The gloves are off as Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10, known for its unparalleled performance on snowy roads, squares off against Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5, hailed for its exceptional handling on icy surfaces. Let’s find out which winter tire reigns supreme!
Table of Contents
Key Takeaway
- Ice Performance: The R5 outperforms due to its precise biters and superior siping. However, the Hakkapeliitta 10’s stud holes could be a plus point for icy terrains.
- Wet Grip: The R5 has the upper hand due to its abundance of siping and in-groove notches, while its counterpart’s thicker siping underperforms in wet conditions.
- Snow Performance: The Nokian 10 shines with its wider tread voids and notches, while the R5’s closed design limits its snow performance.
- Fuel Economy: The Hakkapeliitta 10’s significant weight and larger tread voids lead to higher rolling resistance. The R5, with its lighter weight and streamlined design, provides better fuel efficiency.
- Dry Traction: The R5 offers better grip due to a more streamlined design, while the Hakkapeliitta 10’s larger weight and voided design hinder its performance.
- Comfort Levels: The R5 is quieter, but its bigger brother stands out for its superior vibration absorption capability due to its softer rubber compound and larger tread void gaps.
Sizes
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 comes in 14 to 20 inches with following.
- Speed ratings: R and T.
- Load ratings: SL and XL.
- Tread depth: 11.5/32″
- Weight: 15 to 35 lbs.
On the other side, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 comes in 14 to 20 inches with following.
- Speed ratings: T only.
- Load range: XL only.
- Tread depth: 11.5/32″ on all.
- Weight: 16.5 to 35.5 lbs.
Note: You also get Flat Run tire type in 6 sizes.
Ice Performance
In the realm of icy terrains, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 emerges as the undeniable victor.
Its exceptional performance surpasses that of its counterpart by demonstrating a significantly shorter braking distance and faster acceleration time, as measured and averaged in rigorous tests.
It basically comes with a very precisely angled biters in all longitudinal and lateral traction, so the lugs grip in all directions.
Moreover, you also get more in number sipes, which by the way, also have a more aggressive interlocking pattern.
On the other side, the Hakkapeliitta 10, while providing adequate grooves, still falls short in comparison, due to its missing crowded biters design.
It’s wider tread voids, and less in number sipes, simply can’t offer a similar experience compared to R5.
Though the plus point for this tire is that it features a lot of stud holes, so ideally, you can get a good traction on ice with that too.
Wet Grip
The wet traction of a tire is influenced by two crucial factors: tread design and rubber compound.
And so, taking both into consideration, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 comes out better, due to its tread featuring an abundance of siping, along with a lot of in-groove notches.
The sipes basically help clearing off water, as they suck up the particles within their slits. That’s why with more number of siping, the R5 is taking the lead.
Moreover, multi-angled notches also help here, as they get to be parallel of the direction of the tire’s motion, and provide grip.
On the other side, the Hakkapeliitta 10 thicker siping also helps a lot in snow, they really lack in wet conditions, resulting in longer wet braking distances and handling times.
Snow Performance
In snowy conditions, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 takes the lead due to its distinctive design features, as it possesses wider tread voids and in-groove notches that excel at trapping snow particles.
This design promotes increased traction as the lodged snow provides a superior grip compared to the rubber tread itself.
Additionally, the tire’s “thicker”, swooping, V-shaped lugs effectively displace thick snow, enhancing forward momentum and contributing to better acceleration times.
In contrast, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 exhibits somewhat limited braking and handling capabilities due to its relatively closed design, featuring a continuous central rib and narrower in-groove notches.
The tire’s less aggressive directional tread pattern, lacking the strong enough, you can say, arms limit its efficiency when it comes to maneuvering through (fluffy) snow.
Fuel Economy
Fuel consumption in tires is intricately connected to their road surface adhesion and overall structural weight. And these aspects present areas that could benefit from improvement, when we talk about the Hakkapeliitta 10.
This tire basically exhibits significant weight, and larger tread voids, and both of these contribute to its higher rolling resistance values.
With larger voids, each lug bear more weight pressure on itself, and this leads to increased lug bending and flexing. Consequently, more energy is required, leading to a reduction in overall fuel usage.
On the other side, the R5 with its lighter weight exerts less pressure on the road surface, effectively reducing overall friction.
Furthermore, the Hakkapeliitta R5 features a tread design with a better longitudinally aligned (central) rib, that streamline its movement when rolling straight. This design minimizes obstacles and conserves energy, resulting in improved fuel efficiency.
Dry Traction
Dry performance comprises two aspects: grip and handling.
Grip refers to the tire’s ability to roll or brake when moving straight, typically measured by braking distances.
And in this regard, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 emerges with shorter stopping and handling times, thanks to its more streamlined longitudinal central rib, that provides a larger contact area with the ground.
The Hakkapeliitta 10, on the other hand, lacks with its voided design, stating the obvious, though it’s directional grip is not as bad here, as its handling.
Handling depends on two factors: contact from the shoulders and lug bending, and both of these aren’t favoring this tire.
Its greater weight hinders its performance and prevents it from achieving comparable results. I mean, in tests, it is approximately 0.5 seconds slower than its counterpart.
With larger weight, the lugs basically flex more as the tire maneuvers, and this decreases overall steering feedback.
On the other side, the Hakkapeliitta R5, with its lighter weight, and solid reinforced foundations (under its tread lugs), provide a firmer ride, where less lug bending is seen, so you get a superior under and over steering balance.
Comfort Levels
The comfort levels of a tire are largely influenced by factors such as road noise and vibration absorption capability, which can vary significantly depending on the tire’s construction.
In terms of noise, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 has the upper hand overall, as it produces relatively less noise due to its swooping arms, which streamline the air particles, minimizing their impact on the tread walls.
On the other hand, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10, although relatively louder, excels in its ability to absorb bumps.
This is because, one, the tire features thermally adaptive softer rubber compound, which enables more effective cushioning of bumps on the road.
And two, it’s lugs have more gaps in between, so they mold, absorbing up the shocks of the road, acting as secondary suspensions for the car.
Conclusion
Upon comparing these two formidable winter tires, we get to see that, each demonstrates specific advantages.
The Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 excels in fluffy snow conditions due to its wider tread voids, bigger in-groove notches, and superior snow-clearing V-shaped lugs.
However, it falls short in ice performance compared to its counterpart, which has very tiny biters.
By the way, these biters also allow this tire to have superior traction in wet conditions.
And yes, its closed up design also allows it to have superior on-road, dry performance too.
Moreover, with lighter weight, the tire also shows up with lower rolling resistance values, and this results in tire giving up with superior fuel economy and tread life.
