I just had the zLine A/S SUV installed on my 2017 Kia Sorento EX AWD V6 on Apr 21, 2020. This was my first time ever purchasing tires online and the process was way too easy. The price was unbeatable compared to the big tire stores. The auto repair shop where I chose installation from SimpleTire's website handled everything to a tee. I dropped my car off and they installed the tires in an hour. No paperwork to sign. It was basically in and out of the shop. Now onto the tires. So I have only driven about 400 miles on them so far and they feel really damn good. They feel a lot better than my OEM Kumhos that came with my Sorento. For the record, I never had any issues with the Kumhos either. But these zLines are super grippy. Doing 85mph on the freeway and I can't even hear them. They are smooth as silk to drive on. Driving over bumps or potholes aren't bonejarring at all. These tires just absorb it really well. I finally got to take them out during a pretty good down pour of rain and they cut through the rain like a knife through melted butter. I wasn't too familiar with Nokian tires and did a ton a research before pulling the trigger. I'm so glad that I went with this tire. The installer has them all on 36psi. The installer came out and told me they were one of the easiest tires to mount and balance. I may do a follow up review when I get a couple of thousand miles on them after they're truly broke in. I didn't do a review on treadlife or snow driving. But they should be GTG. But I think I finally found my place to shop for tires in the future. SimpleTire's customer service was excellent to deal with as well.
Nokian zLine A/S SUVReviews
SimpleScore™
Our proprietary rating system
for the modern tire buyer.
8.2
Great
Score breakdown:
7.2
Long lasting
Good
9.3
Handling
Excellent
8.8
Traction
Great
8 reviews
8 on SimpleTire4.9
overall rating
100%
Would you buy again?
Review breakdown
- 7 out of 100
- 1 out of 100
- 0 out of 100
- 0 out of 100
- 0 out of 100
Nokian is a Finland-based tire manufacturer that’s popular for making tires utilizing cutting-edge technologies. Over the years, Nokian has achieved a distinct level in manufacturing world-class winter tires and has further extended to making other types of tires that target different driving or weather preferences. One tire that’s not the typical Nokian winter tire is the Nokian ZLine A/S SUV, an all-season tire that’s dedicated for use on CUVs, SUVs, and light trucks.
The tire is designed to offer confident driving and performance along with catering supreme comforts and luxury. Nokian has optimized the tire to ensure precise handling and has incorporated numerous technologies to ensure that the tire does what it is supposed to. Let’s know more about this tire in this Nokian ZLine A/S SUV tire review and learn about its features, pros and cons, vehicle compatibility, and other important details.
Features and Benefits
Like a typical all-season tire, the Nokian ZLine A/S SUV is engineered to deliver year-round performance in dry, wet, and light winter weather conditions. However, there are enhancements driven by various advanced features for a spotless driving experience in changing weather conditions. So, let’s know in detail about these features and find out what are the key highlights of this tire.
- Excellent stability, cornering, and handling – The ZLine A/S SUV features solid outboard shoulders that provide the much-needed stiffness to the tread pattern and ensure superior stability. The contoured grooves present on the tread also enhance the driving experience by providing balanced road contact while cornering and lane changes. Likewise, the 3D siping technology binds the tread blocks together to provide an excellent handling performance.
- Quieter rides and enhanced driving comforts – The tire features an extra rubber layer under the tread that absorbs the vibrations and driving shocks and improves the ride quality to deliver a pleasant driving experience. Additionally, all thanks to the silent groove design that doesn’t let airwaves accumulate in the footprint and generate noise, thus enhancing both ride quality and comfort levels.
- Solid durability – The tire gets a durable Aramid sidewall compound that ensures puncture resistance. The strong and synthetic Aramid fibers reinforce the sidewall and resist impacts and cuts to achieve commercial-grade durability.
- Reliable year-round traction – The tire is optimized for reliable year-round performance and comes with a computer-tuned asymmetric tread pattern, featuring 3D sipe detailing for improved grip in dry, wet, and light winter conditions. There is a functional full silica compound that adapts to changing weather conditions and provides reliable performance in wet and wintry conditions. The full-depth transverse grooves of the ZLine A/S reduce the risk of hydroplaning by effectively dispersing water and slush from the footprint, thus contributing to year-round performance.
- Impressive high-speed performance and wet grip – The tire utilizes a dynamic traction boost tread compound that provides improved wet grip and controls tread wear while assuring impressive high-speed performance.
- Better fuel efficiency – The usage of Cooling Edge Technology in making the tire helps reduce the chances of rolling resistance and improves fuel efficiency.
- Backed by tread life warranty – The ZLine A/S SUV is backed by a 40,000-mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty to offer the customers a worry-free ownership experience.
This tire is available in 18- to 20-inch rims and is available in a total of 7 sizes, which include:
Pros and Cons
Now that we’ve explored the key attributes of the ZLine A/S SUV, let’s delve into the strengths and weaknesses to get a comprehensive understanding of the tire’s real-world performance.
PROS:
- Better handling performance than its competitors
- More affordable than its competing tires
- Reliable traction performance year-round
- Comes with a 40,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty
- More quieter and comfy than its peers
- Optimized for improved fuel efficiency
- Superior durability and high-speed stability
CONS:
- Not the best choice if longevity is your preference
- Not suitable for use on thick ice and snow
- Warranty is much shorter than many competitor’s all-season tires
SimpleTire’s view on Nokian ZLine A/S SUV tires
The ZLine A/S SUV is for those drivers who are searching for a reasonably priced tire that comes at a starting price of around $119 per tire and offers reliable year-round traction and solid handling performance. If we look at the tire's SimpleScores for traction and handling, which are 9.2 and 8.7 respectively (on a scale of 10), it is evident that the tire is a reliable choice when it comes to steering responsiveness, cornering, and year-round traction and grip.
Nokian offers a 40,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty that makes the ownership experience more delightful for tire buyers. The rides with these tires installed are quieter and comfy as the tire reduces the tread noise levels and absorbs the shocks and road vibrations very well. This tire also impresses with its fuel-saving performance, superior durability, and high-speed stability.
That being said, the ZLine A/S SUV isn’t the best of tires if longevity is your preference if you look at its SimpleScore for longevity, which is 7.4 out of 10. Moreover, it is also not an ideal choice if you’re looking for something very specific for driving on thick ice and snow.
This tire has its competition with the likes of Continental CrossContact LX25, Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza Plus, Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus II, Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady, Hankook Dynapro HP2 (RA33), and Yokohama Geolandar G055.
Vehicles the Nokian ZLine A/S SUV is a good replacement tire for
Suitable for use on CUVs, SUVs, and light trucks, the Nokian ZLine A/S SUV can be a great replacement choice for use on vehicles like the Kia Sorento, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Volkswagen Touareg, and Land Rover Range Rover Sport.
Scorecard
Dry
5
Wet
4.9
Winter
4.7
Comfort
5
Noise
4.9
Treadwear
4.5
8 SimpleTire reviews
I only have these installed for 1,500 miles but so far have been very happy with the handling. THey keep the road very well and there is no additional noise. These are my second Nokian tires (I also have winter Hakapettulas that are excellent), and I need to say they give me as much as Michelins and Continentals that I replaced for half of their price.
Superb Tires. I'm biased! I run the ALL WEATHER WX3's on my MB 4Matic; eNtyres on my son's Audi Avant. My daughter's Tribeca was in need of CUV Replacements. The Z-Lines were /are perfect. Their grab & release and quietness are value added!
Excellent tire... Quietest and most responsive tire I've had on my Touareg compared to Goodyear, Dunlop, and Continentals. Love them. Simple Tire is great also! Good prices, fast shipping and great customer service
Put these on a BMW 2013 X5 with 18 inch wheels. They replaced factory Bridgestone run flats. Aside from the fact they are much more affordable, the ride quality of this non run flat tire is superior, and both wet and dry handling are superb. I have put on about 6000 miles since they were mounted, I am expecting based on wear to date, a useful life of around 40,000 miles. I like the fact that they are a UHP tire, so high speed long distance runs are what they are designed for. For your information, these tires were built in Nokian's Russia tire factory.
Recently purchased 2 for my rear wheel drive Mercedes ML. Quiet, grip better and were a great price. Seem like a superior replacement to the tires that were being used.
Excellent tire. Very smooth and gives better mpg. Takes 1000 miles to break in.
Excellent tire, overall. It handles perfectly in dry or wet weather. Snow traction is good, though of course not up to that of a tire with the snowflake symbol. Being UHP, the tires are a bit stiff, so Instead of using 38 psi in the front and 46 psi in the rear (as recommended on my Porsche's door panel), I've lowered the pressure to 36 psi in the front and 44 psi in the rear--this way, the tires are quite comfortable. The only other negative is that there's no tread life warranty, but I do expect these tires to last 40000+ miles.