Originally Posted by
ercchry
Firstly... Let’s quantify a few things.
Me: less than 10k kms/yr... probably 60/40 winter/summer, I kill a set of hakkas by Feb, so let’s call that 3k kms.... 3... thousand per $1000 after balancing... not factoring in the absolute PITA it is to actually get the work done. TCO was about $1.50/km, not including tires, nor other consumables (oil,gas,etc)... so yeah what’s another $0.33?
But here is the thing... you can’t use any of the performance of the car when the ground is dry on hakkas, the ground is always dry... alpin lasted 4x what the Hakka did with their harder compound and I gave up... uh, nothing on the odd blizzard, they also felt a hell of a lot more secure at high speed too.
So spending 4x more on anything for worse TOP performance is not something I can get behind, especially since I’ve never felt fear due to loss of control on ice... but I’m an outlier... I’m sure hakkas on the trophy wife’s G wagon are well worth it... for me? Nope, not even a little.
I’ve used almost every brand over the years and longevity and dry conditions performance are the only real measurable differences... and they go hand in hand. I will get off the line with the flow of traffic with any winter, not a concern... spending time at the tire shop, losing the ability to drive 8/10 what I can on summers, and yeah the higher than necessary tire budget are not worth it.
I’m not arguing that they are a GREAT shit conditions tire... but realistically, do you need that? Probably not. Not at the cost of the trade offs