Trip report: Nokian WR-G2 205/55/16 vs Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 225/50/16

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Lum

Lum

Lum

Soldato
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Well, after a couple of brown trousers moments last week I couldn't wait for these tyres to arrive.

Last week in the snow with the F1s I'm coming downhill on a single track lane, doing about 15mph and it starts sliding, needed very gentle braking to bring it under control enough to actually make the corner at the bottom and not hit the stone wall.

This weekend, on a privately owned car park with no public access, all iced up, at a very low speed and a hard lock you could get some lovely donuts going on with very little effort. By the time the 4WD kicks in, you're already sliding.

And the night before last, coming out of an industrial estate again doing 15mph and braked well in advance of the stop line, ABS goes bonkers and I slide straight into the main road.

So yeah, time to try a different tyre.

Initial impressions were a bit weird, because of the soft compound and chunky tread if you steer suddenly there is a little squiggle as the tread flexes before it grips, and it grips hard. If you don't drive like a nob you'll probably never notice this, but this was a test in the interests of science.

Back to that road coming out of the industrial park, braked in plenty of time, ABS still kicked in, just a single boing noise and the car stopped well in advance of the stop line making me look a bit stupid, then had to accelerate before a white van drove into the back of me, this resulted in a faster right turn onto the main road than I anticipated but that went without a hitch and no sliding and no nasty reactions when chainging from the ice covered side street to the ice free main road.

Onto that privately owned car park and I couldn't get the car to donut at all. A shame really as I was enjoying that the other night, but if your interest is in safety rather than pratting about, this is what you want.

I haven't tried that downhill yet as that's on my route home from work, but I'm sure it'll be a lot safer than last week.

Another fun moment, approaching a roundabout with a left turn lane and a straight ahead lane. The straight ahead lane is iced over and the left turn lane is clear so there is a massive queue in the left lane. I just drove into the straight ahead lane, straight past everybody and was able to enter the roundabout from a standing start at a perfectly normal speed thus avoiding all the people queueing in the wrong lane.

According to a review I read, they're not as good in the snow as the more expensive Continental TS830, but better in the wet. I haven't seen figures for ice. If the snow gets that bad that this is a problem, I have 4 snow chains in the boot so this isn't an issue for me, though if you don't want to faff with chains then the Contis may be a better choice.

All in all, I'd recommend them, if you can actually find a set. The only thing I'd be wary of is they do give you a lot more confidence in these conditions and I can see how this would easilly lead to what I call "WRX driver syndrome" where you think you have tons of grip until about 2 seconds before you land on your roof in some farmer's field. If there's sheet ice you probably still wont be able to stop, so owning a set of these isn't an excuse to drive like it's a hot summers afternoon.

For reference the car is the Cefiro SE-4 which is RWD, with part time 4WD. I haven't put these tyres on the Mondeo because that's a company car and work wont pay for them. I'm not insured to use my own car for company business so if the roads are impassable in the Mondeo then I stay at home. I'll still be able to get around in my own car for personal business.

And no, I don't work for Nokian.
 
Yea, the GS-D3 has to be the worst tyre in the world this side of a slick for snow. The tread pattern is absolutely NOT snow friendly.
 
I haven't tried them in actual snow yet, just icy roads and cold clear roads.
 
Narrower winter tyres are better than wider summer ones.

I think this is could be more of a revelation than the wikileak cables! :eek:
 
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Problem with this review is that it's from the same person who said a Mondeo was 'HORRIBLE' on the Motorway and loads of other ridiculous hyperbole, so I'm not really sure it's very meaningful either way :p

Didn't tend to have many issues with GS-D3's on just cold roads when I ran them - though it's been a few years since I've used them.
 
[TW]Fox;17959099 said:
Problem with this review is that it's from the same person who said a Mondeo was 'HORRIBLE' on the Motorway and loads of other ridiculous hyperbole, so I'm not really sure it's very meaningful either way :p
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I just said it was boring. The Mondeo is a perfectly adequate and capable car, it's just as exciting as a dishwasher and after 12 hours on the road I wound up hating it.

Also the narrower tyres thing only applies to snow, surely? In all other conditions (I imagine, even including ice) wider tyres would still be better all other things being equal, which means that the narrower tyre still outperforming the Goodyear is actually more of an achievement.
 
My F1's were fine in the cold and even frosty conditions. In the snow though.. Complete joke! lol, Car has been snowed in for over two weeks.
 
I'm just confused as to how you found yourself literally sliding along when the road was nothing more than simply wet. In ice and snow, absolutely, but you seem to be implying it was bad when it was just wet? I never once encountered that on those tyres.

A joke in the snow, unsuprisingly dodgy when its icy (but then most things are) but largely fine in the cold and wet.
 
The sliding was on the side road into an industrial park that had not been gritted and was covered in ice. Once I'd slid into the main road the car quickly came to a stop but by that point you're already screwed if there was anything coming.

On cold but clear roads, the Goodyears were fine, though the Nokians felt more grippy in cornering, other than that initial squiggle.
 
Well yes, the point I'm trying to get across is just how much difference there is since certain people in other threads have been claiming it's just marketing and they make no actual difference.

Of course, come January, you can probably expect a "Just been rear ended by some nob in a Range Rover" thread from me.
 
Lum said:
Well yes, the point I'm trying to get across is just how much difference there is since certain people in other threads have been claiming it's just marketing and they make no actual difference.
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Dont think anyone has disputed ice performance.
 
[TW]Fox;17959066 said:
Yea, the GS-D3 has to be the worst tyre in the world this side of a slick for snow. The tread pattern is absolutely NOT snow friendly.
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You haven't tried the asymmetrics then. They suck even more on snow :D
 
My 182 with F1 GSD3's was just laughable in the snow today, got well and truely stuck. I wish i'd stuck with the PE2's which did perform better in the snow.
 
How bad do people find the Pirelli P-Zero Neros in snow?

They seem utterly utterly useless in snow on my car, even for a 'summer' tyre, but I do ponder how much this is to do with the car (Fiesta ST) and tyre size. A small lightweight car with 205/40 R17s, so relatively over-tyred...seems to just skid over the top with remarkable ease compared to anything else I'd driven in icy conditions.
 
<smug mode>

First proper snow this morning and I had a physio appointment at 9. Had no problems other than being tailgated by an X5, so just pulled over to let them tailgate someone else. On the return journey I avoided the massive queue by driving up the unploughed lane.

Well worth the money.

Oh, and while I was out, my GF took this photo. I wouldn't fancy driving an RWD Transit in this weather:



I suspect we'll be going out to the Brecons with the camera a bit later.
 
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