Hankook tyres

[Steve L]

I must of spent over an hour on the phone yesterday trying to find a pair of tyres for my 1998 Laguna estate. The size I wanted was 195/65 R14.

Having towed using budget tyres before and finding that they offer little grip in the wet, I was looking for a mid range tyre that would do the job.

The pair I had on the front were Toyo proxis which gripped well but only lasted 18k miles.

I was offered a pair of Hankook optima 415's at £52 each fitted and balanced etc.

Has anyone used these tyres before?

Has anyone else had difficulty in finding tyres at sesible money for a car that is as popular as the Laguna or less than 10 years old. I phoned every tyre depot in Leominster (4) and Hereford (8) and only one had tyres in stock or could get some next day.

Steve L.

 

[rayc]

Steve, I have a 2006 Honda CRV and when the front tyres were worn out at 40,000 miles i had to wait 3 days for replacements. Same happened when the rears went later. I was unable to get the Goodriches that are fitted when new and had to have Bridgestones.

 

[Lutz]

Count your blessings that you only had to wait 3 days. I had to wait 6 weeks for Dunlop Grandtrek's for my Monterey a while back. They are only manufactured in Japan and I had to wait for a new production run because even the main Dunlop warehouse didn't have any.

I have not heard any very positive reports on Hankook tyres. They don't fare particularly well in any comparison tests that I've seen.

 

[Dustydog]

My Kia Sorento came with Hankooks from new. Not my choice but I was pleasantly surprised. They held the road well and lasted 40k miles. Did I replace like for like? NO . I went for B F Goodrich All Terrains. had to wait 48 hours for them.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Damian]

Try blackcircles.com

 

[DeliDave]

had hanooks on galaxy for 5000nmiles no probs so far

 

[Garfield]

How the hell do you get 40k out of a set of tyres?!!!!, you must be thay guy I always get stuck behind.

It is at least 10 years since I used Hankooks and they were impossible to get balanced as they were eccentric.

We have today, replaced the rear tyres on our S-max ( Goodyear excellence) after only 25k, the fronts only lasted 14k, we have used Continental sportcontact2s instead and they appear to be wearing much better which is just as well at

 

[rayc]

garfield, I have got over 40,000 miles on all tyres on two CRV's. I drive up to the speed limit where appropriate and tow approx 4000 miles per year. A lot of the driving has been motorway. My previous car before the CRV's was a Mondeo Estate and after 3 years with 60,000 on the clock it was on its 3rd set of tyres - the first set of front ones at 18000 miles.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Tyre wear is the result of many different actions. Different makes & models of car will all exhibit different wear rates, but of probably equal importance is the driver and their habits. Give the same car to two different drivers and get them to drive around the routes, the chances are that they will produce two different tyre wear rates.

 

[Steve L]

First of all, thankyou all for your contributions.

40K miles isn't beyond the realms of possability. I had a pair of goodyear NCT5's on my renault 25 and they were so good that when I sold the car and bought the laguna, I kept them, as I had a spare set of 25 rims with budget tyres on.

I had the NCT5's put onto my laguna and between the two cars they notched up well over 30K. Tehn because the tyre was not made in my size I had to transfer to the Toyo's that only lasted 18K miles.

I'm no slow coach when driving and am quite used to driving at the ton and beyond, but due to my high standard of driver training which involved ROSPA, Lotus cars and Aston Martin,which has given me the necessary skills to drive a vehicle both to it's top performance and also defencively with safety of other road users being paramount.

Having had that training, I can usually get 20K miles out of a set of front brake pads, over 50K out of the rear shoes, and around 100K from a clutch plate. Which is probably why I can get away with no more than

 

[Dustydog]

Garfield

You will se on the Kia Sorento site quite a few people have achieved high mileages. I must point out that our Hankooks were not low profile but bog standard. The Sorento is no road burner, so we raely go over the speed limit. It's mainly used for towing and motorways, very little round town.

Most tyre wear happens round town , roundabouts parking etc. I never had them balanced from the day they were new. What vehicle and size were yours?

One of my friends also has a Sorento and he's on 25k with his Hankooks and plenty of tread left.

Conversely our previous car a Renault Laguna used to eat the Michelin low profile tyres for breakfast.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Garfield]

Do offroad tyres have deeper tread to start with?

 

[jacky3]

lassa tyres on my nissan terrano lasted for 40,000 miles only changed them because tread at the edge of the tyres were worn,probably down to under inflation,otherwise another 2-3 thousand miles would have been possible.

had hancooks fitted on my vauxall 2.2 dti sri,had them on 3 months and took them off,car was all over in the wet

 

[rob_jax]

Steve,

Tyre life and mileage - an interesting question - and there isn't an easy answer.

Performance tyres (say 55 section or lower) with a high speed rating will all wear quite quickly. Taller tyres and lower speed ratings should all work in favour of longevity.

And differences in the underlying tyre chemistry and polymers used by the different manufacturers lead to very significant differences.

You can't rely on price or brand as a simple way to pick great tyre life...

So you might be best served by looking at some of the independent web-sites for tyre comparisons - especially those that report on tyre life, dry and wet grip, etc.

Robert

And expect some significant changes in 2010 - there's an EU mandate on replacing "Extender Oil" in tyres with something less potentially damaging.

Extender oil is mixed in with the rubber during manufacture and is used to improve grip, life and flexibility - and the type of oil needs to change.

 

[Sedo]

Hi Steve as Rob says the best way is to look at the sites giving independent reviews on tyres, Auto Express is a good start. I'm very fortunate in working for Michelin in the past I get a set of tyres fitted free. Saying that when I have bought tyres for other cars I tend to lean towards a known make, Dunlop, Firestone, Pirelli etc.

The manufacturing methods and materials for making tyres were closely guarded. The things is though in general motoring it's all about compromise, I.e. you can't really expect and tyre to stick like glue but at the same time offer up low rolling resistance. Like it's been said previously tyre use/wear is quite complicated, e.g. style of driving, type of roads, amount of roundabouts (more wear one side than the other), suspension and steering geometry, state of road surface etc. etc.

As I said at the beginning I'd have a look at independent tests and buy the best you can afford, after all your life can depend on that lump of rubber between you and the raod.

Tomo

 

[mistermac]

Hi

We've got Hankook's fitted (from new) to our Sedona. We've done 25,000 with them and they're still good.

Someone mentioned them being eccentric - is this a common fault with them?

Mac

 

[spj]

Hi all,

From past experience there is a lot of difference between tyre manufacturers, Michelin tend to be a harder compound and last well but don't grip as well as some in the wet and Continental are softer, they grip well but don't last as long. A few years ago I had an Impreza Turbo, it came with Bridgestone tyres and was superb in the dry but terrible when wet, I changed them to Goodyear Eagle F1s and it was a different car in the wet and not much different in the dry, they also lasted a lot longer, the Bridgestones would be lucky to see 8k to 9k a set.

My work vehicle is a 4x4 pick up, it has Michelins on and the last one had it's first set of tyres replaced at 50k, these were hard reinforced tyres and were awful in the wet, I had BFG all terrains fitted and it was different again.

I personally don't like budget tyres although Hankook appear to be the top end of budget and will be better than some.

Try www.mytyres.co.uk they are normally cheaper than black circles and give an independant comparison. They give wet and dry weather grip ratings, some cheaper tyres may look only a little worse off than a premium tyre, but reducing your stopping distance by a foot can be the difference between hitting a child or not, this is something I would not want on my mind for the sake of a few quid.

spj.

 

[JohnDavo]

Steve, I've had Hankooks on my Santa Fe since new. Now done 24k with now problems. Pretty sure Hyundai fit them as standard.

 

[JohnDavo]

Oops, sorry Steve meant to say no problems.

 

[Dustydog]

Seems to me that Hankooks are ok when supplied with the new vehicle but no one , including me bought, them as replacements even though they had performed fairly well.

Cheers

Alan

 

[Sedo]

Hi all,

From past experience there is a lot of difference between tyre manufacturers, Michelin tend to be a harder compound and last well but don't grip as well as some in the wet and Continental are softer, they grip well but don't last as long. A few years ago I had an Impreza Turbo, it came with Bridgestone tyres and was superb in the dry but terrible when wet, I changed them to Goodyear Eagle F1s and it was a different car in the wet and not much different in the dry, they also lasted a lot longer, the Bridgestones would be lucky to see 8k to 9k a set.

My work vehicle is a 4x4 pick up, it has Michelins on and the last one had it's first set of tyres replaced at 50k, these were hard reinforced tyres and were awful in the wet, I had BFG all terrains fitted and it was different again.

I personally don't like budget tyres although Hankook appear to be the top end of budget and will be better than some.

Try www.mytyres.co.uk they are normally cheaper than black circles and give an independant comparison. They give wet and dry weather grip ratings, some cheaper tyres may look only a little worse off than a premium tyre, but reducing your stopping distance by a foot can be the difference between hitting a child or not, this is something I would not want on my mind for the sake of a few quid.

spj.

SPJ the tread pattern on a tyre is probably as important as the compund in the wet. The tread pattern dictates how effective the tyre is dispelling the water underneath it. One tyre of the same manufacturer can be totally different from another in the wet due to the tread pattern.

Tomo

 

[Steve L]

I spoke to my brother-in-law the weekend about the Hankook tyre senario. He is a vehicle technican with BMW and has Peugeot,Rover and Ford technician training from past employment.

He has used Hankook on a Golf GTI and also in rod rally situations and is quite impressed with performance, however as he is more orientated to cornering, acceleration and stopping performance, he didn't know too much about mileage.

So far I must say that the tyres do compare favorably with mid range brand names such as Firestone, Dunlop and perelli for general road performance but with only 500 miles done, it is too early to predict longevity.

Thanks to all who have contributed to the thread and keep the comments flowing so all can get a flavour of how this brand of tyre performs.

Steve L.

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

Steve in Leo

The other day I drove our firm's renault master van which has a natty trip computer on it. On checking before I started it showed average fuel consumption and speed of 26mpg and 45mph respectivey and after a week of me driving it was doing 34mpg and 52mph.8mpg might not seem much but over a 1500 mile week that add's up to quite a saving

You dont say if the 26 mpg and 45mph was stop start town driving with some open road driving.

Unless you compare like for like it is not a true test.

And yes I agree that no 2 people will get the same results on the same course.

I'm no slow coach when driving and am quite used to driving at the ton and beyond, but due to my high standard of driver training which involved ROSPA, Lotus cars and Aston Martin,which has given me the necessary skills to drive a vehicle both to it's top performance and also defencively with safety of other road users being paramount

Like you I am RoSPA trained car & LGV (EFAD), but fail to see why you feel the need to drive at the ton & beyond unless it is off road.

I attend several RTCs durring the course of my work, people like you who are confident in their driving ability at speed, but there are factors out of your control such as blow outs wild animals (deer, horse riders etc).

I would hate to think of the consequences of a collision with an inocent party at that kind of speed.

 

[ProfJohnL]

For Steve in Leo.

I missed the comment in your earlier reply that Graham has picked up on.

I do not know why drivers who claim RoSPA, and IAM accreditation feel the need to express their own assessment of their driving abilities as being able to drive faster than the speed limits. If these speed are being attained on UK public roads then your actions are illegal, and that is contrary to the training you have been given.

There is never any reason for a member of the public, with or without advanced driver training to exceed the speed limit. In fact advanced drives should be even better equipped to keep within the speed limits with their 'honed' skills.

There is the danger that a driver who believes they are better than normal mortals may start to take risks such as braking later or cornering faster, and thus actually increase the risk of an incident occurring.

Advanced driving is about driving better not faster.

 

[Lutz]

The German ADAC auto club published a comparison test of typical 175/65 R14T summer tyres in the March issue of their magazine. The overall ratings, taking individual results on dry and wet road surfaces, effect on fuel consumption, high speed running, and tyre wear into account, were as follows:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

1. Pirelli Cinturato P4

2. Fulda EcoControl

3. Continental EcoContact 3

4. Kunho Solus KH17

RECOMMENDED

5. Yokohama C Drive

6. Firestone Multihawk

7. Dunlop SP30

8. Hankook Optimo K715

9. Maloy Crono 465t

10. Goodyear DuraGrip

11. Semperit Comfort Life

12. Bridgestone B250

ACCEPTABLE

13. Barum Brillantis

14. Vredestein T-Trac Si

NOT RECOMMENDED

15. Sava Perfecta

16. Avon CR322 Enviro

17. Tigar TG621

18. Trayal T400

I must admit I hadn't heard of a number of the above makes before.