Local shop steering me away from BFG AT

duratracs

 

Know several people with nokian tires all are unhappy and were pushed by there "tire guy"get duratracs if u need an at tire with a snowflake

 

This. ^^

BFG A/T KOs or Goodyear Duratracs FTW.

 

i went thru three sets of bfg at's on mt first gen taco... averages 70k per set. their compounds are more durable than anything else on the market hands down. however;
on my new 2010 dc off road taco theres not even a bfg a.t. made for it.... the fifteen inch rims on the first gen allowed me to run a c rated tire. on a 16'' rim the lowest pressure rated tire is an E rated tire that is ten ply and way to stiff and heavey for a truck the size of a tacoma. if any bfg people are reading this build a c rated tire in 16'' rim size and you could do a lot of bussiness.

 

Nokian is a large reputable company in Europe, they just are not as well known in Canada and the US. Kal Tire has exclusive rights to sell them (in Canada) directly from Nokian. The sales people are on salary and don't make any kind of comission on any tires.

I think the BFG A/T is an excellent tire but it's not the only one. I've heard that they will also be loosing the snow flake symbol because it doesn't meet new winter traction standards. I've run the Nokian Vativa in the past and found it to be a great all season tire and it also came with an 80,000km tread warranty. The Rotiva replaces the Vativa and is supposed to be even better, i think it only came out this year so there may not be many reviews on it. I think Kal has a 30 day return policy, why don't you try them out.

 

I was running 265/70/16 bfg at on my tacoma....load range D

 

Those are the tires I'm running as well - very happy with them.

 

Well if Kal Tire has exclusive rights to sell Nokian than that would explain why the sales person is pushing them. He's pushing his "house brand" which is exactly what I suspected. As far as the commission goes, he may not not get commission per say, but I know they get what are call "spiffs," which is a form of a straight dollar amount paymments to the sales person for every Nokian tire they sell, which is VERY common amongst tire manf. I almost exclusively pushed and sold the tires that paid spiffs out even though I knew they were an inferior tire only because it's what made me the most money. Those who haven't ever worked in retail won't understand, but that's the hidden truth.

 

I know the manager at a local Kal tire. They do not get any "spiffs". They are paid a salary. They also get a small portion of the store profits, but it has nothing to do with what tire they sell. Most of the employees that work there use nokian tires themselves. There must be something decent about them.

 

No you're not understanding me, regardless of whether they get salary, hourly, or they work for peanuts or food, spiffs are entirely separate and have nothing to do with Kal Tire themselves. It's a manufacturer incentive and is paid out directly in the form of a check on top of whatever they make at Kal Tire. I know 100% for a FACT Nokian pays out spiffs because I used to sell and push them when they had a spiff program which they brought out a few times of the year when they had excess inventory. I made some decent money to pay bills from Nokian, as well as BFG, Falken, and Goodyear. They all had or have spiff programs. Also whenever customers asked if we got commission or spiffs, we would always tell them NO. They might be a somewhat decent tire, I am just trying to explain why they are pushing them so hard.

 

Just wanna share my experience with Nokian WR - bought them almost new, already mounted on my Pathfinder 3.5 years ago. don't know how many miles previous owner got on them, but looked fairly new to me.
Since I didn't have any other tires on this vehicle, can't compare them.
I put on them around 44.000 km (appx. 27.500 miles) and they would have to be replaced for upcoming winter this fall. The tread would not be sufficient to handle the snow in safe manner (I'm experienced professional driver, no weekend warrior ;-)
I live in BC and took it up to 100 Miles House in January. I was somehow disappointed by snow handling but - they are not pure winter tires.

Overall seems to me rather short life span on them but no need for swapping the tires for winter.

Sold my Nissan last week, got a 2004 4Runner instead so looking for new tires. Might give a chance to Rotiivas.

 

Dear Community,
I am the orig. owner of a 96 FZJ80 (Landcruiser), after owning 3 Toyota 4WD Trucks that I used as Field vehicles in the SW Deserts.
I am puzzled when I read negative reviews on Nokians. My FZJ80 came stock with P-Metric Michelin LTX's OE size P275/70R16. While these gave a cushy nicely cornering city sport comfort ride; they would not keep the stopped vehicle from sliding sideways off roads on hard packed snow or icy conditions in Alaska. They were a disaster and quite dangerous IME. After installing Cooper studs (LT265/75R16's) after somehow surviving two winters - it was the difference between night and day - no more sliding through stop signs or fishtailing at very low speeds. The really amazing change occurred after replacing the "summer" Michelin's with Nokian Vatiiva AT's (LT265/75R16). We had a very early winter and they performed so fantastically, I never even thought about switching back to my still new winter Cooper studs! These tires are terrific! Not only is the tread/sipping pattern great in all winter conditions, I believe the true advantage to these tires is in the composition of the tires' rubber. I have been running these tires since 2003 (5 years in wintery Anchorage, 1 year in sweltering N TX and 2 1/2 years in high and dry CO - I rotate all 5 regularly, keep the air pressure fairly high (you MUST raise the pressure on your tires if you switch from OE P-metrics to LT tires - if not, the tires will run hot and you will wear them rapidly and risk being unsafe). I am researching options at this time and will most likely replace my LT Vatiiva's with their 'new and improved' successors - the LT (10 ply now) Nokian Rotiiva's which just came out in the Spring of 2012. I would not hesitate to try the Rotiiva's on your truck - they have been the most sturdy, reliable in all conditions (off and on road) tires that I have used on any of my Toyota 4WD vehicles.
Best of Luck to all and Safe Journeys,
Autana

 

Curious what rhowell got for tires? Although I don't have a Tacoma, I am looking to buy Rotiva's.......any additional thoughts

 

kia's are pretty good cars now a days.

that's what happens when the company doesn't spend all their money on labor and explorative projects, but instead puts it into the quality of their materials, while doing their best to build a quality product since there the newb and trying to build rep

 

I still think the analogy stands...

Kia still has a long ways to go.

 

I'm re-reviving this for future "search"ers on the nokians. I have been researching the nokian rotiiva at for a while now and I would, in a heartbeat, buy a set. All the people hating on them is just because they haven't heard of them. The attention to small details in tread design is immaculate IMO and they are one of very few with the M+S snowflake rating that are still an all season, all terrain tire. Balance between off road, highway and severe snow is a selling point to me. I even like their cool tread wear indicator with percentages printed on the tread. They have excellent low rolling resistance for an AT, higher temp rating than revos, wrangler SAs, at3s, ltxs etc, competitive tread wear. Etc


I'm not fanboying these, just wanted to point out that they seem to be a formidable contender

 

Ive got 3 year old Dura Tracs to me they have never been that good on the snow, awesome in the rain though. Ive got a 2007 with an open diff so I get plenty of tire spin off the line and everywhere else. The Dura Trac's look great and have worn evenly. But they are loud and slower to accelerate in LT C rated then LT Nokians felt. After two winters I'm ready for a fresh set of meats. Ive also been running Vitiva's and the are a great tire, but still not boss in the snow, to me. But they were never severe weather rated like the Rotiivas, Dura Tracs and a hand full of other At's. Now they do carry this rating. And coming from a company that makes some of the best snow tires around that means allot to me. When I pick up a set I think too make up for there boring looks im going to a bigger size to 265/75/16 but in a P rating so i'll be losing 3 pound of weight on each wheel. Stock size in P rating i'd be dropping 8 pounds vs the my LT rated Dura Tracs. I'll let you know how it turn's out for me this winter.

 

^And Duratracs are COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to this 10 month old thread...

 

My Dad has the Rotiiva's on his FJ and they are great on the snowed out roads in the winter and in the summer for wheeling on the trails(nothing extreme, well worn trails).

The RCMP now have them on all their cars and trucks and the BC Ambulance Service is in the process of changing their entire fleet to the Nokian Rotiivas.

Hope this helps,

 

I'm reviving this incredibly old thread to see if maybe some people could give some more, long term feedback on these. A local shop sells them and I don't know much about them.

"look at me, I used the SEARCH function!!!"