Michelin X Ice Snow vs Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5: After 5 years of mediocre results for Hakkapeliitta R3 in the press test arena, Nokian finally launch a new successor named Hakkapeliitta R5 in 2022 in hopes of bringing back its former glory of being the best in ice & snow. In our previous article, we have covered how Hakkapeliitta R5 fared against the de-facto leader Continental Viking Contact 7. Next we would like to look into another premium competitor Michelin X Ice Snow and see who comes out on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the “2022 Tyre Reviews Studless Winter Tyre Test” test. A total of 9 tires were tested this time around with a studded reference and also a middle European winter tire reference to gauge the segment differentiation.
The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin X Ice Snow vs Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 based on the relevant performance category. The X Ice Snow was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for the handling evaluation, lap times were used as an objective gauge to determine how well the tire performs while a subjective rating is also provided.
The tire size of interest is 205/55R16 which is a common tire size for Volkswagen Golf (2018) and the Toyota Corolla Altis (2018). You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a Volkswagen Golf.
Ice
In this particular segment, ice performance is everything. As the usage conditions are usually around -5 to -15 °C, ice is the most sought out criteria. Both tires were really close in objective ice and only a razor thin margin separated them. X Ice Snow just edged ahead in ice braking by stopping 0.04m (0.13 feet) earlier than Hakkapeliitta R5. In ice traction, Hakkapeliitta R5 just slightly edged X Ice Snow as it was 0.06 seconds faster from a speed of 5 km/h (3mph) to 20 km/h (12mph).
In ice handling , X Ice Snow managed a 0.58 second advantage per lap compared to Hakkapeliitta R5. This was also evident in subjective ice handling as X Ice Snow was rated 5 points better than Hakkapeliitta R5. Overall, Hakkapeliitta R5 excels slightly better in ice traction while X Ice Snow excels in ice handling.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- -0.4% in ice braking
- +1% in ice traction
- -1.1% in ice handling (lap time)
- -5% in ice handling (subj)
Snow
The next most important item for studless tires is snow. Unlike in Ice, Snow was dominated by Hakkapeliitta R5. It managed to stop 0.3m (1 feet) earlier than X Ice Snow from a speed of 40 km/h (25mph) to 5 km/h (3 mph). It was also better when it came to snow traction as it took 0.28 seconds less to accelerate from 20 km/h (12 mph) to 5 km/h (3mph). While it was also quicker in lap time by 0.2 seconds. Even though the margins are razor thin, Hakkapeliitta R5 just managed to get its nose ahead of X Ice Snow in snow.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- +1.8% in snow braking
- +2% in snow traction
- +0.9% in snow handling (lap time)
- 0% in snow handling (subj)
- +0.4% in snow circle
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. In wet braking, X Ice Snow managed to brake 0.38m (1.25 feet) earlier than Hakkapeliitta R5.
While in wet handling, X Ice Snow is clearly the stronger tire as it was 1.65 seconds faster than Hakkapeliitta R5. This was also aligned subjectively as X Ice Snow is rated 5 points worse than Hakkapeliitta R5. While in aquaplaning domain, X Ice Snow is the best among the studless tire as it had 8.7 km/h slip speed more compared to Hakkapeliitta R5.Similar trends in curve aquaplaning as Hakkapeliitta R5 has an +8m/s2 advantage.
Overall in the wet category, X Ice Snow is clearly the better performing wet tire.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- +1.1% in wet braking
- -2% in wet handling (lap time)
- -5% in wet handling (subj)
- -10.8% in straight aquaplaning
- -12.5% in curved aquaplaning
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. There were not much differences as both tires performed equally well. Hakkapeliitta R5 managed to brake 0.43m (1.4 feet) earlier compared to X Ice Snow from a speed of 100km/h (62 mph) down to 5km/h (3mph).
In dry handling, both tires almost produced an identical lap time with both them finishing the lap at 73 seconds. However in terms of subjective rating, Hakkapeliitta R5 came out slightly on top as it was rated 2 points higher than X Ice Snow. Overall, both tires were neck in neck in dry with Hakkapeliitta R5 having a slight edge in subjective dry handling.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- +0.9% in dry braking
- +0.1% in dry handling (lap time)
- +2% in dry handling (subj)
Noise & Comfort
With a soft compound, studless tires have an added advantage in noise/comfort due to its soft compound characteristics which helps in dampening the sound. Hakkapeliitta R5 tops the charts when it comes to internal noise by having the lowest noise value of 61.9 dB while X Ice Snow is not far behind with 62.1 dB. However when it comes to comfort, Hakkapeliitta R5 was better with a rating of 100 compared to the 95 of X Ice Snow.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- +0.3% in internal noise
- +5.3% in comfort
Rolling Resistance
When it comes to studless tires, rolling resistance is definitely not at the highest priority as the engineer has to handle the most important winter vs summer target conflict. However with the sustainability topic being more prevalent, rolling resistance has been widely used as a competitive marketing tool as it could be easily seen in the label values.
X Ice Snow had a lowest rolling resistance coefficient value of 7.25 N/kN among the competition while the Hakkapeliitta R5 is not far behind with 7.34 N/kN. These 2 tires were the top 2 best performing products when it comes to rolling resistance.
Hakkapeliitta R5 :
- -1.2% in rolling resistance
Price
The Hakkapeliitta R5 was found to be 4 dollars more expensive than X Ice Snow.
Tire size: 205/55R16
Hakkapeliitta R5 :$169
X Ice Snow : $165
Difference: +2% more expensive for Hakkapeliitta R5.
Summary
Overall, both tires were neck in neck and took turns to be ahead of each other depending on the type of test. Hakkapeliitta R5 had an advantage in snow dry & noise/comfort while X Ice Snow excels in ice, wet & rolling resistance. Due to such tight results, there is no clear winner in this duel & it really comes down to your individual requirements. Enjoy !