New Gislaved Nordfrost 5 (non-studded)!

[msanford]

I just got my new winter tires, Gislaved Nordfrost 5 (non-studded, but studdable) on steel rims.

I used to ride on Toyo G-02s in my Sonata, lots of sipes, pretty soft, more than decent.

But my new Gislaveds, wow. Saying the rubber is soft is a huge understatement: it's nearly the consistency of blue tack! I was surprised that my thumb didn't turn black rubbing the tire.

My experience has been good in low temperature (but so far, no snow has stayed on the ground, though it has already fallen). I'll post an update with more winter driving.

However, I did have a problem. As soon as I drove out of the garage and turned, I heard a pretty loud scraping sound coming from the rear drums. Turns out that the edge of the drum was rusted, and didn't mate to the brake housing properly. Upon turning, the more flexible wheel transmitted an uneven force to the bottom of the drum making it chafe against the housing. Applying the brake while turning obliterated the scraping. A bit of rust removal (grinding the edge of the drum) fixed that.

[Frank@toronto]

Gislaved Nordfrost 5 are a popular alternative to the more expensive Nokian Happa's.

[cramar]

Gislaved Nordfrost 5 are highly rated. I got the General Altimax Artic from Canadian Tire which are rebranded older Nordfrost 3s. I don't know what the improvement with the 5 over the 3, but based on a compromise of quality and cost, I am very pleased with them. They are awesome in all conditions and fairly quiet on dry roads. Gislaved knows how to design winter tires.

[drboeing]

Originally Posted by msanford

I just got my new winter tires, Gislaved Nordfrost 5 (non-studded, but studdable) on steel rims.

I used to ride on Toyo G-02s in my Sonata, lots of sipes, pretty soft, more than decent.

But my new Gislaveds, wow. Saying the rubber is soft is a huge understatement: it's nearly the consistency of blue tack! I was surprised that my thumb didn't turn black rubbing the tire.

My experience has been good in low temperature (but so far, no snow has stayed on the ground, though it has already fallen). I'll post an update with more winter driving.

However, I did have a problem. As soon as I drove out of the garage and turned, I heard a pretty loud scraping sound coming from the rear drums. Turns out that the edge of the drum was rusted, and didn't mate to the brake housing properly. Upon turning, the more flexible wheel transmitted an uneven force to the bottom of the drum making it chafe against the housing. Applying the brake while turning obliterated the scraping. A bit of rust removal (grinding the edge of the drum) fixed that.

I am in Ottawa also, where did you pick them up.

[Frank@toronto]

For someone who lives in Miami