Nokian Z G2

Had my first set of Nokian Z G2 215/55ZR17 (Made in Russia) fitted on my car for the past 4 years after reading the good reviews. However, after the 2nd year or approx 20,000 miles of rolling on city (70%)/highway (30%), the tires became quite noisy. After the 3rd year, the tires show signs of cracks and uneven wear although I performed wheel balancing and rotation for every 10,000 km. What surprises me is the tires had very uneven wear and the inner blocks surface were high and low during one of the my regular wheel balancing and rotation. Mechanic checked my wheel alignment and there is nothing wrong. TIll now, I do not know why this set of tires have so much uneven wear. I have used different types of tires in the past (bridgestone, yokohama, michelin, falken, goodyear, dunlop) but never encounter this phenomenon before, Although the wear indicator is still showing 5 to 6 (almost new) for the tires with 70% thread depth left, I decided to change the tires as the tires was getting too noisy.

nokian tires perform well,however the rubber gets old too quick,after only 3 years of usage they start showing deep cracks on the sidewall,

Short version: Not bad, bought again once, but now they got to go.

Long Version: Nothing wrong when driving civilized. No trouble with comfort, grip or anything. When the driving gets more exciting, usually when the roads get smaller and windier, they do a good but not outstanding job. A bit of give on the back end on dry surfaces, enough to get a rush but not so much as to end up in the bottom of the valley. Not great on wet roads. The back end gets lose quickly and ESP steps in to keep me out of that valley.

What opened my eyes a quite a lot was the Michelin Alpin 5 I got for the brief winter period. They're thiner than my summer tires but provide a LOT more grip on wet AND dry roads. The latter one came unexpected. Now as the front wheels need replacement anyway I look into a complete replacement that gives me more confidence in the wet and grips at least as good on dry roads as the Alpin 5 does.

My sizes: 205/55/R16 (front) and 225/50/R16 (rear)

Used the set for the rear. at 20000km still have 30% more thread. Only replace because the inside of the tire is wearing out.

Good in dry and wet.

Really like how the Nokian tires are built and priced. Change all four to the new zLine and really like how smooth it rolls.

These tires give very impressive performance especially in the wet and under braking. They have stiff sidewalls which give good turn in and stability at the cost of a firm ride. The wear rate seems acceptable given the level of grip they provide.
As a summer tire I am very pleased with these and they represent excellent value for money.

The ZG2 is the the best breaking tire in the 50 UHP tire breaking test. What I have to say more. On that point this is the ultra premium tire. 1 or 2 meters can make the difference. Not only for myself but also for the people in front of me. Breaking is for me one of the most important issues. Having accidents or not you decide mostly in the shop by what tire you buy. So I buy only UHP tires. I find the lives of myself and others more important than the little money you "safe" to try something cheap. Deuteronomium 22: When you build a house with a flat roof you have to put a fence around it, so it is not your guild when someone fall down.

So I try to buy products from countries where the human rights and rights from animals got respected.

Handling and grip in dry and wet. So good. In the wet I start to sing, so I know I have the right one (Far better than the good Sportmaxx RT). In the dry the Sportmaxx RT is sometimes a little better but in wet this one is.

I found these tires to be the best tires I ever had on My car. Over 1 500 000 km on my back, I would recomend these tires for all performanse cars. Feedback and grip in just great!

I mounted the Nokian ZG2 this spring on my BMW 3-series with different sizes 225/40/18 front and 255/35/18 rear.
I took them for the great price and the flattering reviews found online.
Aesthetically they are very beautiful, very knobbly and make good their actual width.
On the road with the dry are really great, very precise and really impossible to undermine the power of my car.
I used them a little wet and, anyway, I would not be a reliable tester as I drive really carefully on slippery road.
After 3,000 km are really really happy with the purchase and buy another one.

Very good tires lots of grip ,quiet but now have to replace them after only 15000 miles due to wear... My previous tires Dunlop , Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric both much better and last longer.

Near silent, very comfortable with excellent wet grip. Slight going over at high speed bends on the dry but only slight. Alway feel safe and enjoy the quite drive especially on roads with awful quality like in the UK.

Exellent tires, but...too noisy.

These are the best tires I have ever had on my car. Nokian ZG2 handled brilliantly in the snow last year and improved my car's handling and quality of the ride. Only wish they were more freely available in the UK.

Bought the tires today I drove 160 kms with them. Great upgrade from Pilot Exalto 2, lots of grip , hard sidewalls but with more confort (I don't have any idea that this could be achieved!)

Lots of dry and wet grip, but I think that they aren't as progressive as the Pilot Exalto, but I'll review them again after the next 10.000 kms

Also they seem more silent than my previous tires.

I don't expect them to last very long because the rubber is made from a very soft compound.

I am very pleased with these tires. Amazingly quiet which I really appreciate after my long suffering with some industrial plastic sh.t they called "tires".
In my size (205/50/16) it has the profile of the V but it is a very small difference and its compound is a Z.
Dry grip is excellent, it doesn't make a noise even in very hard cornering.
Wet grip is much better than my previous tires and I have a very safe feel on the straits, however it is quite good in long curves also.
My fuel consumption is also better now. Not that much but it is noticeable (let's say about 5-8%).

I have to say that Nokian really CAN make summer tires. I would definitely buy them again.

I've driven this tire for some months now and for the most part it is ok, but there are a few things that let the tire down on my car.

In the wet the tire behaves good, and grips well.
In the dry it lets go a bit fast. If you drive a bit hard and spirited the tire slips on dry asphalt sooner than you would expect. This have happende to me a couple of times. I'm used to driving conti sport contact 3 on the car, and this had a lot more grip in the dry.

The biggest let down of the tire however is that it is not able to drive in a straight line. You do constantly have to make minor corrections to the steering wheel to keep the car straight. The tire follows tracks in the road like they were railroad tracks, and it is hard to keep the car from following deep tracks in the road.
When braking hard the tire can't go straight either, and will pull the car to the side. This can be scary at high speeds, as you suddenly use two lanes when braking hard, because you have to correct the dirrection the tires send you in.

On the pluss sides the tire is very quiet and grips good in rain.
If it had been more direction stable, it would have been good. But the "unstabilty" of the tire lets it down big time on a sports car.

I'va also tried the tire on trackdays. If you are thinking about doing this:
In the rain it can be done. In the dry: DON'T do it.
If you are travelling at 180 km/h and brake hard, you will use the whole track to keep the car staight.
I have tires with the XL sidewalls. This may cause these problems.

However I would not buy these tires to any car. They are to expensive compared to what they offer in preformance.

Next time I'm probably buying goodyears or bridgestone.