Ok someone on here posted a link to these tires and they've caught my interest. I'm up for new tires in not too long and I'm curious about the E-ple's take on these. From their website at http://www.greendiamondtire.com/index.html:

Green Diamond Tires are an Icelandic invention... from a region of the world where they know about safe winter driving. Each Green Diamond Tire is an ingenious and technologically sophisticated remolded tire with thousands of diamond-hard silicium carbide granules embedded evenly throughout the tire's tread.

As the tread wears, new granules appear at the tread surface affording enhanced safety, control and handling security. Green Diamond Tires are well suited to Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) gripping in the most slippery of braking and cornering conditions at road surface temperatures nearing 0 degrees Celsius. Green Diamond Tires are scientifically proven to out-perform 'major' tire manufacturer's products in the harshest of conditions.

So essentially they're a sophisticated remold/retread with silicon carbide grit embedded in them. Looks promising and the testing they've done is very promising. I'm going to be in the need for tires soon and I'm looking at getting a set at least to try them out, probably going with the 215/65R16 Icelander tire.

Thoughts:

Guess since you folks are still getting crap weather up there , but I'm not sure I'd want to drive those as my summer tire.

Interesting concept

Sounds like they do very well in wet traction too, and pretty decently in dry. I know they're subjective but check out the testimonials section, there's some good writeups in there.

The Nokians also use that same type of compound. They have proven themselves as a high quality year round tire. There are several of Us running the Nokian Tires on our E's. The Green diamond tires I know nothing about. I do know that one of the tire dealers in this area carried them for about 3 years. He no longer has them. I have not spoken to him about them though. I will try to stop by in the next few days, to see if he will tell me anything about them.

I'll let you know Twi.

Dom

Interesting, thanks for any info you can get! :D

Didn't know Nokian had tires like this, any idea which ones they are?

Didn't know Nokian had tires like this, any idea which ones they are?

Pretty much all their "winter tires" I believe. One model even has the same look as the Nokian WR SUV (the higher milage all year round winter tire)


Will

Pretty much all their "winter tires" I believe. One model even has the same look as the Nokian WR SUV (the higher milage all year round winter tire)


Will

Very interesting. I hadn't ever looked into the Nokians as I don't know anywhere around here that carries them and the Tire Rack doesn't have them either. I'd like to get a good all-season and stick with it. I love the Yoko's I have on now but they do lack a bit in the ice traction department. I'd go with a summer & winter tire but I also need something that handles offroad, and summers are generally pretty lousy at that. Any way I look at it, I'm probably gonna have to spend more $$ :sad:

The Nokian WR SUVs.

I like them do to the fact that There's less "wandering" in normal driving than with the stock tires.

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/tire_wr_suv.aspx?season=winter

Then there is this from the Tundra forum .

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/tires-and-wheels/28296-opinions-new-tires-nokian-tires-anyone/


Then there is the Prius forum:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/25322-experience-nokian-wr-tires.html

Or just ask Larry! We have a group buy thread going for them.

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35766



Dom

I just acme in from the Tire shop. I asked about the reason he stopped selling them.

He tells me that he had too many unhappy customers. He claims they did not work well in this area. The streets are heavily used and worn down. The tire compound is harder than normal. So when it gets cold people have traction Issues. He told me that all but 4 or 5 of the 200 or so sets he sold came back.

Quote: " There is just no profit in them for me! "

Dom

I just acme in from the Tire shop. I asked about the reason he stopped selling them.

He tells me that he had too many unhappy customers. He claims they did not work well in this area. The streets are heavily used and worn down. The tire compound is harder than normal. So when it gets cold people have traction Issues. He told me that all but 4 or 5 of the 200 or so sets he sold came back.

Quote: " There is just no profit in them for me! "

Dom

That jives with what I was thinking about a 45K mile retread. Compound would have to be rather stiff to hold up for that long. Just the info I was looking for, thank ye kindly sir! Think I'll be sticking with another set of Ye Olde Yokohamas for now, the Nokians are a bit rich for my blood.

what about the a/t yokos ? they should have better winter traction then the h/t's. im running the h/t's but we dont have winter where i live, just a little bit of rain.

what about the a/t yokos ? they should have better winter traction then the h/t's. im running the h/t's but we dont have winter where i live, just a little bit of rain.

Actually I thought I had also, they're almost the exact same other stats as the H/T-S. Looks like the max PSI on them is quite a bit higher, should do well on highway. I'll look into them to see if they're available locally, if not I'll go to Ye Olde Tire Rack.

OK, so when you replaced your OEM tires, what did you replace them with and how much did you spend?

I'm at 55K and I need new tires. I've read some really crappy reviews of the OEM wranglers. I want good treadwear, and great handling and I don't want to have to sacrifice any MPGs. I only get.... mmmmm about 21mpg as it is. I drive a real lot. about 500 miles a week. Cleveland, OH weather.

so what do all y'all think about my tire predicament.

OH, btw, what the hell are the misfits? I mean, I know they're a band, but in this EOC context, what are we talking about?

A. The misfits are a motley group of Element owners, largely from the NE area of the country. Formed at the first EOC national meet I believe. They're quite a crew...:rolleyes:

B. Still got my Geolandars and for the moment I'll probably replace with another set. I love them and they've been very good to me. I'd like to get the Nokians WR-SUV'sbut they're way too rich for my blood.

C. Yes, the stock Wranglers suck...