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Last updated 9/30/2024 - Originally published 9/30/2024
Written by SimpleTire
For anyone who lives or has to drive in a part of the country that has harsh winter weather with several inches of snow that stays on the road for days or weeks, you probably already know that all-season tires are going to fall short of dependably getting the job done for you. All-season tires are fine with a dusting of light snow, but any worse conditions than that and they are likely going to be slipping and sliding around with little traction and control. Winter tires are great for those kinds of conditions, but then you have to remember that winter tires use a softer tread compound that wears quickly in warmer weather and they need to be dismounted and swapped for all-season tires when temperatures are above 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit.
That’s where all-weather tires like the General AltiMAX 365 AW and Nokian Remedy WRG5 come in. All-weather tires are designed much the same as their all-season or Grand Touring passenger tire counterparts but with more of an emphasis on enhanced winter traction and control. That means a more aggressive tread and optimized tread compounds for winter performance, without compromising the low noise, ride quality, handling, great wear properties and road manners that go along with all-season and Grand Touring tires.
Are you familiar with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the proprietary ratings system devised by the SimpleTire team to give you a quick, at-a-glance idea of any tire’s strengths and weaknesses. SimpleScore takes into account the tire’s technical details, specs, manufacturer info, customer reviews, and other data points, then our team processes that to a 1-10 numerical score for the categories of traction, handling and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore number. For the General AltiMAX 365 AW and Nokian Remedy WRG5, the SimpleScore ratings break down this way:
General AltiMAX 365 AW
- Traction: 8.7
- Handling: 8.7
- Longevity: 9.0
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.7
Nokian Remedy WRG5
- Traction: 8.5
- Handling: 8.6
- Longevity: 9.0
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.7
As handy as the SimpleScore ratings are, they’re still a 30,000 foot view that doesn’t take you in for the details of what a tire has to offer. Let’s go in and get into the nitty gritty of these tires with this General AltiMAX 365 AW vs Nokian Remedy WRG5 comparison review
General AltiMAX 365 AW tires
General designed the AltiMAX 365 AW as a great one-stop-shopping option for year-round traction, and it’s offered at a surprisingly affordable price. The AltiMAX 365 AW is designed for real versatility; it’s packed with smart features and innovations that deliver handling and road manners that are crisp and precise along with a refined and quiet ride.
The AltiMAX 365 AW has the tire industry’s Three Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) rating for severe winter service, thanks to its circumferential and lateral grooves that work together as a system to divert water and slush from the tire’s contact patch. In rough winter conditions, the AltiMAX 365 AW features angled tread blocks with open shoulders and unique sinusoidal sipes that multiply the tread face’s surface area and traction with hundreds of biting edges that chew their way through snow and slush.
Rigidity is one of the most important factors capable of handling and cornering; a tire’s shoulders and tread need to be able to resist the inertia of hard maneuvers without deforming, and the AltiMAX 365 AW boosts its rigidity with links in its lateral grooves and waved longitudinal grooves to help hold things tight. The cold-weather tread compound of the AltiMAX 365 AW is formulated to stay flexible and go on delivering traction in subfreezing weather when many all-season tires can harden and lose grip. It’s also a durable, long-wearing rubber compound; General covers the AltiMAX 365 AW with a 60,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty. Another nice feature we’ve always appreciated with General is that they design their tires with wear indicators molded into the tread, revealing the words REPLACE TIRE SOON when tread depth has worn down to a safe minimum.
Nokian Remedy WRG5 tires
Nokian (yes, the same parent company as Nokia phones) is a Finland-based tire manufacturer, and considering where they’re based, it stands to reason that any tire company from Finland would have plenty of experience in designing and making tires that can easily manage the demands of a tough Scandinavian winter. You’d be dead on with that assumption; Nokian was first to market with winter tires for trucks in the 1930s, and they’re still the ones to beat when it comes to durable, innovative designs for winter performance in heavy snow and slush.
The Nokian Remedy WRG5 is a bit of a departure, as it’s technically an all-weather tire and not a dedicated winter tire. Like the General, the Nokian is designed with a specialized rubber compound that is designed to stay flexible for traction at subfreezing temperatures. Unlike the General, though, the Nokian Remedy WRG5’s reinforced casing and low rolling resistance make it a great option for EVs and hybrids.
In wet conditions, its symmetric all-weather tread with deep circumferential grooves effectively routes water away from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning, and its dense network of strategically placed 3D sipes enhances grip in snow and slush. Snow Claw Blocks, Snow Boosters, and Dual Performance Siping round out its tread design and earn it the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rated for severe winter service. Its support blocks link tread elements together for enhanced stiffness, durability, and handling, and reinforced shoulder blocks resist deformation and tread squirm during hard cornering. Helping to cut noise, the Nokian’s tread pitch is randomized and computer-tuned to negate certain frequencies. Another interesting innovation with the Remedy WRG5 is its asymmetric tread, with the outboard half of the tread designed for enhanced handling, and the inboard sector enhanced for snow traction. Nokian covers the Remedy WRG5 with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty.
General AltiMAX 365 AW vs Nokian Remedy WRG5 tires on traction
How do the General AltiMAX 365 AW and the Nokian Remedy WRG5 stack up against each other when it comes to traction? With a SimpleScore of 8.7 for the General and 8.6 for the Nokian, it’s a pretty tight squeeze. Both tires are loaded with design features that give them an edge in grip and control on wet or dry roads. When things are this close in the SimpleScore ratings, we generally defer to customer reviews and customers are telling us that the General’s sinusoidal sipes and groove network help with acceleration, braking, and cornering grip in some of the worst weather, and of course both tires use a softer, more pliable tread compound for traction in extreme cold. Our decision:
ADVANTAGE: General AltiMAX 365 AW
General AltiMAX 365 AW vs Nokian Remedy WRG5 tires on handling
When it comes down to handling, the gap between SimpleScores is even closer, with 8.7 for the General and 8.6 for the Nokian. Both tires are very capable when it comes to steering response and cornering, with few vices on display; they’re both stable and predictable going into a corner or on an interstate offramp with little evidence of understeer and both show confident control at higher speeds. Both tires are designed with features that give them added rigidity for sharp cornering ability and crisp steering response. The General’s tie bars between tread blocks and its reinforced shoulders help to cut down on tread squirm, the deformation that happens when a vehicle’s weight and momentum try to keep it directed forward as you enter a curve. Again, we defer a bit to the customer reviews on this one, and our decision is:
ADVANTAGE: General AltiMAX 365 AW
General AltiMAX 365 AW vs Nokian Remedy WRG5 tires on longevity
Now we get to the longevity category, and things get a lot simpler. Both tires have identical limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage of 60,000 miles, and both tires register identical SimpleScore ratings of 9.0. Of course, any score of 9 on a 1-10 scale’s got to be pretty good, and a 60,000 mile warranty backs that up. The Nokian and the General are both pretty respectable when it comes to longevity and service life, and our decision is:
ADVANTAGE: Tie
When to use each
What are the winters like where you live? If you’re in a part of the country (maybe the upper Great Plains, New England, or Canada?) where you regularly see rough winter conditions, the kind that turns roads as slippery as a skating rink and leaves a few inches of snow that sticks around for days, all-weather tires like the General AltiMAX 365 AW and Nokian Remedy WRG5 Season would really be a great option. They’re both suitable for year-round use and don’t have to be dismounted and stored when things warm up again, like winter tires. They both have the 3PMSF rating, are designed for year-round performance, and deliver a nice balance of year-round traction and Grand Touring ride comfort and handling levels without compromising on traction.
Which one should you choose?
That’s not an easy question to sort out, honestly. These are both tires that bring a lot to the table and have a lot of things to like when it comes to value and performance. Both tires are 3PMSF rated (the tire industry sets a pretty high bar for that certification), both tires have generously limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage and both tires offer very capable handling and braking performance with solid road manners and a refined ride. Also, while there are minor quibbles between SimpleScores in the performance categories, both tires get the same overall average SimpleScore of 8.7. So let’s take a look at list prices, then: SimpleTire’s price on the Nokian Remedy WRG5 starts at $113.99/tire, vs $112.99/tire for the General AltiMAX 365 AW. It’s not often that we say this at the end of a comparison review, but our honest take here at the SimpleTire team is that you can’t go wrong with either one of these tires and you’d be making a good call either way.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.