Has anyone tried the Nokian Z SUV tyres?

[GLO]

Hi,

My R320cdi-L is has about 30K kms on the GT Radial HPY and they have been great apart from the wear. They are quiet, seem economical and have plenty of tread in the centre but like most SUVs the shoulders are worn.

I am thinking about these Nokian Z SUV tyres. Some sites list this as NOKIAN HAKKA Z SUV

Im based in Sydney Australia, so we dont need Summer and Winter tyres thankfully.

What do you think? they did quite well in the tyre tests.

Nokian Z SUV

My other options are Continental CrossContactUHP or the others listed here.
Browse Tyres | Tyreright - The Right Tyres and Advice

Appreciate all feedback.

Thanks

 

[John Jones Jr]

They could be excellent but personally I wouldn't give them a second glance. Just for peace of mind I'd buy a premium brand.

 

[rf065]

They could be excellent but personally I wouldn't give them a second glance. Just for peace of mind I'd buy a premium brand.

I'd rate Nokian as a premium brand, their winter tyres are renowned as being one of the best you can buy, and the summer tyres all get good reviews.

Russ

 

[grober]

Nokian are a very well established European tyre manufacturer. The high silica content of the tyre compound will give them good performance in cold and wet conditions but may mean the sidewalls are slightly more prone to UV surface degradation than a tyre with a higher carbon black content. They will have excellent tarmac properties but because of their circumferential tread grooves [ good for water clearance] will have very little traction in loose slippery conditions off road and you may want to look for a tyre with a greater block pattern tread---- really depends on your driving environment???

 

[GLO]

The R320cdi-L never goes off-road, its purely the family (of 6) vehicle.

My wife drives it 90% of the time and its all on suburban sealed roads and freeways. Lots or round abouts in our district so thats why a strong shoulder is important for wear.

We usually run them at 40psi and as mentioned the GT Radial Champiro HPY we have been very happy with exept the life could be better. Given that we have currently seen less than 30K on this set (
since shoulders are becoming scrubbed out) I may be forced to replace them earlier than Id truly like to.

 

[grober]

you might be interested in this :- Reading between the lines would indicate that summer tyres for the AUSTRALIAN market would likely to be manufactured in Indonesia or China

Finland production and testing facilities

Nokian Tyres produces 23,000 tyres per day at a factory in Nokia, Finland, and 200,000 tyres a year under the Bridgestone brand name.[62] The original factory was built in 1904, the current one in 1945; it has expanded several times since then.[5] Nokian Tyres has 27 assembly lines at its Finnish plant.[63] The plant uses radio frequency devices to monitor the inventory of materials used to manufacture tyres, such as the 100-metre long strips of rubber tread. Shortages of rubber tread can halt production and so keeping an adequate supply of materials increases efficiency. Despite trade journals discussing this technique, Nokian declines to confirm its production methods.[63]

Because of the short summer in Finland, Nokian tests summer tyres at other locations. During the winter, the testing of summer tyres takes place in South Africa.[65] Nokian also tests tyres at the Applus+ IDIADA facilities in El Vendrell, Spain, and the ATP facilities in Papenburg, Germany.[65]
Vsevolozhsk, Russia factory

Nokian produces approximately 6,000 tyres daily and employs 510 employees at its factory in Vsevolozhsk, Russia near Saint Petersburg, and plans to increase manufacturing capacity to 10 million tyres annually by 2011.[59][66] The factory was established in 2005.[59] In 2006, it expanded its facilities there, adding a mixing department and a 19,000-square-metre (200,000 sq ft) warehouse capable of housing 600,000 tyres. The new mixing department gives the factory the capability to produce rubber compounds on-site instead of importing them from the factory in Nokia, Finland. The Vsevolozhsk factory manufactures Nokian-branded car tyres, the majority of which are sold in Russia and countries of the former USSR.[67] Nokian plans to build 300 housing units and sell them to employees at cost as part of the Russian factory expansion that is scheduled to be completed by 2011.[68]
Contract production of tyres

Nokian Tyres licenses production of its tyres to companies in the United States (Bridgestone, LaVergne, Tennessee plant),[62] Slovakia (Matador, Puchov plant),[69] Indonesia (PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk company),[70][71] and the People's Republic of China (Giti Tire),[72][73] as well as contracts manufacture of agriculture and industrial tyres in Spain and India. In the past, some United States contract manufacturing was done by Cooper Tire's Findley, Ohio plant. Contract manufacture by Giti Tire includes production of up to 500,000 Nokian summer tyres with expansion up to 1.5 million tyres per year.[44] Some Nokian agricultural and industrial tyres were made under contract by the Tofan Grup in Romania for two years until December 1999, when Nokian Tyres withdrew, citing quality standards.[74] Contract manufacture of these types of heavy tyres was then undertaken by Michelin at its Polish plant in Stomil-Olsztyn from 2000[74] until 2005, when Nokian began to shift contract manufacture of industrial tyres to Bridgestone's factory in Bilbao, Spain and agricultural tyres to Balkrishna Tyres in Bhiwadi, India.[75] With an increase in tyre demand as a result of improving economies, Nokian is considering increasing production as well as outsouring additional tyre manufacture in Asia.[76]

 

[kit17]

I used to have Nokian ZG2's on my old W203 C320 petrol, they gripped well and wear rate was impressive. I had Michelin Pilot Sport 2's before that and TBH I couldn't tell any difference apart from when accelerating hard out of a corner in the wet, the traction control light would come on a bit earlier.

 

[boxbrownie]

I just put a new set of tyres on my ML (basically same as your R underneath), I investigated several options including the original Contis @ £275 a corner!
After a lot of searching around I bought a set of Hankook Ventus ST (275/45x20) @ £120 a corner.......excellent tyres, good ride and quiet, and feel very grippy in the corners.
Now I would not normally have looked to Korea for tyres but for the fact I know the major manufacturer were I worked for the last 35 years had started using them in production on a wide range of models, also they are one of the OEM fit for the LR Range Rover Sport, good enough for me too I reckon.......and at half price.

Tyres are too expensive and important to buy for fashion or one upmanship.

 

[Sp!ke]

you might be interested in this :- Reading between the lines would indicate that summer tyres for the AUSTRALIAN market would likely to be manufactured in Indonesia or China

Wouldn't that be the same for most tyre brands destined for the Australian market?

 

[flango]

Wouldn't that be the same for most tyre brands destined for the Australian market?

Indeed it would I had Nokian's on my BMW at one stage never any issues and have used their winter tyres for years (when you can get them)

 

[grober]

Merely pointing out that UK forum members experience of Nokian tyres made in Europe [ I'm a big fan of their winter tyres] may not equate to tyres made by subcontractors in Indonesia or China that's all. The OP's original GT Radial HPY 's are made by an Australian company but may as you say also be made in China or Indonesia. One thing I did learn was how popular Nokian tyres are in Russia. Makes sense when you think about it. http://www.nokiantyres.com/files/no...g/NokianTyres_annual_report_2012_EN_final.pdf

[YOUTUBE]YBdl5XlOSZ0[/YOUTUBE]

 

[boxbrownie]

Well that was interesting and very informative