Last winter I ran my OEM 19" wheels with Nokian WRG3 all season tires and I was unimpressed with how they handled in slush and snow, especially at highway speeds, so I've decided to put together a dedicated winter setup. I haven't decided on a wheel yet, but it will be 20" and between 9"-10" wide. Regardless of which wheel I end up choosing, I'm targeting a 275/40R/20 tire size, which brings me to the reason for this thread.

For 2018, Nokian replaced the Hakkapeliitta R2 with the Hakkapeliitta R3. From changes in siping and compound they claim the newer R3 has improvements in grip, road noise, and tread life, but without any comparisons available it's hard to say how much of that is just marketing jargon or whether there is a meaningful improvement in the new iteration. Right now it seems like there is still some R2 inventory kicking around. The implication is that any R2's I find have probably been sitting in a warehouse for at least a year, but that's not a deal breaker considering the difference in price I'm seeing.

The R2's that I've found are 275/40R/20XL 106R (MFG: T429661) and are $135 each. The newer R3's in the same 275/40R/20XL 106T (MFG: T430696) are $320 each. The R3's have a higher speed rating (T = 118mph R = 106mph), but for a winter tire I can't say that an extra 12mph in speed rating justifies paying 2.5 times the price of the R2.

Am I making a mistake if I grab a set of the R2's at $540? I've talked to someone who's run the R2's and he seems happy with them so I don't expect any regrets, but thought I'd see if there are any tire experts out there who might push me towards the R3. Is there a good reason they are nearly 60% less than the newer R3's or is that common when vendors are trying to clear out prior year/discontinued inventory?