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Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 Owner Reviews

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What owners say summarised from 14 reviews

Most drivers report the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 delivers excellent traction, braking, and predictability in snow, slush, and typical winter conditions, with very low noise and good comfort. A minority note softer, spongy feel and reduced feedback on dry/warm tarmac, and somewhat weaker wet/dry performance versus snow/ice. Wear and longevity are generally acceptable to good, with a few concerns about faster tread wear. Overall sentiment is strongly positive for winter performance.

What owners mention most counted across 15 reviews

Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.

Owner ratings averaged from 15 ratings

  • Owner score 79%
  • Snow Grip 97%
  • Ice Grip 90%
  • Comfort 87%
  • Wet Grip 74%
  • Dry Grip 72%
  • Road Feedback 70%
  • Handling 69%
  • Wear 65%

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 Reviews - Page 2

Score spread across 14 written reviews
94%
Member
I'm starting my 3rd winter with the R3. Living in the Toronto Canada area, winter can mean driving in rain, snow or dry freeways with temperatures being above freezing to -25C or lower. The tires give excellent performance regardless of the road conditions. With heavy rains I have never experienced hydroplaning on wet roads nor had any difficulty with traction while driving on snow covered roads. I am very happy with R3 and would not hesitate to recommend them to others.
This owner's scores
  • Dry Grip 10
  • Wet Grip 9
  • Road Feedback 9
  • Handling 9
  • Comfort 10
  • Buy again 10
  • Snow Grip 10
  • Ice Grip 8
Helpful 1,079
74%
Member
The Hakka R3 has been phenomenal for my style of commute mostly straight lines and steady speed drives. I rated these tires as compared to Summer/all seasons as I haven't had a different set of winter tires for this tire size to have a better comparison. As far as dry and wet grip the tires will occasionally slip when starting from a stop, but I attribute that more to driver error with limited experience driving M/T. On roundabouts I can confidently go 40mph on a 25 advisory curve but can tell it's close to slipping. In my few experiences making an emergency stop from 20 or 40 mph stopping distance is about average for a winter tire maybe 1 car length more than on a standard all season in 45°f @40mph and about ½ that in 30°f(~0°c). In snow and ice the grip is excellent even for a winter tire and I had no issues at any point except for in some deep and wet slush whilst making a turn at intersections. Comfort/NVH (Noise vibration harshness) were very satisfactory even when compared to a touring A/S tire (subjectively) though slightly louder than my summer tires which I'd expect due to all the extra siping it wasnt by much and certainly not bothersome to me. Also of great importance to me is Rolling Resistance. My vehicle is meant for superb fuel economy and most people who drive them swear by using only the stock tire to maintain the 60mpg US the car is made for, however I have not noticed much of any difference (maybe 2-3mpg accounting for higher overall diameter of the Nokian).Lastly as far as wear is concerned I'm unsure so far. The tires are all about ⁷/³² from the original ¹⁰/³² with one rotation on them so far. I work in a tire shop and I've seen some sets last 40k miles before getting to ⁴/³² and I've seen some last around 25k as always YMMV based on alignment, air pressure and driving style. Absolutely plan to get more Nokian tires in the future and hope more people will give their products a try.
This owner's scores
  • Dry Grip 6
  • Wet Grip 7
  • Road Feedback 5
  • Handling 5
  • Comfort 8
  • Buy again 10
  • Snow Grip 10
  • Ice Grip 8
Helpful 1,064
90%
Member
  • BMW i3
  • 155/70 R19 W
  • 500 miles
  • A Combination of Roads
  • Average
I am running Nokian Hakka R3s on a BMW i3. I have had the tyres for about 3 weeks now. The weather has been cold initially but has gone back to being very mild. This sort of weather is where dedicated winter tyres can for want of a better expression slip up. Pleasingly the Hakka 3s are giving a level of grip well above my expectation in this mild and wet weather. In the dry too, this tyre is performing more like an all season tyre than a winter tyre.

I deliberately put the pedal down on one occasion much harder than I would normally do and the tyres started to lose grip. This however was the only time and it was a deliberate test. Otherwise on tight cornering and unexpected hard braking, the tyres have performed admirably in both wet and dry conditions. In the cold weather they are even grippier and have given a preview of their winter capability. I can now confidently look forward to some harsh winter weather to see how they perform.

The other thing of note is that they are incredibly quiet and are head and shoulders above the summer Bridgestone
tyres which are now off for the winter. I will revisit this review with my experiences in harsh winter weather but at present the Hakka 3 looks like a winner so far. Just be careful about pushing them too hard in mild and wet temperatures though.
This owner's scores
  • Dry Grip 9
  • Wet Grip 9
  • Road Feedback 9
  • Handling 8
  • Comfort 10
  • Buy again 9
Helpful 1,187

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