need tires - Hankook?

[Laredo]

Got a great connection from a personal friend on Hankook tires. Here are my considerations:

Treadlife is not all that important
Occasional Solo II autocross
Due to where I live, rain performance is a somewhat important factor

I have seen a few recommendations for the Hankook R-S2s, treadware 200,(especially from boosted bruiser). Seem to do very well although the tread pattern does not look like they would do well in the rain. Thoughts??

http://www.hankooktireusa.com/product/tire_detail.asp?pid=13

Has anyone tried the Sport K104s (treadware 280) in autocross?? - they seem a little more "rain friendly" but not so sticky.

http://www.hankooktireusa.com/product/tire_detail.asp?pid=9

[SVOeric]

not sure about the hancok's, but the fuzions seem to be pretty nice too, similar price range.

[shelby1962]

Just my opinion... Do you trust your life with crap tires made in Korea? or China? Especially if you are going to race or autocross. I'm a mechanic for a living and we won't sell them and see enough Korean tires tires come in and they are falling apart, bubbles,shifted belts and blow outs. Sure there are some great Japanese hiperformance tires but stay away from the Korean and especially the China crap.

[RichieP82]

I have these Hankook K106 tires on my '86 and they've been great. I driven through some really bad torrential rainstorms and have had no problems. I'm not sure how well they would do in autocross but for me they provide plenty of grip and nice quiet ride. Of course I was very budget minded but they have worked out well.

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/findTireDetail.do?yr=1986&cf=false&sw=false&cs=225&pc=11798&vid=001828&rd=16&ar=50

[SUBPAY]

I opted for the General Exclaim UHP but, I haven't done any hard driving yet. Great price though, and American Made.

[boostedbruiser]

Just my opinion... Do you trust your life with crap tires made in Korea? or China? Especially if you are going to race or autocross. I'm a mechanic for a living and we won't sell them and see enough Korean tires tires come in and they are falling apart, bubbles,shifted belts and blow outs. Sure there are some great Japanese hiperformance tires but stay away from the Korean and especially the China crap.

Ummm you might need to back this up with some proof BUDDY. Brands, pics, Miles, circumstances on the problems.........I mean hell i can say Firestone is the biggest crap tire on the earth..........why cause look at the explorer problem........... truth is firestone, doesn't make bad tires, they had a huge bad batch of tires.

I lived in korea for 4 years and drove the crap out of korean tires over there. Infact i have no issues with Hankook or Kumho. For the money, you cannot get a better performance tire.........PERIOD.

I agree that china makes cheap stuff, but hey thats what we EXPECT. Kumho Mx's and Hankook RS212's are Great tires for the performance/per dollar. Read the current mags, they even say Kumho and hankook make a great tire for the money.

If you want hankooks ,get the Rs 212's. I had these tires on my SVO. traction was hardly and issue, Infact i broke the original rearend in my SVO with these tires. GREAT SUMMER TIRE. I wouldn't recommend them in the rain, they do suck.

Kumho Mx's was worth .6 second in the 1/4 on my VW. Other crap tires couldn't handle the bottle in first gear. the Kumho Mx's could take the hit of the bottle in first on the VW. went from running 15.1's with crap tires to 14.5's with only a tire change and spraying in first. other tires would go up in smoke.

[shelby1962]

Like i said just my opinion....I never see anyone this is serious at the track run them. I see Kuhmo and toyo but no Hankook. As far as traction on the bottle you need to compare something that makes even a wiff of HP first. There was a Mustang at the Glen this week that had Z rated Ventus Hankooks on. After the first 40 minute session the tread next to the side wall on all four tires looked like someone took a 36 grit grinding disc to it. He borrowed a friends set of rain tires to run with after that.
We won't sell them period, any car that comes in with them on in trade or from the auction they get tossed in the scrap pile after being cut.

[84svoracer]

I have a set of hankook RS2 Z212 tires and I'd have to say that for the price you can't beat them, although I hear the kuhmo mx tires are very good performers too. I have had the goodyear F1-D3 tires previosly and the hanakooks handle just as good if not better than the goodyears, except for the in the rain of course. I haven't had a chance to autocross wiht the hankooks yet but i'm looking forward to it.

Before purchasing the hankooks I tried to do a lot of research because I was kinda skeptical at first, but I found this car and driver comparison, check it out here:
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires...y_f1_gs_ds.pdf

I'm not saying they are the best tire out there, but since z rated max performance tires don't last long (especially if raced a lot). I'm willing to sacrifice 2% in performance for being half the price. just my 2 cents

[luvtolean]

If you believe the guys at Grassroots Motorsports, the Hankooks have good stick, but start getting hot quickly on an autocross circuit on a 3300 pound car.

Hankook is a GRM advertiser too...so take it with a grain of salt. (though BFG won that shootout, and bought smaller ads this month)

[chalkys_explorer]

Just got a set of these. Love 'em!!!!!

[boostedbruiser]

not a good rain tire, otherwise a great deal and nice grip. glad you enjoy them.

[fastsvo]

What do you guys think of Sumitomo's? They are rebadged Dunlop tires and you can still get the old Dunlop D40M2's as Sumitomo HTR Z. I had a set of D40M2 on my SVO and XR4Ti in the 90's and remember loving the dry grip of this tire.

They also make an HTR Z II and HTRZ III (this one looks nice).

Anyways, if you guys liked the old school D40M2's...you can still buy them for $65 each.

-Eric

[boostedbruiser]

SUmitomos are good for just having rubber on the rim so you do not mess anything up.

I bought a set of HTRZ II's and i hated them. ABSOLUTELY ZERO TRACTION.......... Didn't wear very fast though they had a low wear number (180 or 200 ). worst tire i ever bought for performance. now if you need them just to keep you rollin, i guess they could work in that catagory... thats about it.

[SVOPaul]

Just my opinion... Do you trust your life with crap tires made in Korea? or China? Especially if you are going to race or autocross. I'm a mechanic for a living and we won't sell them and see enough Korean tires tires come in and they are falling apart, bubbles,shifted belts and blow outs. Sure there are some great Japanese hiperformance tires but stay away from the Korean and especially the China crap.

I would have to say it is your opinion and a blanket statement based partly on what you see but not much direct useage or experience.

I say this because I personally use and have used Kumho tires....I have raced on their race tires with no problems whatsoever and I have their street tires on many of my cars....we have even worn their tires enough to go to the treadwear indicators and replace them with another set....so I have personally used these tires all the way through their life cycle and have yet to experience a negative problem of ANY kind. For the money, you can't beat them....and some of them even out perform more expensive mainstream tires.

I personally don't care much for Hankooks......Summitomo, cheap and Good for the money for a street tire but don't expect a lot of life out of them. I have a lot of guys running Summitomos simply because they are more than half the cost of ANY other 315/35-17 tire out there and they didn't want to spend the money....their choice.

I recommend and Sell Kumho tires BECAUSE of their track record with the use I have had with them over the years and as I said....out of probably 200 tires between myself and customers I have yet to have a single problem with ANY of them. Now I am not specifically a tire store but I offer them as a convenience to my customers if they ask me to get them for them.

So yes, I have and do trust my life with a Korean made tire...specifically the Kumhos. You are a mechanic for a living but what is the useage of the tires you see daily?....is it standard road use with potholes, commuter cars, little care by the owners? You'll see more failures on ANY tire under those circumstances. Or do you deal strictly with performance applications? The problems you describe above are almost ALWAYS related to someone running a car on low tire pressure and not the construction of the tire itself...that's a fact in the tire business....I strictly deal with performance cars and applications so my customers generally don't neglect their cars and likely why I don't see failures....you have to factor in some of the other considerations. MOST people out there that just drive their cars rarely check tire pressure and just generally don't care until they have a problem. I spent time long ago during my college years as a tire specialist and have seen first hand what the general public does with their cars and tires.....As far as the Mustang you saw at the Glen, I personally wouldn't even consider putting a Hankook of any kind on my car for a track event....but that's me. They may be OK on the street for a passenger car tire and they may even have a tire that might prove me otherwise but I just haven't been impressed with that brand tire from what I have seen. But I don't think it's fair for you to condemn EVERY Korean made tire based on the idea that they are made in Korea or because one brand you have seen wasn't a great tire in your opinion.

As far as race only tires I really only would consider the following in my opinion: Kumho, BF Goodrich, Hoosier, Goodyear, Toyo, Michelin.....but priority of these depends on the type of tire and application.

[chalkys_explorer]

Paul, so is it a good idea to run the factory pressure, 28psi, with a different tire brand or find a pressure specified by the manufacturer?? Should pressure be checked hot or cold?? Just curious.