Where can I purchase Nokian Studded Tyres in Ireland or UK?

Be Do Have

As the global climate warms up, Ireland has its own agenda. And seen as there is no sign of any railway transport coming to my area in the near future, I would like to buy snow tyres or studded tyres for driving on ice to get around. Just like they do in Finland, every year since the 1960's.

Searching the net hasn't brought up any definitive places to order Nokian studded tyres in Ireland or the UK. So I thought I would throw it out there...

Also if anyone would like to have an argument about future meteorolgy in Ireland, and tell me "its only a 40 year event" I can accommadate you also.

p.s I am not a climatologist or a meteorologist, but I do have a brain.

v300

Buy them on-line, but I suspect the cold snap will be history before they arrive.

Camskill is the best site if you can master the navigation of it.

Anan1

Are studded tyres legal for use here? And even if so, wouldn't the studs wear off on tarmac? I'd be thinking of a set of winter tyres, and AWD on your next car.

lucky-colm

i doubt that awd would really make that much of a difference unless you plan on going to work through the fields or over a few ditches, surley if the roiad was a sheet of ice then is all you would have is 4wheels spinning in place of 2.
i would think that wintert tyres would be the way to go, but like was allready stated for the few weeks of this weather we get each year i doubt if it would make financial sens to purchase and store a set for the year.
would be more in you line to buy a boat or dinghy as this seems to be more usefull in this country than a car

RATM

Anan1 wrote: »

Are studded tyres legal for use here? And even if so, wouldn't the studs wear off on tarmac? I'd be thinking of a set of winter tyres, and AWD on your next car.

Thats exactly what I was thinking when I read the OP- they may not be legal. I lived in Finland before and under their legal system you must have them on your car for certain months of the year. However, when a certain date comes (something like March 1st) they are then illegal and you must revert back to normal tyres.
I think its something to do with the studs eventually cracking the tarmac- they are designed for driving on snowy roads, not for extended use of roads that are clear.

OP I'd instead buy yourself a set of snow chains, they only take 5 minutes to fit and they do offer good grip, even on ice. If you still do want to go with the studded tyres idea then Id say importing them from Sweden/Denmark/Finland shouldn't be a problem.

itarumaa

RATM wrote: »

I lived in Finland before and under their legal system you must have them on your car for certain months of the year.

A slight correction, it is required by law to use M+S tyres, not necessary a studded ones, you can user winter tyres as well.

Be Do Have

v300 wrote: »

Buy them on-line, but I suspect the cold snap will be history before they arrive.

Camskill is the best site if you can master the navigation of it.

Thanks, good website. Didn't see any studs though.

Be Do Have

Anan1 wrote: »

Are studded tyres legal for use here? And even if so, wouldn't the studs wear off on tarmac? I'd be thinking of a set of winter tyres, and AWD on your next car.

Everythings illegal in Ireland.
Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn tires wont get you up or down an icey hill safely. Just watch the news if you dont believe me.

Be Do Have

RATM wrote: »

OP I'd instead buy yourself a set of snow chains, they only take 5 minutes to fit and they do offer good grip, even on ice. If you still do want to go with the studded tyres idea then Id say importing them from Sweden/Denmark/Finland shouldn't be a problem.

Snow chains, thanks i'll look into that also. Also, im not looking for studded tyres to drive on tarmac all year round. That would just be silly. I want them for icey conditions, far worse ice then we have seen these past few days.

RATM

Be Do Have wrote: »

Snow chains, thanks i'll look into that also. Also, im not looking for studded tyres to drive on tarmac all year round. That would just be silly. I want them for icey conditions, far worse ice then we have seen these past few days.

Where are you planning driving then?
If you do go down the snow chain route then make sure they are fitted to the tyres that are actually driving the car or otherwise they will be useless. Also if you're in a 4x4 using 4WD you'll need chains on each tyre.

Ox Mountains

Nokian Dealer in Ireland is Agri-gear Ltd, Kells Road, Bailieboro, Co. Cavan, (042) 9666444.
I called them today and they don't stock studded tyres only friction tyres. They would get in studded tyres with their next container but it could be a few months.
Go to www.nokiantyres.com/importers and select Ireland.

h3000

Would studded tyres or snow chains work any bit well in the amount of snow and ice we have? I always taught it had to bit quite deep for them to work well, like the conditions they get in Scandinavia.

ninty9er

Be Do Have wrote: »

Everythings illegal in Ireland.
Winter, Spring, Summer or Autumn tires wont get you up or down an icey hill safely. Just watch the news if you dont believe me.

Given our climate I'm not sure what difference it would make to have winter or studded tyres. Where they are used, the weather,though cold, tends to be dry and snowy, not wet and icy in the main.

I stand to be corrected though.

CJhaughey

They'll work alright but be very noisy and speed restricted to stop the studs coming out from centrifugal force.
They work well in snow and ice not so good on tarmac.
They are not illegal there was a post a while back from a guy who works for the NCT(upshot was they are legal)

turnbull

I too have been looking for studded tyres. I had a pair for my old car and used them over ten years for perhaps 1500 miles of drvinig in total. They make an incredible difference when driving on sheet ice from a location between steep hills in Co. Louth. I would typically put the tyres on for a day or two and on occasion for a week. Some years passed when they were not needed at all. I also used studded tyres in the States and never had any problem with them.

I have ordered winter tyres for the two cars we are presently using but need studded tyres as well and if anyone finds a site which sells these tyres on line or in Ireland I would be most interested. Studs make all the difference in the world on ice. From what I understand the increase in grip on ice for winter tyres is only about 12%. I am talking about ice not snow.

These tyres are not suitable for someone who is not in a position to change their tyres as soon as the road conditions improve.

Any help in finding an on line dealer would be appreciated. My searches have been unsuccessful so far.

Thanks to all Doug

fortuna4022

I've been having the same hunt, I slid on some ice over new year and did some damage to suspension - point is that any driving whatsoever in icy conditions is extremely dangerous; the repair bill for me is :eek: ~1400 euro ! (This was a gentle slide and collision with the curb, no bodywork damage, just recovery to workshop and replace strut, wishbone, CV joint, tie-rod & sump (sump I think got broken during recovery - it's my third so far, they're very easily broken :rolleyes:).
I've hunted high and low for studded tyres - the irish dealers simply don't have them and the UK dealers shiver with fear and tell me that they are very illegal (don't take them to Newry on your next shopping trip ! The fine will be 10k stg) I've found a dealer in Ukraine who will sell a top range set of Hakkapeliita 7 studded tyres for about 400 euro however this is before the courier cost. I went down to the Gardai to ask if there was any problem with legality over this and just about got laughed out of the Garda station, they said they won't be stopping anybody driving on them; understandable since the morning papers are seeing the top Govt. levels being hauled up over the country grinding to a halt under and inch or so of ice on the roads with salt stocks rapidily running out . . . . . . .
If anyone thinks studded tyres are bad for roads, some truck drivers have been using snow chains - now there's a tarmac crunching road shagger !
Any comments ?? Anyone heard of a prosecution for using studded winter tyres ??

craichoe

Jesus H lads, just get some Winter Tyres if your going to get anything !

Winter Tyres are pretty noise and use extra fuel anyway, can't even imagine what studded tyres would be like on Tarmac.

daveharnett

Since motors is in overreaction mode, where's the thread on these?

Or possibly these:

biko

Scandinavian countries are even banning studded tyres in certain regions as they wear down the tarmac. As Ireland hasn't had this issue yet maybe there isn't any legislation in place for this.

Paulj

Surely what you want is Mud and snow tyres without studs (see the section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyres). Since half the time you'll be driving on tarmac and half the time you're on ice. The studs wouldn't do the roads any good i'm sure!

fortuna4022

Ok, I think the snow trac might get attention from the gardai !
The point is that winter tyres are pretty useless on ice - I found this out to my horror on the autobahn in Germany - the car went carreering out of the lane and into the fast lane on black ice despite being on the soft rubber winter tyes, found traction again just before leaving the road for the centre concrete - very close ! The winter tyres are 10 ~ 15% better than the normal tyres which we use all year - i.e. about 10 % better than quite useless if the temperature falls below zero and ice sets in.
By the way, anybody looked at the state of our roads lately ? :mad:
Are studs going to make make them any worse ? :rolleyes::rolleyes:
Or will it just mean less wrecked cars along the M4 ?
(Also you have to drive slower with studs, the RSA will simply love the speed reduction). If the studs save me from one further encounter with the curb, then that's a real great deal as the suspension refit cost = three sets of the best studded tyres . . . . . . . . (plus 200 euro for a lavish night out).
Maybe next time, I'll not be so lucky - there could be something other than big curb stone when the slide ends (Tree :eek: / BMW ?:D)

opinion guy

Anyone know where I can get chains ?

I head a place on the Long Mile Road was selling them (JFK industrial estate maybe ?) but can't figure out what place it is. Anyone any ideas ?

craichoe

fortuna4022 wrote: »

Ok, I think the snow trac might get attention from the gardai !
The point is that winter tyres are pretty useless on ice - I found this out to my horror on the autobahn in Germany - the car went carreering out of the lane and into the fast lane on black ice despite being on the soft rubber winter tyes, found traction again just before leaving the road for the centre concrete - very close ! The winter tyres are 10 ~ 15% better than the normal tyres which we use all year - i.e. about 10 % better than quite useless if the temperature falls below zero and ice sets in.
By the way, anybody looked at the state of our roads lately ? :mad:
Are studs going to make make them any worse ? :rolleyes::rolleyes:
Or will it just mean less wrecked cars along the M4 ?
(Also you have to drive slower with studs, the RSA will simply love the speed reduction). If the studs save me from one further encounter with the curb, then that's a real great deal as the suspension refit cost = three sets of the best studded tyres . . . . . . . . (plus 200 euro for a lavish night out).
Maybe next time, I'll not be so lucky - there could be something other than big curb stone when the slide ends (Tree :eek: / BMW ?:D)

Trying to drive with Studs on Tarmac would be like trying to cycle a bicycle on rims on the footpath.

With regard to the part in bold, there is a huge different between standard and winter tyres on snow/sleet. My ABS was kicking in the whole time last year on standard all years, this winter i went and got winter tyres and theres a huge difference.

RE@ Part in bold: Black ice on the Autobahn, I drive 230 km round trip every day to work on Autobahn, I plan my route before hand depending on the state of the road and traffic. I wouldn't leave work or home without checking this first. (saved myself a 3 hour traffic jam last night)

http://www.verkehrsinfo.de/

Prevention is the best way

fortuna4022

Agreed - there's where the winter tyres are grand - snow & sleet, if you have ice (as we now on much of the seconday road network (for want of salting), winter tyres probably won't help much - this was my experience on the autobahn near Leipzig, may I never experience black ice again.
(The situation is so bad with salt supply that sand is being considered to bulk up gritting supplies or at least that is what was printed in the Indo earlier - it's desperate !).
Some of the roads I've encountered have a layer of snow underwhich is a layer of ice; I got stuck on such a road north of Sligo - we pulled the car (by physically shoving it sideways) off the road into a layby. I looked at the road and discovered that it had a half inch layer of snow / hail and beneath this was a layer of ice about one inch thick, I would not have approached this road had I known.:(

Max Headroom

fortuna4022 wrote: »

Ok, I think the snow trac might get attention from the gardai !
quote]

Theyre goin to have to catch you first......:D

fortuna4022

Good point I would not put any bets on the squad car where a snow trac is involved !

galwaytt

ninty9er wrote: »

........ Where they are used, the weather,though cold, tends to be dry and snowy, not wet and icy in the main.

I stand to be corrected though.

...no prob, consider yourself corrected

Hovering -6 here for the last few days, bone dry since 28th Dec, barely icing the windscreen overnight.........'crispy'.

That'll do the trick, then......

fortuna4022

By definition, once the mercury falls below zero it is no longer wet (due to freeze) so snow and ice build; most dangerous is when the mercury subsequenly climbs back over 0 - leaves a laver of melt water on the ice for good sliding . . . . . . . .

GREENWORLD

I lived in Finland for a year. I was amazed at how the Fins got around so easily on the ice with their studded tyres. They cope very well with the weather there. Don't forget the snow can last for several months over there. They store their winter tyres at home and get them changed as soon as the weather changes, I'm sure they get a few years out of their tyres. As for damage to the roads over there - considering they are using the studded tyres for up to 6 months of the year - of course there will be some damage. I think the emergency services here should have those tyres fitted - who knows we may have this weather more often now as the climate is changing. I think they should be available to eveyone here also - I think it all depends on if you can afford the cost involved in getting them changed twice and I'm sure the tyres are a bit more expensive than the ordinary tyres too. It's absolutely crazy to see ambulances turning over and emergency vehicles being held up because we are not eqquipped here to deal with this kind of problem. At least we could be getting around ourselves with these tyres and not having to depend on this Government who can't get their act together with the gritting !!

GREENWORLD

One more point, the garages in Finland make a fortune on this every year - when you consider that a few million people have to get their tyres changed every year. I'm sure it would be a good opportunity for garage owners here also to make a few bob.

Marlow

GREENWORLD wrote: »

One more point, the garages in Finland make a fortune on this every year - when you consider that a few million people have to get their tyres changed every year. I'm sure it would be a good opportunity for garage owners here also to make a few bob.

People don't get their tyres changed. You usually have a set of steelies or alloys with your wintertyres on. All you need is to jack your car up, take the summer wheels off and put the winter wheels on.

Obviously, if you're too lazy to do that and go to a garage to get it done, then you'll pay for it.

Also, some garages offer at a fixed price to switch your wheels over and store your summer/winter wheels for you, if you don't have the space. You pay X per year and they hold whatever set of wheels you don't use in store for you.

It's a good business model, but neither rip off nor costs a fortune. The only gold diggers in that concept would be found here if it became common.

/M

gibbon75

I used to drive on studded tyres in Colorado,and you can get used to the noise,which isn't that bad:similar when you have several small rocks stuck into the tyre tread

KamiKazi

lmao, studded tyres in Ireland.

Think I'll put a set of spikey tyres on the bike :pac:

T-Square

WHATS THE IRISH FASCINATION WITH STUDDED TYRES

THEY TEAR THE ROAD TO PIECES!

fortuna4022

GREENWORLD wrote: »

I lived in Finland for a year. I was amazed at how the Fins got around so easily on the ice with their studded tyres.
I think the emergency services here should have those tyres fitted - who knows we may have this weather more often now as the climate is changing.

Interesting, I was watching Dubln firebrigade attend a house fire on Dargle road Drumcondra, the road is highly cambered and looked more like an ice rink; two fire trucks were out and there were 2 suppot vehicles - the one fire truck had ventured up the road to the house (the road was parked out on both sides so the fire trucks were at risk of destroying parked cars); the other fire truck had stopped at the bottom of the road which was clear of parked cars; it had been abandoned by its crew who walked the 150 yards to the fire (I think it was just a chimney smoke out, no flames seen) - the back of the abandoned fire truck slid sideways about 2 feet on the ice, the front stayed put in the centre of the road. No question there about need for studded tyres ! Are those old 70s trucks the right vehicles if the country ices over ?- I doubt, I think 4X4 trucks (Unimog ?) with studded tyres would be more to the point.To get to people who are snowed / iced in - the normal trucks aren't able.

fortuna4022

v300 wrote: »

Buy them on-line, but I suspect the cold snap will be history before they arrive.

Camskill is the best site if you can master the navigation of it.

Incidently don't bother with CAMSKILL for studded tyres, they don't have them & shiver when the enquiry is made as they are a UK dealer who are scared of getting into trouble for selling tyres which are not legal in the UK.
(this is probably just someone punting for business).

gibbon75

T-Square wrote: »

THEY TEAR THE ROAD TO PIECES!

The roads are already in pieces...

fortuna4022

I reckon so few would bother with studded tyres that it probably would not make the roads any worse; it seems that they're now sending in the members of the army (300 of them ?) to battle the icy conditions, must post some photos of the roads around my estate, I zig zag around the potholes to get to the estate, the Co co. recently put dollops of tarmac into the potholes so we now have 'potbumbs' which will last a few months.
The frequent Buseireann commuter service might restore the potholes in due course.
I've never actually seen full road resurface work, only patch filling which does not get evenly compacted so our roads are patchy and bumpy. If there was sequential resurfacing for road maintenance, the argument against studded tyres would be valid but then our roads would be excellent and the Co co possibly insolvent .

Be Do Have

If another person tells me to buy winter tyres....grrr. You try driving down an icey hill with "winter" tyres and then tell me how you get on!
I refer users to my original question. If they don't know the answer, please dont tell me what you think I should and shouldn't do.

And another thing, I have never witnessed such a public outcry of concern for our roads that may or may not get damaged by a few weeks driving on studded tyres. The ice itself has torn our roads to bits in recent days, all without a studded tyre in sight.

Thankyou to all posters who passed on there knowledge, personal experience and tyre purchasing locations, cheers!

Happy Driving.

fortuna4022

Yip, this was my experience with winter tyres, 10% better than completely useless on ice - useless ! I nearly lost my life over black ice on the autobahn near Leipzig 8 years back - despite being on winter tyres -
if you have to deal with ice you need studded tyres -
have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MqWn58BY4k
There is much info thereabouts too; a shop in Scotland who might help:
Nordic Tyres (UK) Ltd tel : +441576 203020
I'm pleading with a Ukrainian shop for set Nokian Hakkapeliita 7
(The local dealer in Cavan does'nt know anything about them and is only interested in selling teleporter / tractor tyres).
To those who have care for the roads - I'd say that it would be prudent to put personal safety first; I checked this point with the Gardi their advice was similar but don't get caught on studded tyres in the summer, there's no excuse.

cormie

Fortuna, what are you saying? Why are you looking for a set of winter tyres if they are completely useless by your own experience? How much is shipping set to be for a set from Ukraine and will the Scottish shop ship any at all? Do the Nokians have studs on them?

CJhaughey

cormie wrote: »

Fortuna, what are you saying? Why are you looking for a set of winter tyres if they are completely useless by your own experience? How much is shipping set to be for a set from Ukraine and will the Scottish shop ship any at all? Do the Nokians have studs on them?

He is saying that Winters are useless on Ice. Studded tyres are not.
Hakkapellita 7 are a studded tyre not a winter tyre.
Allseason->Winter->Winter Studded.
Nothing grips ice as well as a carbide stud;)
But seriously up to this year I wouldn't have bothered with winter tyres on the car, after this winter I may have to think of a new strategy.
BTW my Toyota LC with BFG All-terrains has been excellent in the Ice and snow, where other LC's slid mine gripped. Not perfect but a damn sight better than the road based 4x4 tyres.

cormie

Ok, the ones I was looking at were Michelin X-ICE which are stated to be almost as good as studded tyres, but without the studs. I wonder how true that is...

itarumaa

My opinion, and it is even based on experience, winter tyre is not bad in ice, compared to summer tyre it is way way better.

Usually those winter tyres are soft and they have a specific shape that grips the ice, downside is that they wear fast, specially in summer conditions.

One test in Finnish magazine states that best winter tyre has same braking distance in the ice than worst studded tyre.

In Finland 80% of the drivers use studded tyres and 20% winter ones.

But is is really important to notice that Nordic winter tyre is not the same than they use in Germany etc south europe. Nordic winter tyres is much more softer and planned to lover speeds.

So there you go lads, experience based information instead of that noncence that about half of you write:)

ianobrien

Don't forget that in Finland, most of the country roads are not paved, they are compacted gravel/sand so studded tyres wont damage it.

Studded tyres would rip tarmac to pieces. If the ice is thick on the tarmac, they're fine. If there is no ice/thin ice, the studs will rip the tarmac.

Winter tyres (non studded) are used in the Alps, and were on the hired Ford Galaxy a few of us rented three years ago when we went to the Monte Carlo Rally. The winter tyres worked on dry tarmac, ice, show, slush etc, but were not great at almost 150kph on the Autoroute.

itarumaa

ianobrien wrote: »

Don't forget that in Finland, most of the country roads are not paved, they are compacted gravel/sand so studded tyres wont damage it.

Studded tyres would rip tarmac to pieces. If the ice is thick on the tarmac, they're fine. If there is no ice/thin ice, the studs will rip the tarmac.

Well thanks for the "advice", I quess I havent learned those "facts" even I am finnish and you are obiously not. Both of the above are not correct, do you seriously think that people will drive from Helsinki to Lapland (over 1000km) on gravel/sand roads?? All the main roads are tarmac ones and yes,specially in the South they do drive on studded tyres before the snow even arrives, and the damage to the tarmac is quite minimal.

T-Square

To be fair, nobody in Ireland gives a RATS what they do in Finland.

We are interested in what they do elsewhere.

"Nordic winter tyre is not the same than they use in Germany etc south europe"

CJhaughey

ianobrien wrote: »

Don't forget that in Finland, most of the country roads are not paved, they are compacted gravel/sand so studded tyres wont damage it.

Studded tyres would rip tarmac to pieces. If the ice is thick on the tarmac, they're fine. If there is no ice/thin ice, the studs will rip the tarmac.

Winter tyres (non studded) are used in the Alps, and were on the hired Ford Galaxy a few of us rented three years ago when we went to the Monte Carlo Rally. The winter tyres worked on dry tarmac, ice, show, slush etc, but were not great at almost 150kph on the Autoroute.

Studded tyres don't rip the tarmac to bits, FFS they are only about 2-3mm in length, the damage occurs when all the cars are on studs and they wear the road by grinding it down.The Norwegians pay a special tax in Oslo for the use of them not anywhere else AFAIK.
Don't confuse studded tyres with Ice speedway tyres they are quite different.:D
Anyway who gives a monkeys about the roads, the govt certainly doesn't going by Dempseys refusal to allocate any further funds for road repair.
The roads around the country are in tatters and any possible damage from studded tyres will be insignificant.

ianobrien

itarumaa wrote: »

Well thanks for the "advice", I quess I havent learned those "facts" even I am finnish and you are obiously not. Both of the above are not correct, do you seriously think that people will drive from Helsinki to Lapland (over 1000km) on gravel/sand roads?? All the main roads are tarmac ones and yes,specially in the South they do drive on studded tyres before the snow even arrives, and the damage to the tarmac is quite minimal.

Well, kindly explain then why the country roads around Jyvaskyla/Jamsa are gravel/sand. I've been at Rally Finland enough of times to know what I've driven on. The Main road from Helsinki to Jyvaskyla and from Jyvaskyla to Jamsa is tarred allright but all other country roads are not.

itarumaa

ianobrien wrote: »

Well, kindly explain then why the country roads around Jyvaskyla/Jamsa are gravel/sand. I've been at Rally Finland enough of times to know what I've driven on. The Main road from Helsinki to Jyvaskyla and from Jyvaskyla to Jamsa is tarred allright but all other country roads are not.

Well it is a bit like if I would go standing in the side of M50 and say all my friends, how great roads Ireland has.

I quessed right that you are talking about Rally Finland but that is spesific event and yes country roads are gravel roads but still major part of the roads are tarmac and those roads are the places where people usually drive anyway.

bdeithrick

I have seen studable Tyres on
eiretyres.com

Don't know we're to get the studs thou