Kumho Solus TA51a vs Nokian One tires

SUVs and crossovers are everywhere on the roads these days. They’ve taken over the duties that used to be filled by sedans and wagons, to the point where some automakers have almost phased sedans out of their lineups completely. They’re comfortable and practical as daily drivers, and every generation of SUVs and crossovers gets a little more refined, sophisticated, and advanced. The best all-season tires from premium brands are designed around the performance parameters of today’s crossovers and SUVs, including their power, torque, handling, center of gravity, ride quality, and braking performance. Just like with all-season tires for sedans and minivans, all-seasons for SUVs and crossovers deliver a great balance of handling, cornering ability, great wear properties, year-round traction, composed road manners, and a quiet, comfortable ride.

In this head-to-head matchup review, we’re going to look at two great all-season tires from premium brands, the Solus TA51A from Kumho and the Nokian One. These are tires that have a lot of common ground with each other, along with some noticeable contrasts. In the course of this tire comparison review, you’ll see references to SimpleScore for the two tires. If you’re not familiar with it, SimpleScore is the proprietary ranking system that the SimpleTire team developed to give you a quick and easy idea of any tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at the tire’s design and technical details, specs, manufacturer’s information, customer reviews, and other data points, then we process all that info down to a 1-10 numerical value for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, along with an overall average SimpleScore number. In the case of the Kumho Solus TA51A and Nokian One, the SimpleScore numbers break down this way:

Kumho Solus TA51A:

• Traction: 8.6
• Handling: 8.6
• Longevity: 9.3
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.8

Nokian One:

• Traction: 8.6
• Handling: 8.7
• Longevity: 9.7
• Overall average SimpleScore: 9.0

As you can see right off the top, the Nokian and the Kumho both have a lot to recommend them and are pretty closely matched when it comes to SimpleScore rankings. While SimpleScore is a handy resource, it’s still the 30,000 foot view that doesn’t really get you in close for a detailed look at what a tire has to offer. Let’s go in and take a closer look at the Kumho Solus TA51A and Nokian One in this tire comparison review:

Kumho Solus TA51a tires

First up is the Solus TA51A from Kumho, an all-season tire for sedans, minivans, and crossovers that comes in at a lower price point, but offers premium-level features, quality, and performance. The Solus TA51A features an asymmetric all-season tread with circumferential grooves to help resist hydroplaning and a combination of 3D chamfered tread blocks and 3D interlocking sipes that work together to help enhance traction in wet or wintry conditions. The Solus TA51A’s advanced tread compound is infused with silica additives and multi-functionalized polymers for excellent wear properties and great wet or dry weather traction. The Solus TA51A is quiet, too, with ribs in the tread that are designed to cancel resonant noise, breaking up and dispersing sound waves to keep highway noise and vibrations to a minimum. Internal design details include a polyester casing with two high-tensile steel belts and two nylon cap plies for enhanced stability at highway speed and sharp handling ability. The continuous center rib of the Solus TA51A gives it solid straight-line stability as well as crisp and light response to driver commands. Kumho backs the Solus TA51A with a 75,000 mile or 65,000 mile manufacturer’s treadwear warranty, depending on tire size. SimpleTire’s price on the Kumho Solus TA51A starts at $79 per tire.

Nokian One tires

Nokian is a Finland-based tire manufacturer (yes, the same parent company as Nokia phones) that’s built much of its reputation on its innovative, pioneering winter tires. With the Nokian One, they’ve developed a capable all-season tire for the North American market, one that’s loaded with innovations and features that can deliver year-round performance. The Nokian One is built for durability; it’s the first all-season passenger tire to incorporate Aramid fibers in the sidewall to help absorb the teeth-rattling impact of a wheel dipped into a pothole or across rough railroad tracks. That durability is backed up by Nokian with a best-in-class 80,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. While the Nokian One isn’t designed as a winter tire, Nokian brings its winter tire expertise to this all-season tire with a series of circumferential grooves and 3D sipes that help boost traction in wet or snowy weather. The tread design, internal construction, and tread compound of the Nokian One are also designed to help save fuel by cutting rolling resistance. Like the Kumho, the Nokian One has a continuous center rib for enhanced road manners, and a reinforced set of shoulder blocks that help to enable cornering ability. SimpleTire’s price on the Nokian One starts at $108.98 per tire.

Kumho Solus TA51a vs Nokian One tires on traction

How do the Kumho Solus TA51A and Nokian One stack up against each other when it comes to traction? As it turns out, the two are dead-even with SimpleScores of 8.6 for each. Both tires are packed with tread features that help enhance grip on wet or dry pavement, as well as the Nokian’s sipe design that boosts traction in light wintry conditions. That means better cornering ability, shorter braking distances, more confident acceleration, and better control all the way around. It’s not often that we say this in these tire comparison reviews, but our call is:

ADVANTAGE: Tied

Kumho Solus TA51a vs Nokian One tires on handling

It’s just axiomatic that a tire’s handling and cornering dynamics are going to be closely tied in with its traction. If your front wheels aren’t getting a secure grip going into a corner, you’re likely to plow ahead outside of your desired track and understeer, and if the rear wheels aren’t locked in then the rear end can kick out and cause oversteer. That definitely plays out in the SimpleScores for handling the Kumho Solus TA51A and Nokian One; the Nokian comes in with a SimpleScore of 8.7 vs 8.6 for the Kumho. Those are solid numbers any way you cut it, and when there’s a difference of only a tenth of a point or so between SimpleScores it’s usually due to input from customer reviews that point to the Nokian having a slight edge. We listened to the customers, and our take is:

ADVANTAGE: Nokian One

Kumho Solus TA51a vs Nokian One tires on longevity

In the SimpleScore rankings for longevity, the numerical score is usually tied straight in with the tire’s limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage (which just makes sense, of course). In this case, the Nokian has a phenomenal 80,000 mile warranty vs. a very good 75,000 mile warranty for the Kumho. And sure enough, the Nokian One pulls ahead on SimpleScore rankings here, with a hard-to-beat 9.7 vs 9.3 for the Kumho Solus TA51A. Our call:

ADVANTAGE: Nokian One

When to use each

Probably the best way to approach this question is around the context of your vehicle, your driving style and your needs. If you live in a place like New England, the upper Midwest, or Canada, parts of the country that have rough winter weather every year and snow that stays on the road for days at a time, all-season tires like the Kumho and Nokian probably aren’t the best choice. If that’s your situation, all-season tires aren’t really designed for heavier snow and dedicated winter tires are about the only way you can reliably get from point A to point B. If you’ve got a sports sedan, sporty crossover, or sports car and you like to push your vehicle’s handling envelope and expect that kind of cornering, steering response, and braking performance, all-season tires like the Kumho and Nokian might not be quite nimble enough for your expectations. If, on the other hand, you’re more concerned with great wear properties and a generous limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty, predictable handling, confident traction and braking, a quiet and refined ride, low rolling resistance, and stable road manners, tires like the Nokian One or Kumho Solus TA51A could both be great choices for you.

Which one should you choose?

Here’s what it always comes down to. In the case of the Kumho Solus TA51A and Nokian One, both are very capable tires that present a great value since they both come in at a pretty affordable price point. Yes, the Nokian One comes in with an overall average SimpleScore of 9.0 vs 8.8 for the Kumho, but that average for the Nokian is skewed upward a bit by its very strong SimpleScore for longevity. And as far as that’s concerned, it’s hard to beat an 80,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty for any tire…but 75,000 for the Kumho is pretty darn good too. Aside from that disparity, these are tires that are very closely matched with each other in all the pertinent SimpleScore performance-related categories. So let’s consider the price too, with the SimpleTire price on the Nokian starting at $108.98 vs a very affordable $79 per tire for the Kumho. There aren’t many of these comparison reviews that come out as close to dead-even as this one, so we’d just phrase it this way. If you have a little more money to spend, the Nokian One is an excellent choice that offers phenomenal tread life coverage along with confident traction year-round and crisp handling ability. If you’re on a bit of a budget, the Kumho Solus TA51 is an equally strong option and a great choice in an all-season tire. It’s our legitimate opinion here at the SimpleTire team that you won’t be making a mistake either way.

Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help, and our agents will be more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.