It’s not often you’re given a map and a vehicle and just head out onto country roads, but that’s exactly what Nokian Tyres did to showcase its newest highway-terrain all-season tire, the Nokian One HT.
The Finnish tiremaker – famous for its slogan ‘A Beautiful Journey’ – sent dealers on a trek with a booklet of directions through southern Tennessee to put the Nokian One HT’s handling characteristics, durability and tire construction to the test.
Driving American-made trucks, SUVs and pickups, dealers took the One HT to the limits driving down Route 27 to showcase the tire’s on-road manners and veering off onto gravel roads and eventually narrow dirt pathways in the Cherokee National Forest. The company launched the tire in tandem with the grand opening of its manufacturing plant in Dayton, Tennessee, where the tire will eventually be made as the plant reaches capacity.
Steve Bourassa, Nokian’s director of products and pricing, said the Nokian One HT, meant for pickups and large SUVS, replaces the Rotiiva HT and features more of a square shoulder design, a higher number of circumferential grooves and an improved tread compound, which enhances wet grip, water evacuation and all-weather traction.
The tire also features:
• Zig-zag grooves and sipes to help with winter traction and cornering;
• Grip claws inside the tread and outside shoulder area to help the tire with traction and steering response on sandy terrain and loose soil;
• An enhanced tread compound that increases the tire’s durability as well as its cut and chip resistance;
• Stone ejectors at the bottom of the tire’s grooves to prevent damage from stones stuck inside the grooves.
Similar to Nokian’s other light truck products, the Nokian One HT’s sidewall is constructed with aramid fibers, which are also used in aerospace and defense industries. These fibers are embedded into the tire’s sidewall to provide protection from potholes and other obstacles encountered in daily urban driving and on rough terrain.
Unique to the Nokian One HT is its Aramid Armor, aramid fibers that are scattered in the tire’s base compound. This extra level of protection comes in LT-metric versions of the tire and adds a puncture-resistant shield to further protect the tire from road hazards.
The Nokian One HT comes in 36 sizes and fits rim diameters from 16- to 22- in. with a speed rating of R and S for LT metric sizes and T and H for P-metric applications. The tire will be available to consumers in January 2020.
