Not sure I know what you mean by haaka pins??????
- posted
16 years ago
Not sure I know what you mean by haaka pins??????
I don't either. By the way, those tires are "directional" - make sure they're mounted that way, and that any mechanic who rotates them in the future makes sure they're done right.
Yep, that's the first thing I checked before I even left the tire shop. I also noticed another thing with these tires on my Yaris. The electronic power steering doesn't seem quite so sensitive as it did with the Bridgestone RE92. This is a good thing because I can at least get a sense of feeling the road now with the Nokian tires. The dealer said the Nokians are also great on wet roads and I will see a big difference when driving in the rain too. No matter what others say about swapping in the new Bridgestones for Nokians, I think I made a wise choice. Come this winter I'm sure I'll feel better yet about the tire swap. The Nokian WR may not be quite as good in the snow as a full blown winter tread but as far as an all season tire goes, I'm sure they will be pretty darn good. I only drive 5,000 miles a year so even running these year round should serve my needs very well indeed.
Rich
Keep a close eye on tread wear, and make very small adjustments to inflation as necessary.
Haaka pins are little plastic pins that are inserted into a hole molded in the sidewall, the plastic is temperature sensitive, above 32* it remains green, below 32* they turn black. Nice way to warn that icy conditions may be present. They also have an indicator arrow molded in that can be used to keep track of where they should be rotated to.
I did notice that when I take the valve caps off the tires, there are these little green plastic rings slipped over each valve stem. Could they have changed the design? Perhaps these serve the same purpose.
I didn't notice any pins at all in the sidewall of the tire.
Rich
The green valve stem collars or valve caps are on there to signal that they filled the tires with Nitrogen when they mounted them. And they should be topped off with N2 if you are near a gas station or tire shop that has a Nitrogen Generator system.
Remember those are still 'all season' tires. You don't want to get too brave in icy conditions till you know how much grip you've got, or you just go sideways into the curb that much faster...
In other words, you may yet end up with a second set of rims and a set of real full-on winter tires but /carefully/ see how those Nokian's work for you first. Even the best studded snow tires and V-Bar chains on all four corners won't save you if you take a really icy curve at 35 that you should have taken at 3.5
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The WRs come with something that Nokian calls an "Info Button" or "Info Pin." It's a little green rubber pin in the side of the tire. The head of the pin has a little arrow on it, and you can point the arrow towards a little car diagram that's on the sidewall of the tire next to the pin, so that you can note the position of the tire. The green of the Info Button should turn black in cold weather, to show you that the road conditions might be icy.
Well, that's one HELL of a selling point! I'm gonna run right out and buy a pair! ;)
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