Hankook Ventus V12 Evo
 

There are a lot of fragmented posts on the various tires so I thought I'd start a specific thread for these tires. I know several people here have installed them and hopefully we can collect observations and reviews for those interested in this specific tire. Mine have not been installed yet, but they did arrive UPS today. I bought them from treadzone.com as they were about $20 a tire cheaper than tirerack was. Total before shipping for a set of four was $672. These are stock sizes.

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Tire Rack is a forum sponsor. I'm sure a phone call would have saved you that astronomical $20 difference :facepalm:

I'm in need of new tires myself (~15k miles) and so far these seem to be the best all around tire for the price. In for updates.

Just got mine this weekend, will update my journal & here with my thoughts after this weekend, should have plenty of miles on them by then. I went with: 275/35-19 & 305/30-19

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_wgFNZZBDMaE/S_...2011.51.03.jpg

It was $20x4= $80. If you have $80 to flush down the toilet more power to you. I tried to use them because they are a sponsor of the site, but my wallet ultimately makes the decision. Thanks for the very helpful input to this thread.

ook $20 each makes more sense, but I still find it hard to believe that they wouldn't price match

I have never had them on my car, nor have I driven a car with them so I can only repeat what I've been told. Great street tires with good cold grip and good wet weather performance. I also hear they are pretty sticky for street tires that last as long as they do. In other words, perfect street or drift tires. From what I heard, its a different story on the track, these tend to overheat and turn into smoke a few laps in. That's nothing to be ashamed of...its impossible to make an inexpensive tire that is great on the street, lasts a long time and then somehow also performs at the track.

I haven't tried personally, but everything I have read is that they don't price match.

:tiphat:

Well, I'd like to point out that I only got 7k miles out of my first set of rear tires. Granted, my alignment was a bit F'd up, but it wasn't REALLY bad. I'm giving them a second chance on the rear tires, if these wear out quickly then I'm jumping to nitto invo's or something else.

My fronts still have probably 60-70% tread after 10k miles though :tup:

Yeah my fronts are still pretty nice, since I haven't been drifting or doing auto-x.

Rears are getting squirrely in the rain though. Time to start shopping.. I think I'll try to push it until right before my next track event. That might be 90 days though...

great tires. you'll love them!

^ Very true statement. I like mine for the street and they are great in the wet. I've noticed when changing out my road to track set that the Hankooks are pretty heavy compared to my R888s (no surprize there). I have about 2k miles on my Hankook's and they barely looked used, hopefully they last.

Here is a link to a tire test from car and driver. The v12 places well.
Hankook Ventus V12 Evo - Comparison Tests - Car and Driver

I drove mine pretty hard at ZDayZ and they are pretty damn nice for a high performance street tire. Have not been on the track with them yet to see how the fare in a real performance test, but street grip, even under very high performance driving is excellent. Like others have said, these things are fantastic in the wet!

How many miles do these last on the streets as a daily driver with proper alignment specs?

Should get at least 20k out of them, probably more.

That would be my guess too. Since the treadwear rating is about double of the Bridgestones and I got 12k out of them.

Keep in mind though, treadwear ratings are only really comparable when you are looking at the same manufacturer. A treadwear rating of 200 from bridgesone may not equal one from hankook.

They are great tires, I just hope it was my alignment that made it so I got 7k out of my rears. Got the alignment fixed when I put these on, we'll see how they last.

If you had any toe in/out that can really eat tires up.

Good to know, I assumed it was standard across all brands, but apparently it's not.

Anybody driven these in cold weather yet? I would be interested to know if they do/don't have the issue of the OEMs (tire scrapping during hard turns until they warm up). Been looking at replacing the OEMs with these.

they are summer tires.. they arent meant to be driven in weather under 40 degrees.

Summer tires can be driven in the winter, they just won't handle the same (unless they can get warmed up), but that is for traction and comfort. As for the scrapping issue, it shouldn't happen - I've designed tires, and know.

30s and they are very good…..Better than the OEMs.

I guess these words are fairly equivalent to someone talking about power increase by a butt dyno estimate but I've noticed quite a bit more traction in the cold and or wet.

Nikon, thanks. Good to hear traction is ok, but not really interested in the traction capabilities but more if you get the frozen tread blocks that, when you first drive it, the tires scrape during hard turns (vibration in the wheel and a nice scrapping noise from the tire). Only does it during first few turns, at a lower speed, when the tire is cold (in below ~40 degree weather).

I'm thinking about getting these and the daily driver qualities of these tires seem good from what everyone is saying, but here's the deal. In the next year (prob how long I'll have these tires) I'll be driving to Nashville for ZCON, and Probably do at least 3 or 4 HPDE's. Has anyone really tried to push their car with these tires? How well do they work on the track new/8k/15k miles? Thanks! :tup:

Vipor, I'd suggest investing in a little more dual-purpose tires if you plan to do HPDE's. Or, invest in a set of track wheels/tires that will serve their purpose.

Yeah.... I could buy Bonanni's track set for 1k wheels and tires, but I can't realistically make a move like that right now. Sucks. If I had a HPDE around the corner I'd be all over it.

you are too late anyway, he sold them :(

Yeah I figured they'd go quick. I think I was the first to see the post. Hate it when opportunity strikes and I can't take advantage.

Had the tires installed today at the dealer. Unfortunately they managed to damage 3 of the four wheels in process and one front brake caliper. So I get to take it back next week when their wheel guy will attempt to make repairs.

The tires only have 30 miles on them but they are noticeably quieter and don't tramline at all now. The Bridgestones did it often, I haven't seen anybody else notice that benefit. Here are a few pics of the damage and tires installed.

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ya, I've had a dealership damage my wheels as well, never going to them for tire installation again. good luck getting them fixed!

^^ that is unfortunate. This is also why I am very particular where I take my car for tire replacements, and I am usually on the floor when they do it. At most dealerships/etc, the tire guy is the entry level job (1st job there), so they don't have a clue.

I don't know why they scrape off the weights. You can spray anything using a carbon-tetrachloride base (like brake cleaner) and let it set for 5 minutes and the glue on the weights will soften to the point where the weights come of using your hand. They should have to replace the entire wheel IMHO.

just be happy they don't use brake cleaner to get them off. i wouldn't be surprised one bit if it had been done. i kind of want to... well. NEVER go to the dealership for anything, after seeing all of these stories.

Well the service manager has been very apologetic about the situation, but it's still a major pain in the *** for me to have to go back there and have them repaired. I can't imagine that they are going to be repaired perfectly so I'm sure this whole process is going to be a total nightmare. I know a lot of people refuse to take their cars to the dealership, but I figured that they really couldn't screw up a tire removal, but I was wrong.

Here is where they nicked the caliper too. I'm not being unreasonable here am I??

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not at all, the car isn't in the condition that you brought it in as. I got the dealership that screwed up my wheels to actually put the cash they would have had spend to repair my wheels towards a set of aftermarkets.

man, that is so common and its awful considering these guys spend all day doing this.

Thanks for the feedback, I don't want to be "that guy" who is uptight and unreasonable. Caravan, how much did the dealer give you?

$500

it was $125 a wheel for him to have the refinisher fix the wheels. These were on a new body style Sentra SE-R Spec V. He gave me the $ and kept the stock wheels, but they weren't worth much anyway.