Hankook’s popularity is on the rise. Since 2012, the plucky tire manufacturer have improved the quality and lifespan of their products time and again, earning themselves plenty of attention in the process. These hardy tires fill a vital niche in the automotive world: they approach premium quality, without the premium price tag.
Formerly recognized for their prowess on the track, these Korean tires are finally beginning to conquer the passenger car market. If you’re looking for a sportier yet hard wearing tire, Hankook might just be the perfect option for you. To help you find the perfect fit, we’ve reviewed three of Hankook’s most popular tires. In our handy guide below, we also discuss what it is that sets Hankook apart, and who could benefit from their products.
Best Hankook Tires
Hankook VENTUS V12 EVO K110
Hankook’s Ventus V12 is the perfect summer tire for sports cars, coupes, and high performance sedans. Made from a unique High Tg Polymer and Specific Resin compound (HPSR), the tires are moulded to combine precise handling with powerful braking. Their tread pattern features a Multiple Tread Radius (MTR) profile, combining notched shoulder ribs and intermediate tread blocks with a continuous center rib. This unique tread design adds up to comfortable and predictable performance on the road.
To help you maintain control during those summer showers, Hankook have also equipped these tires with wide Y-shape grooves – both lateral and circumferential – to help channel water away and reduce the risk of hydroplaning.
Hankook OPTIMO H727
If you’re not lucky enough to live in a warm, dry climate, summer tires probably aren’t right for your vehicle. Luckily, Hankook have both sides ends of the spectrum covered when it comes to weather, and their all-season Optimo tires prove just what they can do.
These all-season touring tires were developed for coupes, sedans, minivans, and crossover vehicles. They’re diverse enough to meet the needs of all these vehicles, offering excellent handling whatever the weather, without compromising on comfort. Each tire is manufactured from a custom-blended, all-season rubber compound, formulated to maximize traction and tread life alike. Their symmetrical tread design features hundreds of tapered lateral grooves, alongside a continuous center rib. This combination results in a smooth, comfortable ride, with little road noise to speak of. Thanks to this setup, the tires are perfect for lengthy journeys. To achieve a good grip in wet conditions, the pattern also includes four circumferential grooves, strategically placed to evacuate water from its footprint. This helps to prevent hydroplaning, keeping you in control even when it pours. Thanks to a series of high density sipes, the tire can also maintain its traction in wintery conditions such light snow and ice.
Hankook DYNAPRO AT-M
Last, but not least, is Hankook’s Dynapro all-terrain tire. If you’re navigating bumpy tracks as often as hitting the highway, this sturdy and versatile option could be the perfect solution for you.
These premium all-terrain tires do exactly what their name suggests – helping you navigate almost any terrain and season. Developed with light trucks, vans, and SUVs in mind, the tires are manufactured from a specially formulated light truck rubber compound. Each tire is molded into a wide, symmetrical tread design. Its large footprint is ideal for gripping and accelerating, standing up to uneven wear even on uneven surfaces. The wraparound tread design offers a rugged look – more than at home on any truck – while simultaneously increasing traction in mud and even snow. Built-in stone ejectors in both the shoulder and center grooves keep stone drilling at bay, by throwing debris out of the way before it can do any damage. Meanwhile, a combination of scallop and tiered side grooves between tread blocks increases the biting edge, for better off-roading traction year round.
Hankook Tires Buying Guide
These three tires are designed for very different functions, and work best with very different vehicles. Whether you take your SUV off-road in the snow, or cruise the highway in the blazing sun, we’re confident that one of these options could be a great fit for you.
Below, we delve a little deeper into Hankook tires, and what makes them unique.
Why Choose Hankook Tires?
As mentioned briefly in the introduction, Hankook offer drivers a happy medium between budget and premium tires.
They’re a well-known brand in motorsport circles, most recently rising to prominence in 2011, at the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska. At this event, one popular street-tire class ran almost entirely on Hankook’s Ventura ties. In fact, 13 of the 17 trophy positions at this event were won by vehicles equipped with Hankook tires.
You may have also come across Hankook following their 2004 partnership with Ford, which resulted in the production of tires for their F-120 pickup. In just two years, 3.5 million Hankook tires were fitted to Ford vehicles.
Over the years, Hankook have emerged as the seventh largest tire-maker world wide: so what makes Hankook tires so special?
Hankook can trace a lot of their success to the careful quality control procedures that they’ve developed over the years. At the end of the production line, each and every tire is hand inspected by a technician, ensuring that the blend has mixed uniformy, and no flaws can be found.
This careful technique has been perfected over the course of Hankook’s 70 year history. Despite this impressive run, the company isn’t adverse to innovation, displaying a range of unique concept tires at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show in the UK.
Overall, Hankook is the one to beat when it comes to balancing quality, durability, and performance in a mid-range performance tire.
Design Features
Hankook rely on a number of effective design features to set their tires apart:
- Each tire is designed with the Hankook philosophy of ‘Kontrol’ – the objective of fully controlling interaction between car, driver, and road
- Hankook tires are always designed with weather conditions in mind
- Fuel efficiency is increased by a low rolling resistance wherever possible
- Hankook carefully design even their all-terrain tires to limit noise and vibrations from the road
- Durability is a key concern for Hankook with every tire
- Hankook produce a huge array of tires, suitable for almost every passenger vehicle and set of road conditions
- All Hankook tires are made with specifically formulated compounds to match specific requirements
