After tonight, I think I've just about had it with my OEM Dunlops. I'm a very careful driver (no accidents in 11 years) and have not had a previous problem driving in snow. Tonight I lost control while only going ~20 mph and fortunately missed a telephone pole and a concrete culvert in the ditch I slid into and out of. THe alignment is off for sure, and I hope I did n't bend a rim or damage the suspension. On the drive home I had no obvious problems.
That being said, I've read the reviews of various tires on this site and think I want to get Nokian WR2s for my HCH II. Unfortunately, winter/ summer tires aren't practical for me and I need an all-season LRR tire that is good in snow. My ?? is does any major retailer carry Nokian tires? I live in the Lake county, IL area north of Chicago and the Nokian site only lists a few dealers, none of which are close to me.

 

Or you could buy them online and have tem mounted and balanced locally.

I bought them from The Tire Factory for my previous vehicle (2002 CR-V) and loved them. You will probably find the total cost comparable to local dealer pricing, or a bit lower. I would suggest you find a local installer willing to work with internet purchased tires before you order.

 

Thanks for the idea. After much poking around I did discover that Suburban Tire carries them up here in the NW suburbs. Despite that fact that they were relatively close, the Nokian website didn't list them.

 

I'm glad you're alright, Mike. I don't remember if my local tire dealer was listed on Nokian's site when I was shopping around, but I was happy to find that they carried Nokian. I'm pleased with their tires, and feel much safer having them on the car in the event of bad weather.
I hope everything's alright with your suspension & such.

 

I put the car up on ramps this morning and couldn't find anything obviously bent or wrong. I can't believe it, God must have smiled on me for sure! My local Nokian distributor quoted me $510 installed, tax and everything for four WR G2s. That sounds like a reasonable price? Have you noticed a big change in mileage with the Nokians during good weather on dry roads?

 

I paid just under $425 for a set of Nokian snows (Hakka RSi's). We haven't gotten much snow to speak of, so maybe it was overkill for me to get a set of dedicated snows, but I wanted to be safe, just in case.
I did take a hit in mpgs, some of it probably due to the new snow tires, they definitely are more grippy than the Dunlop OEM tires. But I'm sure a lot of other factors contributed to the lower mpg measurement...cold weather, short commute (uphill one-way) to work, etcetera.
I tried to find info you've been looking for regarding low rolling resistance, and it's hard to find anything recent. Nokian claims to have low rolling resistance, but they seem to use different units to measure LRR compared to any numbers I've seen in charts and tables I found on the web. By the time I finish reading some of this stuff, I feel like Lewis Black going into one of his rants. Try googling low rolling resistance, and reading some of the stuff, and you'll see what I mean. It's either data on tires they don't make anymore, or super-secret studies that only the car manufacturers have access to, so they can squeeze the highest possible mpg ratings out of their new cars for the sake of making an impression of their average CAFE standards.
I guess the consumer has to do the best we can with the info we have at our disposal. I did find some anecdotal reviews of the tire you are interested in. It was a google search that lead to someone on a Prius chat forum who liked those tires and said their mpgs were not adversely affected.
Gotta go for now; maybe some other folks have some input as well.

 

I paid about the same as you did for my Nokian WR G2's. When I've been able to drive in good weather and dry (and not washboard or rutted) roads, I'll break 50 mpg, even in cold weather. Overall this winter, even figuring in driving in snowstorms and such, my average mpg is around 47. I see little difference with the OEM Dunlops as far as mpg goes. But I feel that the Nokians handle better and are better in rain as well. Moreover, they are a bit quieter on some surfaces (especially concrete!!). Hope you also have good experiences with them. And yes, they are very good in snow and slush!