Hankook

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
To each their own though.


Michelins have been known to develop fine cracks and dry rott, no thanks, sale or no sale. Other than that they're pretty good.

 

[2010Civic]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
To each their own though.


Michelins have been known to develop fine cracks and dry rott, no thanks, sale or no sale. Other than that they're pretty good.

I wonder how many sets of Michelins are on the road compared to Douglas? You don't hear anything bad about Douglas because you don't hear anything at all.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
I wonder how many sets of Michelins are on the road compared to Douglas? You don't hear anything bad about Douglas because you don't hear anything at all.


Usually when you hear something about tires, it's complaints about them. Similar to other products. And yes I've heard and read positive things about Douglas. Great tires for the price. But when one is focused on ONE brand of tires only, such as yourself it strikes me as disingenuous. It is similar to a one trick pony sorry to say.

 

[2010Civic]

k

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
Douglas is garbage. For the price of Hankooks you can get general RT43s which is a better tire than both. I have had experience with Hankook H727s but never cared for them. Decent traction, decently quiet but they wore very quickly for a high mileage rated tire.


Looks like the general RT43 is about $ 10 a tire higher , than the cheap Hankook , about the same as the other Hankook .

Present OEM Hankook tires have close to 40,000 miles on them . About what I expect for OEM tires . The ones in the Wally World say 75,000 miles ? I look at that with a grain of salt .

What about the Generals causes you to recommend them ? Better / longer tire wear ? A tire quieter than the OEM Hankook tires would be nice .

Where are the Hankook tires made ? Never heard of them before we bought the Sonic .

Thanks ,


Over all General has much huge changes in the quality in their tires. That being said I would recommend the RT43s because they handle nicely in dry/wet/snowy conditions and offer a quiet ride and from what I am seeing a good tread life. For a more "bargain" tire I feel it is worth the extra scratch.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Originally Posted By: bigjl
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

Hankook is a budget brand, but they don't completely suck. Douglas is worse.


Budget brand?

Since when

Hankook are fitted as OE tyres on Mercedes Benz, Hyundai and Kia.

They are a solid mid priced tyre that performs aswell as many much more expensive brands.


BMW as well. And not on entry-level 1ers or A-classes. They're providing OE tires for the 7-series and S-class.

Most companies start with humble beginnings; some aspire and work to reach a higher level, and achieve those goals. A lot of them are Korean. Samsung used to be a "budget" brand. Sony wouldn't still be in the TV business now without them or L(ucky)G(oldstar), another "budget" brand.

OP--shop for the best tire that fits your need and budget.

Don't fall into the trap of completely relying on the brand name, because every brand has good and bad tires.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: bigjl
Budget brand?

Since when

Hankook are fitted as OE tyres on Mercedes Benz, Hyundai and Kia.

They are a solid mid priced tyre that performs aswell as many much more expensive brands.


Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
No they produce a separate budget brand tire that has a different name, Laufenn which DTD sells.


I suspect we have different definitions of "budget." Fair enough.

If you're looking at the whole universe of all tire brands currently on sale, then Hankook is nowhere near the bottom. I can see calling it a midrange brand. I can't agree that it performs as well as the more expensive brands, unless you meant occasionally; it's certainly not true on average. But they at least do a decent job on quality.

IMO, there's a threshold below which a brand isn't worth considering. I pretty much treat anything under that threshold as though it doesn't exist, because it's not worth buying unless there literally is no other option. Looking from there up, Hankook is still a reasonable choice, but it's in the bottom half of the available options.

 

[4WD]

Being dumped cheap like all the SK products since KORUS started. Put a 255-20" set at the curb with only 10k on them.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Hankook makes quality tires.

Another thing to keep in mind is that OE tires are not a good basis to judge a tire compoany on, since they are different than what they sell to everybody else, even when they share the same name. For example, an OE Hankook Optimo H426 that originally came with the car brand new from the factory is not the same thing as the "same" Hankook Optimo H426 you'd buy from your local tire shop, Walmart, or Tire Rack. The OE tires are usually inferior to the aftermarket tires because they select OE tires to be cheap.

Hankook's Kinergy GT will be a much better tire than the Hankooks you will be replacing.

For the size 195/65-15
Hankook Kinergy GT
Falken Ziex ZE950
Kumho Solus TA71
Cooper CS5 Ultra
Goodyear Eagle Sport AS

Also, FWIW, even Nexen is now an OE supplier to Porsche (and they are building a Czech factory). They will be OE on some Cayennes. While the rebadged Touareg is no 911, it is Porsche's best-selling model by far. And I consider Nexen to be a step below Hankook.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
What is the difference between those Hankook tires & these , other than peice ?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/195-65-15-HANKOOK-OPTIMO-H724-89T-BW-Tires/17792580

Thanks ,


I have a set of 185/75/14 H724s on a heavy diesel mercedes and they squeal at the slightest provocation. But they ride like a dream. They are very light weight; I figure there isn't much structure to them. They have online reviews as being mediocre in snow, though I park my merc all winter.

I've also had Douglas, forget the model but they have herringbone tread. Surprisingly nice tire, no complaints.

That said, buying new, I'd get hankooks, but something a little further up their ladder. Your size is cheap enough. Can you wait till black friday for the DTD sale? Hankook is DTD's darling child at present.

 

[ATex7239]

I've had good luck with Hankook.

On the 2nd set of Dynapros on the Enclave. And I don't plan to change on any future sets.

 

[Lubener]

Got a set of Hankooks right now and am very happy with them. I will buy another set when the time comes.

 

[WyrTwister]

I could wait till Black Friday , but they aer loosing air & my Wife is having to have them aired up frequently . And the tread is getting a little thin .

Thanks ,

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
I've seen a Douglas tire on display at walmart and the sidewalls felt paper thin compared to other tires. No thanks.

I bought a set of 205/55R16 Michelin Defenders a few years ago during a Discount Tire Direct sale and got a set for $320 after rebates.

A set of Douglas 205/55R16 is $57/each plus tax. So around $245.

$75 more for a 90,000 set of Michelins verses a 45,000 Douglas is a no brainer for me.


And if you have 195/65R15's (not sure what you have?) the difference is even less. Around $45.

Exactly.

And it's not just Michelin. Other higher-tier brands have sales like this all the time.

And even when they're not on sale, when you average the price difference over the time you own the tire, it's usually insignificant compared to your car's total cost of ownership in that time. But 9 times out of 10, it still buys you a MUCH better tire.

 

[SteveSRT8]

The only Hankook experience I had was with the ventus V12 summer tires I bought a few years ago on the recommendation of a friend with a big old 7 series BMW. Seemed credible due to the car being a similar sized higher performing sedan.

Like all budget priced tires they started out great! But as they wore they got noisy, hard, and lost all semblance of grip. They didn't even make it to 25k miles before they were history.

Not worth it...

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
I wonder how many sets of Michelins are on the road compared to Douglas? You don't hear anything bad about Douglas because you don't hear anything at all.


Usually when you hear something about tires, it's complaints about them. Similar to other products. And yes I've heard and read positive things about Douglas. Great tires for the price. But when one is focused on ONE brand of tires only, such as yourself it strikes me as disingenuous. It is similar to a one trick pony sorry to say.

True, but you've missed his point. Michelin or any other upper-tier brand has a LOT more tires on the road than Douglas. They also have a LOT more tires in the hands of discerning owners, because for the most part those people wouldn't touch a brand like Douglas with a 10-foot pole.

Also, the dry rot/cracking thing is a classic case of hysteria. Certain production runs of certain models had a serious problem with it, and Michelin issued a recall for them. Other than that, it only happens on tires that are several years old and exposed to lots of sun. ANY tire is going to have its rubber harden under those conditions, whether it shows visible cracks or not. And it's never been demonstrated that that cracking actually correlates with an above-average risk of safety issues or even functional inconvenience.

Meanwhile, cheaper brands like Douglas make tires that suck from the get-go, get worse faster, and have more recalls. But of course fewer people notice or care because they're cheap tires.

Basically, you're bringing up a rare issue that, at worst, brings a Michelin tire down to the level of a brand-new Douglas in terms of performance and safety. That kind of proves 2010Civic's point, doesn't it?

 

[Vuflanovsky]

From my perspective, "discerning owners" are the same folks that buy by brand regardless of the tire's performance, value proposition, or individual factors that would have someone choose one brand over another...because there is ONLY one or two brands.

Having said that, I've had good luck with Hankook tires, but like any brand, there are some models that are better than others. In Hankook's case there might be more of spread of good and "less good" than Michelin or what's considered a top tier tire. You can ferret out the better models with a little research.

Truthfully, I've never found Michelin to be a good value proposition for me based on my experience with their wear, cost and differences with the performance envelope that I rarely if ever use anyway. If I'm typically asked to pay 30-40% more for this reality ( inclusive or exclusive of rebates ) then I'm more interested in something else. That "something else" probably wouldn't be Douglas but there are good tires out there from several brands.

 

[d00df00d]

When I said "discerning," I meant people who care, are paying attention, and are willing and able to spend the money. What you're describing sounds like simple brand loyalty.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: Vuflanovsky
From my perspective, "discerning owners" are the same folks that buy by brand regardless of the tire's performance, value proposition, or individual factors that would have someone choose one brand over another...because there is ONLY one or two brands.

Having said that, I've had good luck with Hankook tires, but like any brand, there are some models that are better than others. In Hankook's case there might be more of spread of good and "less good" than Michelin or what's considered a top tier tire. You can ferret out the better models with a little research.

Truthfully, I've never found Michelin to be a good value proposition for me based on my experience with their wear, cost and differences with the performance envelope that I rarely if ever use anyway. If I'm typically asked to pay 30-40% more for this reality ( inclusive or exclusive of rebates ) then I'm more interested in something else. That "something else" probably wouldn't be Douglas but there are good tires out there from several brands.


I've had Michelin's and they wore very well. But my problem is the amount of driving I do the Michelins start to fall apart before I can get the mileage out of them. They run in the $110 plus range for my car. So I opt for a tire like a Toyo or a Hankook that runs in the $60 something range to the mid $70 dollar range they last me for six plus years and I'm done with them.

 

[Vuflanovsky]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
When I said "discerning," I meant people who care, are paying attention, and are willing and able to spend the money. What you're describing sounds like simple brand loyalty.


Well, not so much brand loyalty as an acknowledgement that there are people paying attention with money to spend that would prefer what they've experienced as a better "value". If I drove 25-30K miles a year and spent 40% more for Michelin Pilots or similar that experientially wore the same as the "lesser" tire without much of a bump-up in performance characteristics that mattered to me, then I wouldn't want to repeat this exercise every 18 months. I'm sure people will have different rationales and experiences than that based on what they're trying to achieve...but I personally find that there are excellent tires from other manufacturers where the "discernment" level is a relatively narrow one.

After all, there are those here that only buy Michelin because that 40% is worth it to them whether the performance delta and wear characteristics play into that premium or not. Michelin is supposed to be better but that "better" can have different valuations whether you have the same discernment level or not. IMO, based on my own experience, the idea that people who buy second tier tires are automatically employing a bad choice scenario isn't a given.