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Last updated 11/21/2024 - Originally published 11/21/2024
Written by SimpleTire
Pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers have been the biggest-selling segment of the vehicle market in America for a couple of decades now. While many of those trucks are equipped with 4WD from the factory, the truth is that most of them are family haulers and grocery getters that spend all their time on paved roads. For those drivers, all-terrain tires aren’t needed, and highway-terrain tires will serve them just fine, with an all-season tread pattern for year-round performance.
It’s fair to consider highway-terrain tires as having a lot in common with their automotive all-season or grand touring tire counterparts for sedans and minivans. Like with all-season tires, drivers can rely on them for year-round grip, long wear, and ride quality that’s forgiving and quiet, along with composed, predictable handling. While they’re similar, there’s more to it than these tires being sized for light trucks, though. The biggest difference with highway-terrain tires is their beefed-up construction that can easily handle an enhanced load rating. Highway-terrain light truck tires are suitable for trucks that might haul heavy loads or tow trailers. In other words, you can think of it as being the tougher, more durable version of an automotive all-season or Grand Touring tire. Today we’re going to take a look at two very good premium highway-terrain tires: the Roadian HTX RH5 from Nexen and the One H/T from Nokian.
Are you familiar with SimpleTire’s SimpleScore system? It is the rating method that our team developed to give you a quick at-a-glance idea of any tire’s performance and value. We look at a tire’s manufacturer info, technical details, customer reviews, specs, and other data points to evaluate and then roll out 1-10 numerical scores. For the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 and Nokian One H/T, the SimpleScore ratings shake out like this:
Nexen Roadian HTX RH5:
- Traction: 8.3
- Handling: 8.3
- Longevity: 8.7
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.4
Nokian One H/T:
- Traction: 8.5
- Handling: 8.4
- Longevity: 8.9
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.6
As you can see, the Nexen and the Nokian are pretty closely matched with each other in the SimpleScore categories, but there’s more to the story than that. SimpleScore is a handy resource for customers, but it’s also the 30,000 foot view that doesn’t get you into the weeds of what a tire can really offer and what its real pluses and minuses are. Let’s get in there and get a closer idea about that with this comparison tire review of the Nokian One H/T and Nexen Roadian HTX RH5:
Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 tires
Here at the SimpleTire team, we’ve been pretty impressed with everything in the Nexen lineup for some time, and the Roadian HTX RH5 is no exception. The Roadian HTX RH5 is designed with a non-directional all-season tread pattern that features an asymmetric system of circumferential grooves and angled/lateral grooves that deliver great wet-weather grip and resist hydroplaning by efficiently routing water away from the tire’s contact patch. The extra biting edges provided by angled grooves in the tread blocks and a network of sipes all work to boost grip in wet or wintry conditions, with hundreds of thin biting edges that slash their way through standing water, snow, or slush.
A continuous center rib gives the Roadian HTX RH5 steady road manners and quick steering response, and the reinforced shoulder of the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 gives it performance in turns that’s consistent and predictable. The tread formulation of the Nexen is engineered for long, even wear and enhanced grip on wet roads, and Nexen backs the Roadian HTX RH5 with a 65,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty for P-metric sizes, and a 40,000-mile warranty for LT-metric sizes. SimpleTire’s price on the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 starts at $95.97 per tire.
Nokian One H/T tires
Based in Finland, Nokian (yes, the same parent company as Nokia phones) is a tire company that’s best known for its innovative winter tires that are designed to help drivers safely manage the demands of driving in a tough Scandinavian winter. The One H/T is designed for enhanced durability, with Aramid fibers in the sidewall, a long-wearing tread compound, and stone ejectors built into the base of the tread grooves to protect the casing and easily shed rocks, dirt, and debris. Nokian covers the One H/T with a 55,000-mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty (70,000 miles for P-Metric sizes), which is enough for a strong SimpleScore in the longevity category. Traction on wet or dry roads (or with a dusting of snow) is dependable thanks to a set of circumferential grooves that work as a system with lateral grooves and sipes to divert water away from the tire’s contact patch and resist hydroplaning. Ride quality is refined and quiet with Nokian’s Silent Groove technology helping to keep road noise down. The 3D sipes multiply the tread’s surface area and traction with hundreds of hair-thin slits that chew through snow and slush. The Aramid-reinforced sidewall and shoulder, along with tough internal construction and a long-wearing tread compound, help give the Nokian One H/T excellent durability to handle rough roads and potholes with ease. SimpleTire’s price on the Nokian One H/T starts at $134.34 per tire.
Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 vs Nokian One H/T tires on traction
How do the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 and Nokian One H/T look against each other when it comes to traction? First, let’s remember that neither the Nokian nor the Nexen have the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for severe winter service, and neither one are all-terrain designs so don’t expect them to do well in deep snow or heavy mud (that’s not what highway-terrain tires are designed for). The traction SimpleScore is predicated more on braking performance, handling and cornering, acceleration and overall grip on wet or dry pavement, and the gap is pretty close between these two tires with a SimpleScore of 8.5 for the Nokian and an 8.3 for the Nexen. Both tires have fairly similar tread designs and traction features, with advanced tread compounds and networks of sipes, circumferential grooves, angled grooves and lateral grooves, with deep initial tread depth. In instances like this where the two tires have the same kind of common ground in design and performance and the gap in SimpleScores are a couple of tenths of a point, it’s usually the customer reviews that move the needle in one direction or the other. We listened to customers on this one, and our call is:
ADVANTAGE: Nokian One H/T
Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 vs Nokian One H/T tires on handling
In the handling category, the spread between the two SimpleScore rankings is also pretty tight, with the Nokian weighing in with an 8.4 vs 8.3 for the Nexen. It just makes sense that handling and cornering ability are going to be tied in with traction; if your tires aren’t able to get a good solid connection with the pavement, your front tires might skew outside of your desired path for a turn (understeer) or your rear wheels might fishtail out and bring the rear end around (oversteer), which can be tricky and can lead to a momentary loss of control. These are both highway-terrain tires that are designed around the weight, power, torque and handling characteristics of light trucks, so don’t expect them to have the kind of cornering ability you’d expect from performance tires. Still, the Nexen and the Nokian both offer cornering performance and steering response that are crisp and direct; once again, that tenth of a point can be chalked up to customer review input for the two tires. Our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Nokian One H/T
Nexen Roadian HTX RH5 vs Nokian One H/T tires on longevity
It’s just intuitive that the SimpleScore for any tire would be directly related to the kind of limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty that it carries, and that’s exactly the case here. The Nokian’s SimpleScore for longevity is 8.9 vs 8.7 for the Nexen, and the Nexen’s 65,000 mile warranty coverage is topped by a 70,000 mile warranty for P-Metric size for the Nokian. It’s also worth mentioning here that the Nokian is designed and built to be extremely durable, the kind of tire that you can rely on for commercial vehicles that do a lot of stop-and-start driving and have to be called on to haul heavy loads. It’s a close one, but our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Nokian One H/T
When to use each
When it’s time to think about what kind of tires you need, the question you have to ask yourself is: what are your realistic expectations for a set of light truck tires? If your truck is going to venture off-road very often for forays in mud, sand, loose dirt or rough country with lots of obstacles, then these might not be the right tires for you; instead, all-terrain or rugged-terrain tires would probably be a better pick for the durability and traction you need.
If you live in a part of the country that has a tough winter every year, the kind with snow that piles up 3 or 4 inches deep and lingers on the pavement for days at a time, then the Nokian and Nexen might not be the best choice and you might get better performance with a set of dedicated winter tires. On the other hand, if you need tires that are durable and reliable, tires that are tough enough for commercial duty such as towing heavy trailers or hauling heavy loads (while still offering composed road manners, ride, and handling), then you won’t go wrong with the Nokian One H/T or the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5.
These are tires that would both be great options as replacement tires for vehicles like the Chevy Silverado 1500/2500, RAM 1500/2500, Ford F150/F250, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Acadia, Nissan Titan, Jeep Wagoneer, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Land Cruiser, Dodge Durango and Honda Ridgeline.
Which one should you choose?
So here’s what it always comes down to, the question of picking which tire is the best in these head-to-head matchups. It’s not often that we have two tires that are as closely matched with each other in all the SimpleScore categories as the Nexen and the Nokian, but these are two tires that definitely compare well with each other in all the pertinent SimpleScore categories. They’re even close when it comes to overall average SimpleScores, with 8.6 for the Nokian and 8.4 for the Nexen. Both tires have a lot of similarities when it comes to design, performance, and warranty coverage, so let’s consider price as part of the equation too. SimpleTire’s price on the Nexen starts at $95.97 per tire, while the Nokian is considerably higher at $134.34 per tire. They’re both great choices, though, so we’d break it down like this: if you can afford the Nokian One H/T, that would be an excellent set of tires for your vehicle. If you are on a bit more of a budget and want to save a chunk of change over the purchase of a set of four, you should consider the Nexen Roadian HTX RH5. These tires are both such strong performers and good values that it’s our opinion here at SimpleTire that you won’t be making the wrong decision either way.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help, and our helpful agents will be more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.