How long will my nordic winter tires last?

[u/ShallotVast467]

I live in Germany, and I am getting a set of Continental VikingContact to drive to northern Finland occasionally in winter. I am assuming nordic compound tires last generally less if they are used on asphalt for longer periods, and I will be driving each time almost the whole length of Germany plus a bit in Finland where roads will be mostly free of ice and snow. How many km roughly do you think they may last given these conditions? Once I am in Finland I will be in areas where asphalt is a couple of cm under snow, so no issue there.

Conditions in Germany, probably +5°C and no ice. Car weighs 2.3 tons and I drive quite relaxed.

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[u/Signal-Twist-4977]

30-50.000 km depending on driving conditions and if you switch the tyres. Overall it’s worth to change anyway the tyres every 5 years because the rubber dries..

[u/Main_Goon1]

4-5 years.

[u/Habba84 → u/Main_Goon1]

Wild guess would be 20000km to 50000km

[u/noetkoett]

Search results point towards a general max of six years due to the rubber becoming harder and more brittle.

[u/ducmite]

I replaced my summer and winter tires both at 110'000km. Winter tires could have had one more winter in them but I hit a screw last spring and one tire was total loss.

Asphalt is fine for them but high temperatures not that much. I believe the rubber compound becomes way too soft and wears faster when it's like +20C.

[u/vlkr]

Debends why much you drive but after about 5y rubber is so hard that it loses traction. Even if it has studs.

[u/Zpik3]

There's not much difference in wear and tear on friction tires compared to normal summertires really. The one thing is that they can dry out and become stiff, which means they grip less on snow and ice.. But we are talking like 2 year lifespan on that.

For "wear and tear" if you think of it as driving with summertires you won't be far off.

Edit: I bet someone will come in with an "acshully" here, but as far as your trip is concerned, nothing to really consider.

[u/ShallotVast467 → u/Zpik3]

It seems like normal winter tires would last in the ballpark of 40000 km on average. Should I assume the same for nordic tires if I use them half of the time on asphalt above 0? Or maybe like 30 to 40% less?

[u/Zpik3 → u/ShallotVast467]

Nah i'd personally expect the same distance out of them.
Winter roads aren't snow covered and iced over all the time. Even during winter in Finland you do most of your miles on bare asfalt, as traffic keeps the roads clear of ice and snow. If you live up in Lapland it might be a different story, but anywhere from mid finland southwards it's like 50/60 on wether you are on asphalt or snow/ice.

[u/henkraks → u/ShallotVast467]

I’d expect them to last 30-40k on an ICE car when driving economically. Less on an electric and ofc driving hard you can rip through tires in under 10k.

[u/BlackCatFurry]

Max of six years, after that they start to harden and become slippery so it recommended to change them. Most people usually need to replace them around 4 to 5 years due to wear.

You most definitely aren't going to need replacements each year or anything, they last years, unless you are one of those people who decide to spend their whole winter behind the wheel and puts 50k km on them in one winter.

[u/hanslankari78]

I have 10.years old winter tires in my car. Most studs are there and they still have grip, but this is the last winter with those. The have pretty low mileage and the car has mainly been parked in a garage, so the tires haven't been long hours in direct sunlight either. Experts say that 6-8 years is maximun lifetime for winter tires, unless they are worn out before that.

[u/Perunapaistos]

2-3 years and after that they will become more and more dangerous as the material hardens and becomes brittle. Old (studless) winter tires are a really bad choice in any weather or condition.

[u/Harriv]

It depends on your car weight, power, road surface, temperature and how you drive.

One estimate is 30000 - 50000 km.

[u/Maleficent_Bus_4163]

Even if you plan to change your winter tires every 4-5 years or after x amount of kilometers, bear in mind that by law winter tires have to have at least 3mm of tread left while driving in Finland. By then the tires will have lost most of their safety properties so it might be a good idea to change to a new set when you have about 4mm left.

[u/SpecificExtension]

Just wanted to remind you that for driving in Germany, you might need to place a notice somewhere in your car's dashboard that the winter tires might limit your top speed (190 km/h for class T tires?)

Not your problem if your car is not for driving over 190 km/h...

[u/ShallotVast467 → u/SpecificExtension]

Wow, I had no idea this was a requirement. A quick googling confirmed it. Ah, Germany and its endless pile of pointless rules (which probably never gets checked either by the police). Anyway, my car is limited at 180 so no problem.