posted November 23, 2002 08:06 AM           

I very much like the tires and think they are the best out there for well-balanced performance and ultimate winter grip. Nevertheless, I find that there is an unpleasant aura of cult-following with Nokians in general which cloud peoples' judgement.

That aside, Nokian continues to be at the forefront of development and testing for winter tires. I will continue to buy their products for as long as they maintain this distance ahead of the rest of the pack. Other manufacturers' tires are getting closer but they're not quite there yet with a few exceptions.

The Toyo Observe series of winter tires is on my list of favourites. I have tried the Michelin Arctic Alpins and found them not particularly suitable for the severe winter conditions that we have here in Canada's capital....in particular, deep snow. Though they *are* good on ice. I understand that Bridgestone's Blizzak tires are very good as well. I think Bridgestone was largely responsible for raising the prominence of the need for winter tires in North Americans' eyes. Their studless winter tires were seen as the answer for our disenchantment with all-season tires. "All-season tires" being a fiction that was foisted on us by the tire manufacturer industry 2 decades ago.... People whose experience with snow tires was with knobby, fast-wearing, noisy, deep-lugged, slippery-on-ice, single-purpose *snow* tires.

Treat my opinion, though, as simply anecdotal and worth as much as you paid for it unless you can corroborate it with instrumented testing by an authoritative tester {not Tire Rack who would like to sell you either 1) Blizzaks 2) Blizzaks or 3) Blizzaks.} ;-)

Any manufacturers' winter tire is better than driving in a Canadian winter with all- (no-) season tires!

Eric
Ottawa, Canada

P.S. This was also posted in the "Winter Tires Comparison" Thread