Nokian said the tire features "lightning" and venturi grooves that provide "turbo-boosted" water and slush evacuation. The entire tread face has wider, more aggressive sipes that offer longer grip in snow, rain and slush.
"Many customers and consumers use the tire throughout the year, so they see a lot more wet," Hillman said. "So we were kind of looking at it from the consumer and end-user point of view: Wet becomes more important."
Hillman, who is responsible for the development of all-season, all-weather and light truck products for North America, said the challenge in engineering this tire was creating the optimal balance between strong performance both in snowy and wet conditions.
"It's easy to make a tire that's exceptionally good on snow if you forget the wet. And you can easily build performance on wet surfaces, but it might not perform on snow," he said. "We need to keep them in balance and work from there. Our team did a great job with this."
The tire is made with a rubber compound that Nokian said delivers durability, mileage and low rolling resistance across a wide temperature range.
As an all-weather product, the Remedy WRG5 carries the tie industry's Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake symbol, designating that it has passed ASTM testing standards for snowy conditions.
Hillman said the product not only passed that test but also performed well in other tests, including snow handling, hill climbing, control and maneuvering. The product was tested on Nokian test tracks in Finland, Texas and Spain.
"We go far beyond the regular test it takes to achieve the (3PM)Snowflake," Hillman said.
