Hi,

I am looking to buy a set of tires to use for summer plus some track (2-4 days per year) and autocross. I was leaning towards the Dunlop Direzza's (Sport Z1 Star Specs) but noticed that the Hankook's are getting great reviews as well (but are only max performance tires) and are about $35 cheaper at $90 per tire! I do wonder how they can be so cheap and be really that good... what I am missing? Is the price driven by the fact that they are a lesser know, 2nd tier brand?

I would love to hear what people think about the Hankook tires for some track and autocross use.

 

Won't really be a track review for you but i'm gonna have a set of these on in a few days (just waiting to get my TSW studs). I'll def hit some corners once their on and post up what i think.

 

Thanks!!

Otherwise no real world track experiences? I guess I may just buy the Dunlops. Anyone?

 

Dunlops Z1 SS, Bridgestone RE11 and Yoko AD08 are all in the same class of extreme performance tires. You will have lower treadwear numbers which does translate to fewer miles driven before replacement.

They are all generally pretty comparible with each other as far as track is concerned. All pretty good on the track and great for dd. You should wear them down from 9-11/32 or so to 5-6/32 or so before tracking them otherwise there is lots of track squim and potential chunking.

 

Hmmm... if your more concerned with track performance than dd ability these tires won't cut it i doubt. Pick a good set for dd and get some real tires for the track. If your only tracking a few days a year just get a set or Rcomps for the track.

 

I previously had the RE01R's and tracked them a couple times. I now have the Hankooks but won't be on the track with them until late May. From some of my pretty aggressive Dragon runs, I'd say these tires are pretty good, but not quite up to the grip levels of the REO1R's, which are compatible with the Dunlops you are interested in. That being said, the reason I bought these was because they were so much cheaper (I only got about 10k miles out of the RE01Rs) and I only track a couple times a year.

 

I have Hankooks on my Justa that doesn't see any track days, and I think it is a good tire for the money. I think there are better choices for the track, as mentioned above.

 

I have them on my Checkmate which is only driven in the summer. No track time but some spirited aggressive runs, perform about the same as the previous Goodyear F1 eagles.

 

Those with the V12, how is the ride? I've chosen the ventus v12 due to that magazine that rated them very high and especially when considering ride noise. Is it true? Would you feel it is a quiet tire?

 

For track and auto-x Star Specs will fair better than V12 Evo K110 although Kuhmo does make the RS-3 which is more orange to orange comparison tire vs Star Spec. The V12 Evo K110 would proly make a better street tire like rain and treadwear stuff. But you can run the V12 on track, I ran oem tires, GS-D3 and Nitto NeoGens on track before.

 

I'm planning on picking these up over the weekend, are they decent for street use? I only need them for summer and am planning on selling the Mini soon so I don't care too much about the tire wear.

I'm trying to buy the best tire for the cheapest price possible and these are currently going for $88/tire with $50 mail in coupon if you buy 4 at tirerack.

Hankook Ventus V12 @ tirerack.com

 

I think you will be quite surprised at how well they ride and how quiet they are.

 

Cool, thanks.

Now I just need to figure out how I can get them installed? Does tire rack have tire places that work with them? I don't want them shipped to Canada, don't really feel like paying 12% tax on them. I'm planning on going to Bellingham, WA to get them installed.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp

Yes, enter zip code to get installers in your area, tires can be shipped there and installed when you want.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll have to wait till next weekend, I don't think they ship that fast