Nokian All Weather Plus WR tires -- do they wear out fast?

If you drive 25,000 miles per year, you'll get two winters out of them.

No. He's wrong. They actually wear quite well.

He's thinking that they're dedicated winter/snow tires. They're not. They're just a fantastic all-season tire that qualifies, due to advanced engineering, for the snowflake emblem of a winter tire.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote

But my Honda

OK, good. So you're recommending I just get the Nokians put on and be done with it, yes? :-) That'd certainly make life simpler than maintaining a whole extra set of tires on their own wheels.

Another related question: the Nokian dealer said I should put a 40 lb sandbag (or other weight) in the trunk along each side (80 lbs total extra weights) "because the Accord's rear is so light." Again, my Honda mechanic disagreed, saying "those weights would lift the front end off the ground." No, of course they wouldn't lift "off the ground," but would presumably give the front less traction. ? Is the Honda guy wrong again?

That's exactly what I did.

It will change the dynamics of the car away from how the Honda engineers designed it, yes.

On the other hand, 80lbs isn't much more than an annoyance; the car is well within its limits to have 160lbs in the back seat (a person), so...

But your mechanic sounds like one of those fathers tossing nuggets of "wisdom" at his daughter--"wisdom" that he accumulated over years of driving his 59 Chevy. In other words, I don't really think much of his "wisdom".

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote

Understood. With that in mind, would you recommend I go ahead and put extra weight in the trunk, or first try driving in snow without it and see how the car responds/feels? This is a 4-cyl Accord sedan with auto transmission. Weight distribution is 1964 front, 1249 rear. It was the tire dealer who suggested I add the weight.

If you put good and identical winter tires on all four corners, you will preserve the relative handling dynamics that the engineers intended.

Try it without the weight and see what you think. You'll find that it works just fine that way.

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote

I will be getting four Nokian WR's, and I'll first try it out without the added weight -- thanks for your advice.