Life Expectancy for the Original Tires?

[Yosemite Sam]

Your wheel alignment must be spot-on, and you must drive conservatively to achieve that degree of tread life. Impressive!

The alignment is surprisingly accurate! I rotated the tires at every oil change and they wore evenly. After moving out of L.A. and becoming a truck driver, I changed from my bad driving habits to conservative driving habits. Now I live in a city with some of the worst drivers.

:blankface:

 

[The Champ]

I have not had any problems with them in any kind of weather. Not great in rain or light snow.

Seems to me that you contradict yourself.

If you haven't had any problems with then in any kind of weather - how do you know that they aren't great in rain or light snow?

I deal frequently with heavy rain and serious snow. That's why I got rid of the OE tires.

Consumer rankings of Grand Touring All Season Tires on Tirerack.com

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve...ratio=55&diameter=16&tireSearch=true&filter=y

The Hankook 428's were #34 ranked out of 34 tires.

On a scale of 1 - 10, here is how they were rated in wet and snow:

Hydroplaning resistance - 4.7

Wet traction - 4.8

Light snow - 2

Deep snow - 1.4

Ice - 1.2

The only categories with ratings above 6:

Dry traction - 6.3

Steering response 6.2

Noise Comfort 6.1

So....

When asked if the consumer would buy them again the rating was - 1.9

Once again - this is on a scale of 1 - 10.

For comparison - a lower priced tire (at least from Tirerack), the Continental Pure Contact, had a lowest score of 7.7 (Ice Traction) and had a score of 8.1 for Would Buy Again.

 

[ahtoxa]

I'm at 45k miles and by 55-60k miles I'll be done with the second set of tires on this car. I definitely do not drive conservatively.

 

[Palmaris]

will be taking those off soon to put on my extra set of rims with 205/55/16 Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice winter tires.

Enjoy, I have the "Ultra Grip Winter" tires on, slightly different from yours but they do the trick!

 

[Hdmanny]

The tires are not great in rain or light snow but I did not have any problems with them. I take the fact that they are not designed as rain or snow tires so I do not drive like some people that tend to think that fwd cars are invincible in rain or snow. I have driven my car in heavy rain, while snowing and freezing rain but I have been driving for a while.

 

[The Champ]

The tires are not great in rain or light snow but I did not have any problems with them. I take the fact that they are not designed as rain or snow tires so I do not drive like some people that tend to think that fwd cars are invincible in rain or snow. I have driven my car in heavy rain, while snowing and freezing rain but I have been driving for a while.

Actually - the OE Hankooks ARE designed as an all season tire. They just are the worst (as far as rankings go) "Grand Touring All Season" tire sold by Tirerack.

I've got a few years of driving under my belt too. Maybe a few more than you, maybe not...

I got my driver's license back in 1970. I was born and raised in northern MN and learned how to drive big rear wheel drive cars running bias ply regular tires on snow and ice.

My first car...



Currently I drive about 1,000 miles per week in southern MN/northern Iowa for my job. There is only one day in the last 5 years that I didn't go out in my territory to make my sales calls due to snow.

This is actually my first set of winter/snow tires in my life.

What prompted the decision for the winter tires on this vehicle is the simple fact that smaller/lighter cars do have more traction issues in the snow and the fact that the OE tires are so poor.

That and my desire to have a more aggressive/wider tire for the summer. As wider tires (even quality all season tires) perform poorly in the snow - I decided to get an extra set of rims and have the best of both worlds.

 

[ahtoxa]

Actually - the OE Hankooks ARE designed as an all season tire. They just are the worst (as far as rankings go) "Grand Touring All Season" tire sold by Tirerack.

I've got a few years of driving under my belt too. Maybe a few more than you, maybe not...

I got my driver's license back in 1970. I was born and raised in northern MN and learned how to drive big rear wheel drive cars running bias ply regular tires on snow and ice.

My first car...



Currently I drive about 1,000 miles per week in southern MN/northern Iowa for my job. There is only one day in the last 5 years that I didn't go out in my territory to make my sales calls due to snow.

This is actually my first set of winter/snow tires in my life.

What prompted the decision for the winter tires on this vehicle is the simple fact that smaller/lighter cars do have more traction issues in the snow and the fact that the OE tires are so poor.

That and my desire to have a more aggressive/wider tire for the summer. As wider tires (even quality all season tires) perform poorly in the snow - I decided to get an extra set of rims and have the best of both worlds.

You're from MN. In Minnesota, 40* is beach weather.

I'm from Chicago, living in Dallas. Here, 1/2" of snow and half the people don't drive to work and news media encourage people to stay off the roads. No exaggeration.

The first time it snowed 1/2" or so, I was ticked off and confused as to why most of my team didn't show up for work. Then I realized that most of the company didn't show up for work.

 

[Hdmanny]

The "all season" on the tires does not mean all weather types. They are great winter tires if you live in Key West. I am looking at better tires to replace them with but we do not really need winter tires here in TN. The problem we run in to is that it can snow a couple of inches in the morning then warm up enough to have it start melting in the afternoon. Then when the temp drops on your way home it turns to ice. We get that a lot here and it does cause problems, only chains or studded tires will help on ice.

 

[LTZ ICE]

The Hankooks are the worst tires I have ever owned. In the snow, you are better off leaving the car in the driveway. At 23,000 miles, I just put a set of Goodyear Eagle Sport All Seasons on my LTZ sedan. Huge improvement over the Hankooks. Ride, handling and noise have improved considerably. The car feels more glued to the road and the steering is more responsive.

 

[The Champ]

The "all season" on the tires does not mean all weather types. They are great winter tires if you live in Key West. I am looking at better tires to replace them with but we do not really need winter tires here in TN. The problem we run in to is that it can snow a couple of inches in the morning then warm up enough to have it start melting in the afternoon. Then when the temp drops on your way home it turns to ice. We get that a lot here and it does cause problems, only chains or studded tires will help on ice.

The "all season" actually does mean all weather types. All season tires are what the majority of people in the snow belt use - because they were intended to work better than regular tires in snow.

From the product description of the Hankook Optimo H428:

Grand Touring All-Season tires are for drivers who want a combination of a sophisticated appearance, competent handling and H-speed rated (or higher) durability, along with all-season traction, including in light snow. Grand Touring All-Season tires branded with the M+S symbol are often used as Original Equipment (O.E.) on sophisticated coupes and luxurious performance sedans.

M+S refers to Mud and Snow.

The link I gave you previously was for all the "Grand Touring All Season" tires that Tirerack sells. There were 34 different tires surveyed. The 428's were dead last overall - and had the worst rating in light snow traction, deep snow traction and ice traction of all the tires tested.

Here's the link again - it may be worth your time to look at it as you will be needing to replace your Hankook's soon:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve...ratio=55&diameter=16&tireSearch=true&filter=y

You will find that there are plenty of less expensive tires that provide a much better year round driving experience.

 

[The Champ]

You're from MN. In Minnesota, 40* is beach weather.

I'm from Chicago, living in Dallas. Here, 1/2" of snow and half the people don't drive to work and news media encourage people to stay off the roads. No exaggeration.

The first time it snowed 1/2" or so, I was ticked off and confused as to why most of my team didn't show up for work. Then I realized that most of the company didn't show up for work.

I have been known to go swimming when there was still some ice on the lake...

I worked at the Pentagon back in the late 70's - and had similar experiences with people calling in that they couldn't make it in to work - my boss included. Funny thing, I literally drove right by my bosses house to get to work...

 

[Dirkdaddy]

Yep, a bit OT but same here in Houston for a transplant, we had school cancelled one day because of a forecast of snow! And one day it was "too cold" (below 35). This morning it shows 35 and holy cow that was a drop from 50 ish. My daughter's lacrosse practice was cancelled b/c it was cold and they figured no one would show up.

Back to tires...
RE: Tires, the larger wheels on the LTZ may have different compound tires, but at 18k on my car which I just bought are about 2/3 worn out. I haven't measured yet but they are not more than maybe 1.5mm above the wear bars. Have to read the ratings of tires now and prepare for the inevitable.

 

[SouthFLSonic]

Was at the dealer yesterday for an oil change and rotation and they finally put my tread wear at yellow and I am pushing 70K miles on stock 16's, prob need tires by 100K

 

[CheapFuneral]

Yeah, I have stock 15s wheels and tires, going on 40k with plenty of tread. And sadly I've only rotated 1 time because I'm to lazy to do it and I am not paying anyone.

I don't have snow and dry traction is fine if I'm not trying to race on a track, not the best rain traction but I've had worse.

I will be upgrading to a better tire when these wear down, looking at a set of nitto or gy triple tread.


If I die, bury me in my truck, because it's never been in a hole it can't get out of!

 

[ahtoxa]

I need to rotate my tires. My fronts are close to the wearbars, so I need to move them to the back before they are worn out. The current rear ones have more tread. After rotation, 10k miles and the set will be done.

 

[Hdmanny]

I did check out the tire reviews, I am trying to decide between the gy Assurance ComforTred Touring or Assurance TripleTred All-Season. The TripleTreds weigh 4 lbs more each than the ComforTred tires and probably more than what I need.

 

[CheapFuneral]

The triple treads are very noisy, fyi


If I die, bury me in my truck, because it's never been in a hole it can't get out of!

 

[Hdmanny]

The triple treads are very noisy, fyi


If I die, bury me in my truck, because it's never been in a hole it can't get out of!

I could tell by the tread pattern that they would be but I just have to weigh that against the traction benefits.

 

[The Champ]

I did check out the tire reviews, I am trying to decide between the gy Assurance ComforTred Touring or Assurance TripleTred All-Season. The TripleTreds weigh 4 lbs more each than the ComforTred tires and probably more than what I need.

I've had both tires. 3 sets of the TripleTreds and currently have the ComforTreds on my company car. For where you live - I'd recommend the ComforTreds hands down. The ComforTred didn't exist when I purchased the TripleTreds.

The ComforTred is an "All Season" tire and works well in the snow.

4 extra pounds of unsprung weight is a lot.

 

[Hdmanny]

That is what I thought also when comparing the tires. I'm pretty sure I will go with the ComforTred due to them being lighter and quieter. I checked my tires and they still have a bit before they are at the wear bar, I should be at 74k next week.