Nokian Zline A/S anyone?

Of course different lines of tires made by manufacturers vary in design, compound, manufacturing plant, etc., but my experience with Nokian has been positive. I've had a few sets of their winter tires and I've known easily a dozen other people who have owned their winter tires, everyone has positive things to say about them.

Personally, and this is just me, I much prefer buying dedicated winter tires, and dedicated summer tires so they are designed with very little compromise for the conditions they are run in compared to all season m&s which have to deal with all seasons and therefore have to make compromises at all times. Some of the Nokian Zline are summer tires, and good ones at that. I think a IS250 would benefit from winter/summer tires over all season as it is a nice handling car.

However, tire companies are getting better and better every generation they produce their newer "high end" all season tires. Nokian call these "all weather tires" such as the WR G4 or G3, if you don't run winter tires I would take a look at these. Yokohama, Bridgestone, etc make some nice competitors in that category too.

Let us know what you decide on and your impressions of them.

Oh I do have a set of winter tires. Just my set of all seasons that I use for non winter month is looking worn. Just not sure if I want to go dedicated summers since I don't want to be caught out in a weird late spring/ summer snow storm with dedicated summers on.

coilz wrote: ↑ Oh I do have a set of winter tires. Just my set of all seasons that I use for non winter month is looking worn. Just not sure if I want to go dedicated summers since I don't want to be caught out in a weird late spring/ summer snow storm with dedicated summers on.

I totally understand, running dedicated winter and then summer tires requires a bit more attention on behalf of the car owner. You have to really watch the weather temperatures and don't jump the gun so to speak in swapping over to the other tires at the end of a season. Rule of thumb is constant temperatures of around 7-8c, that is where summer tire compounds start to get uncomfortable and really so do winter compounds.

I find the swap over points are end of Oct - start of Nov, and in the spring never swap over until around mid April as there is always snow some time at the start of April.

Let me just show you one reason why summer tires are better than all season, I find pictures make it easy to understand. You'll see that all season tires have to have features built into them to try to deal with snow, since you already wisely run winter tires in winter seasons it doesn't seem logical to have a tire on in summer than makes that compromise during the 6-7 months where summer tires are much better in both dry and wet conditions.

Here is a picture of a higher end all season tire, in fact it may well be the tire that came on your car from the factory:



You'll notice the tire manufacturer have designed a tread pattern with many little sipes cut into the compound, these move around a little creating friction to give better handling on ice and snow. This all season tire actually has really good radial grooves for water displacement, some all season tires do not have that and are not so great in standing water.

Below is a good summer performance tire from the same manufacturer, also a tire that comes as original factory equipment on some cars.



It features a stiffer sidewall (and I find most summer tires have a nice rim protector feature built into the tire too), wide and deep radial grooves for water displacement, a strong central contact patch and a tread pattern not only designed for cornering and stability, but also to displace standing water. I find feedback through the steering wheel is enhanced with summer tires like these, which I think is a good thing. There is a trade off for this though, a bit less tread wear life on the tires and a bit more road noise.

I get a good 5 -6 seasons out of summer tires and the same for winter tires, where as a long time ago when I ran all season tires I almost always had to buy new ones in 4 years.

I don't think you'll go wrong with your original thought of purchasing Nokian Zline all seasons, I'd just suggest giving some thought to alternatives.

Decided to go with the Nokian Entyre 2.0 instead. It was a little cheaper and probably will last a bit longer. Going to get it installed next week!

My 2014 Nokian Entyres (not the 2.0) developed deep cracking all around the tires where the tread block meets the sidewaĺl. Even though they came with a used car I bought, (they may have exclusive Canadian retail rights) a Kal rep went to bat for me with Nokian and they gave me a 50% credit towards new Nokian.

I sat on the fence between the wrg4, Entyre 2.0 and the Zline A/S. Ended up with the Zline A/S even though for some reason they were the only set of the 3 that is NOT on sale or rebated.

Never thought much of the Entyres so the 2.0 would probably be similar. Also prefer dedicated snow tire for winter as opposed to all weather like wrg4. If I was putting on a lot of kms every season the 2.0 would be a maybe. I prefer a more performance oriented tire, I find the high mileage tires give a car a very harsh ride.

Ordered but will install in 2 to 3 weeks.

Got the Entyre 2.0 installed yesterday. Honestly don't really feel the difference from my previous set of tires. Was about $650 for a set of 4 including installation/taxes/enviro fee. Let's see how they go over the summer. Looks like rotation will just be same side front/back since its asymmetrical AND "side oriented" ? ...

Would've gone for the Zline A/S but the local Kaltire had to ship them in for $25 each tire........and no $50 rebate

So coilz OP how are your new tires. Haven't got mine installed yet.

George613 wrote: ↑ So coilz OP how are your new tires. Haven't got mine installed yet.

They're running pretty good. Previously had Michelin Pilot HX that came with the car, don't notice any difference. Quiet enough and rides nicely. Mind you weather have been pretty good over in Edmonton last few weeks, so haven't experienced anything challenging road conditions yet.

Changed over to my winter tires today so I can get a good look at how the Entyre 2.0 wear after ~6 months/~8000km. The front seem to wear a little different than the rear.. which is typical I guess. But according to the built in "wear" gauge on the tire, it is now at about 80-85% since the 100% mark is totally gone. so 10-15% per 8000km should get me 32-40k km till its at 50%? Drove in pretty heavy rain in highway speeds last weekend and it was fine, felt secure in the wet. Still no feedback on "winter" setting.

Also found a nail in one of my tires... so let's see how good Kaltire's flat repair warranty is.

Only thing I've noticed is noise level is higher on these Nokian tires. May not be good highway tires if you're looking for quiet ride. But in the city under 80km/hr it's fine.