Topic: Tire Review: Hankook Ventus V4 ES tire

[Autos_Editor]

These Hankook Ultra-High Performance All-Season tires provide a more comfortable ride than expected from a UHP tire, and performed well on wet roads, says reviewer Jeff Burry, who tested them on his Honda S2000.

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[rrocket]

We really love the Hankook EVO V12 we have on our IS300.

[Gardiner Westbound]

"While the tires I removed had less than 5,000 km on them, I immediately noticed that the Hankook Ventus V4 tires provided for a smoother ride and the cornering was also tighter......"

The reference tire could be top line or a Cambodian Tire special. Without that critical information this is little more than a puff piece.

[Neb]

I think you mean Falken ZE-912. Not Michellin.

[Kevin]

I'd like to see Canadian Driver ask some hard hitting questions of the tire companies in Canada as to why a tire in Vancouver costs generally 50 to 100% more than in Bellingham Washington, a mere 30 minute drive away. I will never again buy tires in Canada after the round around I got at all the major Canadian tire sellers and the out and out gouging of the Candian consumer. I have no issue paying a slight permium for imported goods due to our market size but the cartel of tire companies in this country are simply all in collusion with over inflated prices. Remember how fast prices dropped in Canada on consumer goods when Canadians started flooding into the US to buy the exact same items at rock bottom prices in the 90's even those retailers swore they were not gouging the consumer? Its time the tire companies were held to the same standard. Does C/D have the guts to rock the boat and get some answers?

[ncnmra]

@Kevin,
Agreed.  Seems that nobody really wants to open this can of worms.  There is CONSIDERABLE money getting to be saved buying tires in the US.  I priced some Hankook V12 EVOs from Discount Tire, and they were $500 cheaper for the set of four for 18".

The tire shops here in Ontario didn't even want to talk to me.....

[Gardiner Westbound]

Last Fall I bought a set of four 235/65R17 Bridgestone Blizzak DM-Z3 snow tires from U.S. online retailer Tire Rack for $656 all shipping, taxes, duties, fees and foreign exchange paid.

Cheapest Canadian price was from online retailer Tire Trends at $953 including shipping, etc. That's a $298 difference, 45-percent more.

Best local tire store price was $1,341 including McGuinty tire tax, PST and GST. That's a $685 difference, 105-percent more.

In all cases installation, balancing, etc. were extra.

Seems in the Canadian tire biz cutthroat competition drives prices up!

[toolatecrew]

Often there is money to be saved if you live lcose to the border. If not then it really depends. I aved nearly 1 K on my wheels and tires (even after paying over $300 in shipping) from Tire Rack BUT if you check out this thread there are substantial savings buying some tires in Canada vs the US http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.php/topic,67547.0.html

It appears that the tire companies screw over their Canadian distributors but in the end the tire manufacturer doesn't really care if you buy from Joe's Tire in Toronto or from www.ustires.com as long as you buy their tires.

I am glad to see good reviews of these Hancook tires. Sounds like they are good tires but at $250 a tire in Canada that's pretty pricey.

[Iso Octane]

"While the tires I removed had less than 5,000 km on them, I immediately noticed that the Hankook Ventus V4 tires provided for a smoother ride and the cornering was also tighter......"

The reference tire could be top line or a Cambodian Tire special. Without that critical information this is little more than a puff piece.

I'll have to agree, there isn't a lot of content there.  I would expect any quality tire to perform adequately under the conditions and "tests' mentioned in the review. 

In the grander scheme of things I'm not sure if "Ultra High Performance All-Season" has any meaning at all.  The article says nothing to justify it's "UHP" label.  FWIW the RS3 is Hankook's current true ultra high performance street tire, with the V12 EVO coming next.  Both have been put through much tougher stuff with instrumented testing to back it up.

[robsaw]

I'd like to see Canadian Driver ask some hard hitting questions of the tire companies ....but the cartel of tire companies in this country are simply all in collusion with over inflated prices.... retailers swore they were not gouging the consumer? Its time the tire companies were held to the same standard. Does C/D have the guts to rock the boat and get some answers?

Do you really expect the tire manufacturers, distributors and retailers to all open their accounting books to C/D?  Regardless, the frequency with which the words cartel, collusion, price-fixing, etc, get thrown around everytime there is a rant about high prices about this or that in Canada is laughable.  You can be sure the last party in the chain making excessive profits is the tire retailer and the various foreign subsidiaries and distributors probably have very little say on what they must charge to the downstream wholesalers and retailers.  It is all about the market size and efficiencies of scale combined with effective competition at all levels of the tire production and distribution chain.  Unless you can dig into the books, I fail to see what question or info C/D could possibly obtain to respond to your complaint -lack of guts or boat rocking not withstanding.

[Kevin]

Of course I don't expect the tire companies to open their books. Doing so is overly simplistic and an unrealistic contemplation the issue. What C/D can do is is probe local dealers off the record for their cost of tires and cross reference the costs in the US and ask the Canadian companies to justify their cost discrepancies. This isn't rocket science journalism, its called probitive, proactive investigation.  Whats laughable are those like yourself who think the cost difference doesn't exist and that there is no such thing as price inflation in different markets. Wasn't it just amazing how Nissan, after intense scrutiny of their Canadian pricing several years ago, sudden lopped off thousands of dollars off the cost of their cars. Why? Because their pricing policies were actually contrasted with other jurisdictions using easily obtainable empirical data which was impossible to defend. If you want to continue paying 50 to 100% more for tires or other goods then thats your issue. I for one have had enough with paying the "Canadian premium" price on many of the goods we import. But when people can easily obtain many goods at incredible savings even after shipping, taxes and duty something is very, very wrong.

The problem with many journalists is they truly lack the guts of ask the hard hitting questions because they fear repercussions of their actions. So you either keep your mouth shut, report what the companies want you to or you report with integrity and state the facts. Sometimes the facts aren't pleasant but the the truth can hurt sometimes. I don't want to read spoon fed stories from the auto industry.

[tortoise]

In the grander scheme of things I'm not sure if "Ultra High Performance All-Season" has any meaning at all.  The article says nothing to justify it's "UHP" label.  FWIW the RS3 is Hankook's current true ultra high performance street tire, with the V12 EVO coming next.  Both have been put through much tougher stuff with instrumented testing to back it up.

I agree. Certainly this category of tires shouldn't be used in the winter.  I view them as High Performance Summer tires that sacrifice grip for a little longer tread wear. 

[ktm525]

i had a set of these on the Volvo (235/45-17XL) For the price ($650 installed) they weren't bad, but not great. They wore fast, I think I got about 25k kms out of them, at that point one of them had a scew in it and the tread depth was at 5/32 so I pitched them. The stuck ok but they tended to release suddenly and they had less ultimate grip than a traditional UHP summer. They were horrible in the snow, no better than the UHP summer Pirelli Rosso they replaced. What got to me is that these tires seemed to need constant balancing throughout their life. Even at that they never seemed 100% vibration free. They seemed to flat spot?

Now with new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S+ (price $1025 installed) and there is NO vibration (same wheels). Turn-in and steering feel is much better with the Michelins. My suggestion? Better UHP all seasons out there.

Either the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S+ or the new Continental Supercontact DWS.

[Jeff]

I am curious as to why you put on 235/45/17 in the rear and not the OE size 245/40/17?
This is a very odd combination as you are one of the first I've heard who put this size on.

[Wheelboy]

I just ordered a set of these Hankook V4ES from Performance Unlimited in London Ont and was quoted $178 each.  My local dealer in Woodstock quoted $210 and 1010 Tires has them for $160.

That's for 235/45-17.