What about alloys with the Nokian WR's?

[Grundig]

Forgive me all for yet another thread on the vaunted Nokian WR's; yes it does sound great not to have to change winter and summer tires every season and that initially drew me to the WR's. Put them on and fagettaboutit. But what about the alloys?

I'm about to wrap up a purchase on a 2005 XC70 (dear Forkster, I will write you once I've done the deed) and I could ask the dealer for 4 snows on rims with the Gislaved Nordfrost 5 tires as part of the deal. What do people think of these tires? Anyway, if I do that I'll be rotating tires seasonally as well as shopping for summer tires this spring. I am getting kind of lazy in my old age and find the idea of one set of tires appealing.

Enter the WR's - they seemingly fit the bill. But if I mount them on my alloys (which are in like new shape) they won't look like new after being in our winters for a while; where I live they do use salt on the roads. Alternatively, I could have the WR's mounted on steel rims, but that nullifys the alloys if I don't want to change tires in the spring. Soooooo . . .

Do I just go with the WR's on alloys all year round and damn the salt? Is there anything I can do to prolong the life of the alloys in the winter? Or should I go Gislaved's and just resign myself to changing tires at the beginning and end of every winter? Thanks . . .

[billr99]

Frankly, the whole process of changing tires on the same rims every season is a PITA plus the odds of scraping and damaging a rim in the changing process is greatly increased. For the relatively small amount they cost, a set of steels with wheelcovers makes the process so much easier (and they actually look pretty decent IMHO). Do it this way and you can change them yourself when you want, no longer waiting in line because everybody else wants to get theirs changed the same day, etc.

[Art]

If you can swing a joint deal with the Gislaveds mounted on steel/cheap aftermarket wheels, I'd say go for it and not risk the chance of incurring any salt damage to the stock alloys, plus you would be extending the life of both sets of tires in doing so. Is it possible to stretch another summer out of the original tires?

Take it from me, I used and am still utilizing the stock Oreander alloys as winter wheels. (I have another set of oem alloys that are reserved for summer use.) Even though I was religious in keeping them clean, they still sustained some cosmetic pitting from the previous winter season.

[Grundig]

Well, even though the vehicle is a 2005, the in-service date is August 2005, so the stock alloys only have 3.5 winters and they still look very good with no curb rash. I should probably just clean them, give them a wax coat and put them away for the winter.

I can't really switch the wheels myself (heart condition since the age of 41, bummer) so I'd have to go the dealer route. I could ask the dealer for the Gislaved's on steels as part of the deal, or just get the steels and then go to Costco and have them put on their Michelins X-ice xi2's. Since I'm there a lot I would only have to load and unload them every season - not bad and there's no fee payable at Costco for switching tires if you bought them there.

I'm guessing both those winter tires are OK. I'd like the quieter one on the dry pavement, which I think would be the Michelins. I've got some Hakka SUV's on my minivan; great tires but loud as heck on the dry pavement.

My kid totalled my 1999 Volvo S80 (exceptional car) so that's gone; I'm left with the snows on it. I know the tires won't fit, but can I use the 16" steel rims on my proposed 2005 XC70 buy? I'd hate to start a new thread to find the answer to that one . . . please help! Thanks, Grundig

[billr99]

I'm pretty certain that your S80 16in steels are the same as what I have on my XC so there would be an option. What I did with my set was what you propose as a car buy. Have the dealer throw a set of mounted snows of your choice on a set of new steels for a good price. Have them add in the wheelcovers too. As I said, that actually makes the setup look better IMHO than the alloys plus the combination is lighter too.

On my deal I ended up with a set of new summer tires (of my choice) on the stock alloys and a set of Gislaveds on steels with wheelcovers for $400 over what we had agreed as a sale price on the car. I thought this was fair as the Scorpions that were on the car were OK (50% wear maybe) but I just couldn't deal with them and for $400, what the hey.

Cheers,

Bill

[mbsl98]

Could be worth checking with the dealer to see if they store customer tires for the off season. My neighbor just bought a set for her new Audi on that deal, so she will never touch the snows - dealer will swap and store. For your new XC, check to see if it has tire monitoring installed. If so, any new wheels must have $90/wheel pressure sensors installed to replace the traditional tire valves. I skipped separate wheels on our '07 XC due to that added cost. As far as snow tire brands, I think you have a good reaading. Hakka's are great, but noisy. Gislaved's are almost as good in snow and much quieter with good dry handling. Michelin X-Ice (at least the last version) are a nice balance of quiet and decent snow grip, more than adequate on the AWD XC. WE have all of the above on our several volvo's right now. I don't have experiene with the WR's, but some do report fairly short life and lower gas mileage as offsets to the annual change. In general, however, it is hard to convince myself that a dedicated snow tire from the same company is not really a better winter tire than any all-season even the WR's, due to the compromises needed for low temperature performance versus high temp summer conditions.