you have any trouble convincing the tire shop to rotate the tires even though the front tires had nominally worn a bit more than the rear? Since you didn't comment on this, maybe this isn't a thing in your neck of the woods. But further north in the Seattle suburbs, my experience has been that all of the tire shops (Discount Tire, Costco tire center, Les Schwab, etc.) _refuse_ to rotate the tires if the rear tires have more tread than the front. I've run into this with three different vehicles: two FWD (one EV and one ICE), and one RWD. This ridiculous policy is "justified" by a skid pad test Michelin did some years ago that demonstrated a car is more likely to spin out under wet conditions and severe yaw (i.e. on a skid pad) if the front tires have more tread. It's apparently some kind of CYA move by these big chains, they are scared some customer will spin out and then blame them. It makes sense from a physics point of view, since the car can more easily swap ends if the rear has less traction, but of course in regular day to day driving this really isn't actually that big of a risk and the policy ignores all the other benefits of regular tire rotation, including the fact that after being rotated, the front tires will begin to match the rear in wear before too long anyway.
I'm guessing those are Nokian's version of the Bridgestone Weatherpeak tires I have on my 2013 Chevy Volt, which are All-Weather and are rated for Severe Snow Service. I get my tires at the local Discount Tire as well, and I got the warranty, which was a good thing since last weekend I suddenly got a Low Tire Pressure Warning on my left rear tire. I was able to put air in and get it to Discount Tire, where they discovered that there was a screw in it and fixed it for free. I live in Saint Cloud Minnesota so they have actual winters here but my car has ABS, Traction Control and Stabilitrak so that plus the tires means no worry.
The WRG4 weren't as performant as even a cheap summer but a good compromise for most people. Many can't be bothered to do a change over, or even understand an all WEATHER vs an all season. My MINI SE could absolutely break them loose, the sidewall did flex, noticeably the noise and range were worse - but all of that was acceptable for the utility that they provide. Set and forget.
What counts with these types of tyres is the winter certification not what you call them. The expressions "all weather" and "all season" are getting increasingly mixed up , particulary Europe vs. NA. US Allweather tyres were typically more a 3 season tyre with not much snow/ice grip and European All season tyres typically have the M&S/3peaks/snowflake symbol to show had sufficient winter performance to be used where winter tyres were legally required. 3 season tyres just weren't a thing this side of the pond.
I'm not sure if you are in EU or NA, but here in Canada anyway, it's the other way around. All-weather tires have the 3Peak Snowflake symbol in addition to the M&S marking. *All-season* tires only have the M&S rating. I agree that it is confusing. It would be better if All-seasons were just called 3-Seasons now and All-Weather would be called 4-Season. I have been driving Nokian WRG4 on a Kia Forte for 50,000km through Calgary winters with no problem. Tread depth is now down to probably about 4/32", so I don't know if I want to try to get through another winter with that shallow a tread depth. And the treadwear warranty only kicks in at 2/32" so I won't be able to claim that (rated at 105,000km), but I'm pretty sure those warranties will never be honoured anway as they require even wear across the tire and what tire won't have at least a 1mm variation across. I never got more than 60,000km a set of tires so I don't know how they calculate those tread lifes. Anyway, tread life aside, I've been happy with the WRG4 winter performance. Used to run Continental Tru-Contact all-seasons through the winter and I thought those were good until I tried the Nokians. The Nokian's winter grip is definitely a level above for both braking and acceleration. Tempted to try CrossClimate 2 for the next set, but almost impossible to find in stock around here. I'd like to see some winter reviews on the WRG5 before I buy, but given the constant improvement over the generations, probably will just go for it.
Asymmetric tires with an outside side and an inside side usually wouldn’t have a directional looking tread but one side of these Nokian Remedies look similar to the Michelin CrossClimate. They look like they belong on the right hand side of the car and mirror images of them would belong on the left. I’m new to the 2020 Bolt and I’m not digging the 4 year old original energy savers.
Oops I stand corrected. In Nikki’s video introducing these tires four months previous I didn’t notice the quick edit around 6:08. The summer tread is on the outside and the winter tread is on the inside. That being the case, I’ll now say that the Nokian Remedies look like they belong on the left side of the car and a mirror image of them would belong on the right side of the car.
Do you have affiliate link? I'm buying a used Ioniq 5 which needs tires, so I was thinking of buying a set of these. Unless you recommend something else??
Discount Tire. It is good to see tire chimpanzees keeping tires for electric cars readily available. I was told by our family mechanic keeping electric car tires in stick was not practical because they are not a constant seller. This was 2018 in Texas, but glad that has changed.
I was wondering that too, but I had to examine the previous video on these tires and the sidewall nearer the cross climate looking side, had “outside” printed on it.
