The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[GoinAllTheWay]

Where is the best place to by Hakka R3's? Wanna give them a rip this year. Kal Tire has them for just a bit under $1000 installed. Is that basically the going rate?

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Where is the best place to by Hakka R3's? Wanna give them a rip this year. Kal Tire has them for just a bit under $1000 installed. Is that basically the going rate?

You are stuck buying them from Kal Tire, I think they still have the only distributorship.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Ah. That would explain the lack of results elsewhere.

Ok, thanks.

Upside that makes shopping easier I guess?

[calgarywinning]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The shop I use charges $70 per season IIRC. They also do the seasonal tire swap for free with an oil change- so I just consider the $70 fee a bit of a wash as I’m not paying for the swap. It’s nice to not have to worry about keeping tires around for both vehicles.

What shop is that good value, seems too cheap.

[ken0042]

Actually I stand corrected; looks like the last couple of bills show it to be $100 per season; so $200 per year. It's still a good enough value for me not having to come up with storage for 2 sets of tires.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Where is the best place to by Hakka R3's? Wanna give them a rip this year. Kal Tire has them for just a bit under $1000 installed. Is that basically the going rate?

You're going to be so very happy with this decision.

[Calgary14]

Is it worth getting a set of rusted black steel rims for winter tires refinished to get of the rust? Or should I just get a new set

[GoinAllTheWay]

Depends on how corroded they are I guess? For the price of new ones being fairly cheap, I think I'd buy new myself.

[Calgary14]

Pretty rusted, they've been on for a few full winter seasons of snow, salt, etc.

Actually looking at a new set now and its like $500 plus installation which isn't too bad as refinishing them is about $400 per set I think

[Ducay]

Just make sure you're leaning from your mistake and buying alloys. Price is comperable.


Only dumbozos buy steelies these days

[Mazrim]

I got Nokian Hakka R3s put on my car a couple weeks ago and put them through quite the test going to BC and back for the holidays. The roads were sketchy at times and they were excellent. I can honestly say they are the best tires I've ever had for this soon-to-be 9 year old car.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Just make sure you're leaning from your mistake and buying alloys. Price is comperable.


Only dumbozos buy steelies these days

Where do you buy your wheels from? I've done some looking around and it seems alloys are usually at least twice the cost of steel.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Where do you buy your wheels from? I've done some looking around and it seems alloys are usually at least twice the cost of steel.

Shop around, lots of decent rims to be had depending on your budget

Costco.ca
Blackcircles.ca
1010tires.com
PMCtire.com
etc.

not to mention all the local shops.


Sure alloys are "more expensive" but its not a crazy difference and worth the money regardless of your income level. A standard steelie is ~100$ right now, and alloys generally start at $130-140 range (I picked a random common size to lookup). On a % basis, sure, a big premium, but that $30 more is nothing considering what you're getting for your money. Steelies look like garbage, age terribly, and will need to be replaced much sooner than alloys.

[Hack&Lube]

Just got a flat down by Southcenter mall, realized the tire sounded funny on the way from IKEA.

It's way too cold and dark to try to put on a spare. It still drives okay but I think the drivers side front may be driving on rim.

I tried to inflate it with my Ryobi compressor that I always have but it wouldn't go over 9 PSI. I don't know if is the temperature, or the tire is too far gone.

Maybe I'll get a tow over to a tire shop in the daytime. Don't want to be buying new tires at this time so we'll see what can be done. They are only 2 year old Toyo All Weather with very little wear since there was no commute during covid.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Just got a flat down by Southcenter mall, realized the tire sounded funny on the way from IKEA.

It's way too cold and dark to try to put on a spare. It still drives okay but I think the drivers side front may be driving on rim.

I tried to inflate it with my Ryobi compressor that I always have but it wouldn't go over 9 PSI. I don't know if is the temperature, or the tire is too far gone.

Maybe I'll get a tow over to a tire shop in the daytime. Don't want to be buying new tires at this time so we'll see what can be done. They are only 2 year old Toyo All Weather with very little wear since there was no commute during covid.

If you drove on a flat tire for any distance, it's garbage.

[Sylvanfan]

I was looking at a Tire and Rim package from 1010 tires. They seem to have reasonable rims for a decent price. Anyone ever tried the Falken Eurowinter HS01 tires? From what I could tell trying to do some research they grade out as an okay winter tire. Which for me would likely be okay since the car they'd go on has had 12,000 km put on it since last August. So in winters it's mostly just used as a commuter. The other tire that looked to rate well for winter handling, but not for rolling resistance or road noise was the Hankook i-cept Evo 3. I'm not too worried about style and road noise driving a boring ass Honda Accord. But I would like a tire that can start and stop good on ice and snow that my sub 6 figure Draftsman wage can afford.

[cam_wmh]

Next season I'll be needing a new set of winters. Has anyone driven to the States to purchase and install Hakka's before, avoiding the Kal-Tire monopoly?

[you&me]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Next season I'll be needing a new set of winters. Has anyone driven to the States to purchase and install Hakka's before, avoiding the Kal-Tire monopoly?

Admittedly, I haven't checked, but are the prices that inflated? I've always been happy with the KT service and their repair warranty has saved me a bundle over the years.

I have Hakka's from KalTire... That seems like a lot of effort to avoid dealing with them.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Next season I'll be needing a new set of winters. Has anyone driven to the States to purchase and install Hakka's before, avoiding the Kal-Tire monopoly?

The problem with being in Alberta, is that the U.S. Options we have here are pretty bleak. Unless you were planning a trip to Spokane, or you want to go to Kalispell or Great Falls to get them, in either case you're looking at 5 plus hour drive each way, or a 8 hour drive to Spokane or slightly less to Coeur D'Alene.

I used to live in Osoyoos BC, and would get tires from Discount Tire in Wenatchee quite a bit. But in that case it was basically adding 300km total to my drive buying cheap US gas vs going to Penticton, and after paying duties and factoring the extra fuel, I was saving about $400 on a tire and rim package. From what I can see the Nokian's in the US are not really any less. In looking at the Hakka R3 225/45/R18's that I priced at Kal the other day, they were about 260 per tire. The ones in the US that I've found thus far are all selling at $230. So you'll pay GST and likely some duty to bring them accross the border. If you were buying a U.S. Manufactured tire, you might see some value. But I don't know if it's there on the Nokians.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Shop around, lots of decent rims to be had depending on your budget

Costco.ca
Blackcircles.ca
1010tires.com
PMCtire.com
etc.

not to mention all the local shops.


Sure alloys are "more expensive" but its not a crazy difference and worth the money regardless of your income level. A standard steelie is ~100$ right now, and alloys generally start at $130-140 range (I picked a random common size to lookup). On a % basis, sure, a big premium, but that $30 more is nothing considering what you're getting for your money. Steelies look like garbage, age terribly, and will need to be replaced much sooner than alloys.

I got 17" steelies for $70 ea this fall, and $70 back in CT money, so they can certainly be had cheaply if you keep your eyes open.