Nokian Kometa — pioneers of the studded segment

It's no surprise that the first studded tire in the Nordic segment originated from Finland. In this geoclimatic zone, winters are no less harsh than ours, and it's obvious that a solution for such conditions had to be invented here.

The already popular Haka-Hakkapeliitta tire at that time was modified into the Kometa-Hakkapeliitta, which had holes for installing anti-skid studs. The partner in creating the new model was the company Kovametalli Oy from Helsinki, and the Kometa studs, developed jointly with Kovametalli, were introduced to the market in 1957.

The Kometa-Hakkapeliitta model essentially opened a new era of studded tires. The braking distance on ice was significantly shorter than that of non-studded tires, and therefore handling became much safer. Of course, it's worth noting that nowadays studs are nothing to be surprised about, but the basis of today's technologies lies in those first and breakthrough ideas that manufacturers brought to life.

Before anti-skid studs took on their familiar form, a multitude of solutions and materials were tested, both for the stud body and for the hard alloy inserts.

Debates about the impact of studs on road surfaces began even back then, but each country made its own choice, and some European countries were forced to develop alternative solutions, such as "lamellae".