Any Nokian experts out there?
I'm going to buy some new tires this week - that's the plan, anyway. I haven't completely given up on the idea of a second set of wheels with real snow tires, but the roads in central Wisconsin are plowed pretty well.
I was looking at the WR C3's or the Weatherproof C's as a year round tire. Not a lot of info out there online about these tires other than from Nokian themselves. From what I can tell, the WR C3's seem to be a dedicated winter tire and not suitable to doing 20k year round in the midwest with our hot summers - though I could be wrong about that. The Weatherproof C's are listed as all seasons. Correct about the WR C3's?
As for sizes, the WR C3's come in taller and skinnier 225/75's and the Weatherproof C's come in in the stock size 235/65. I think I'd prefer the taller skinnier 225's for the winter. Unfortunately, the Weatherproof C's don't come in that taller skinnier size. Would that small a difference in tire width even matter in light snow and ice?
Interestingly, the WR C3, the Weatherproof C, and the winter CR3 all look to have the same tread pattern, so it must be the rubber compound that differs between them and if I had to guess based on Nokian brochures, the CR3 would be the softest, the WR C3 in the middle, and the Weatherproof C the hardest.
So, am I wrong for thinking that if I went with a dedicated winter wheel setup, the softest CR3 would make the most sense, and if I went with a new all season on my on van year round, the Weatherproof C would be the way to go? Where would the WR C3 fit in?
But now that I review the 2016/2017 Nokian tire guide, the Weatherproof C isn't even listed...
https://dc602r66yb2n9.cloudfront.net/pub/web/attachments/others/pricelists/NT_US_Product_guide.pdf