Nokian Outpost AT

I have some bad news with one of my tires. Right around 15k on them with a decent amount of thread left to the 80% marker.

The tread separation started on that one in block and is now spreading outward and circumferentially.

 

Damn, that sucks. Doesn’t Nokian offer some kind of tread warranty? 60k miles?

 

I just took those pics yesterday and tossed them a message today. I will keep folks updated.

 

Watching. I just bought and installed five of these a couple hundred miles ago. Really like them in snow and mud.

 

Yes please keep us updated. These are on my shortlist.

 

That looks like an air pocket or something when the tire was cured. If the date code and country of origin are the same for all 4 you better keep a close eye on the other three.

 

Well Folks, the new ain't good. Quite simply, we will not be buying tires from Amazon in the future. They washed their hands of it and the seller, Budget Center, side to take it up with a local shop.

I'll pay a bit more using TireRack.com in the future. Going to try Nokian again. I suppose the shittiest part is that I might have to pay Amazon, again, for a tire if I can't get help. Total BS.

I left a 1star review for the current listing. We'll see if it gets posted.

Also, I filed a report with the NHTSA and will update folks if something comes back from that.

Here are the messages from Amazon / Budget Center:

 

I learned my lesson and only ever buy from Discount Tire now. All other avenues are total nightmares.

 

Yeah. Amazon is out.

But, we have purchased many sets of tires online and saved a lot of money paying fair prices. Discount brick and mortar stores let us down on more than one occasion in the past, which is what lead us to buying online. We will likely use TireRack.com for the 4wheeled stuff and whoever is cheapest for my bikes.

 

I’ll on occasion buy some fairly inexpensive items from Amazon. I would never even entertain buying a set of tires from them. That’s what my local tire shop is for….

Oh and by the way, I’m heading to that local tire shop first thing Friday morning to have a new set of these Outposts mounted on my SR SX. Going to stick with the stock 245/75 16’s. I’ll report back…..

 

I believe Discount acquired Tire Rack...

 

Yup. Lesson learned there. High ticket items with only one month of support is BS.


Did your set come out of Russia?

 

FFS.

I think I recall that now. Next!!

 

I guess I’ll find out Friday morning. That’s when I get them mounted and balanced.

 

Ah. I assumed that you had them in hand and were taking them to the shop.

 

Nope. I’m purchasing them from the shop. The purchase price from my shop is $198 per tire. Sounds like a lot compared to Amazons listed price of $154 for the same size. But that $198 per tire includes the initial mounting and balancing. It also includes for the life of the tires, free rotations, free air check, free alignment check, free flat repair, free rebalancing, and free 4 year (to 3/32”) road hazard (pothole) replacement. Being that the initial mounting and balancing typically runs about a hundred bucks itself, seems like a no brainer to me. Plus the shop owner is a good friend of mine.

 

Forgot to report an update on mine. I recently drove them through several hours of severe blizzard on a two lane highway in Eastern Colorado. The wet snow, wind, and fog was so heavy I couldn’t see the road in places.

I was driving over bare road, slush, ice, and fresh snow in all combinations randomly. It was about the worst case scenario since the tires couldn’t load up with snow. In RWD I could feel some sketchiness as anyone would expect. 4hi was ok. I didn’t feel comfortable going over 35-40 but I was basically the only vehicle able to operate on the road aside from a couple profoundly maniacal semis heading the opposite direction where the road was a bit cleaner.

Once the weather cleared, I attempted to pass a Corolla which was going about 20 mph on mostly just wet pavement with moderate slush and snow between tire tracks. I did this in RWD at about 30 mph and the rear end got a little squirrly crossing the slush/snow lines. Nothing an experienced inclement weather driver couldn’t handle and nothing that an external observer would probably notice. I had about 200 lbs in the bed.

Overall, a good showing. I’m not dead in a ditch, that’s a win. Are they as good as my old General Grabber ATX in the snow? Or even my Rotiivas on my CR-V? Not sure yet. They might be. I have no qualms about their pure snow performance.

Like any all terrain, I suspect evacuating water and slush is not a strong suit, so I want to re-emphasize how challenging these mixed road conditions were for any tire. The Outposts certainly did quite well in a very, very challenging road condition scenario.

 

@tonered

Were yours the SL or LT?

 

Mine are E-rated 275/70r17s. Speaking of, they’re the most comfortable E rated tires I have ever run. I don’t typically like them.