OEM Hankook Tires, Like or Dislike

[thefranchise713]

The Hankooks were a forgettable tire. Not horrible in any way. I put on Michelin Premier LTX after road damage took one out; much quieter tire and got a couple of MPGs back to boot.

 

[Pete6114]

Although i'm not a fan of Hankook tires and would never buy myself, i have no complaints about them on the wifes 2017 Plat, but wish ford would give me premium tires on a premium trim level vehicle.
I also got Hankooks on my 2018 F150 Plat, which are noticeably nosier than the ones on the EX, but they have much more aggressive threads. If youre not happy with them, take them back to the dealer and ask for new tires!

 

[peterk9]

Although i'm not a fan of Hankook tires and would never buy myself, i have no complaints about them on the wifes 2017 Plat, but wish ford would give me premium tires on a premium trim level vehicle.
I also got Hankooks on my 2018 F150 Plat, which are noticeably nosier than the ones on the EX, but they have much more aggressive threads. If youre not happy with them, take them back to the dealer and ask for new tires!

I doubt very much if the dealer would take back tires they didn't install or sell you. I tried that with my 2011 Limited and got no where. They weren't even interested in discussing it. I had to call around to different tire shops before I found one (Frisby) that would give me $80/tire on a set of Yokohama Parada Spec-X tires. I don't think many dealers want used tires sitting around. BTW, I also would not buy these OEM tires myself and I don't think you'll find many manufacturers that actually put 'Premium' tires on new vehicles. I know that Toyota owners had many issues with the Toyo tires that were put on the Highlanders years ago.

Peter

 

[Napalm]

I have just put 2500KM on the Hankooks, and can say without any hesitation I hate them! They are very noisy, and transmit all road irregularities into the passenger cabin. That is with the windows closed. My neighbour who spends 10-12 hours a day in a police vehicle (Tahoe) commented on the tire rumble as I came up our street! I'd love to take a ride in an Explorer with 20" wheels that had the Michelin Premiums or Defenders on to do a comparison. I don't want to spend $1300CAD on new tires (Costco price), if there is only slight noise reduction. I've never driven on 20" rims before so I don't want to change tires only to find that part of the problem is actually because of the lower profile tires.

I've probably already posted this but they keep combining threads around here so it's hard to find what's where.

I feel the hankooks are too loud also that's what came on our 2016. I put 39K on them and I purposely didn't rotate them often because I wanted them gone and didn't feel like putting in the effort. They grip well sure but sound like crap. I'm used to performance tires though on most of my cars - so my requirements and basis is a little different from most people.

I moved to the Michelin Premier tires (i forget the exact model now - but I'm sure it's in a thread somewhere) and they are quieter but don't expect tomb silence. there will always be a good bit of wind noise and road noise in the explorer - but it is better. And the rougher the pavement - the more difference.

I would say - don't throw away the miles (Km's) on those tires though you don't have that much miles on them. So ride them a bit longer you might as well - the noise difference isn't that much.

 

[peterk9]

I've probably already posted this but they keep combining threads around here so it's hard to find what's where.

Easy enough to find out. You only have 1 other post in this thread. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...s-like-or-dislike.305892/page-12#post-3455700

Peter

 

[Daheim111]

Anyone who tried the Hankook Dynapro`s ? I have, and I think they are very fine / noise is about 71 dB...but some problems under whet conditions.

 

[peterk9]

Anyone who tried the Hankook Dynapro`s ? I have, and I think they are very fine / noise is about 71 dB...but some problems under whet conditions.

Reading the customer reviews on Tire Rack, there are several that commented on how great the HP2 is on wet roads. One reviewer stated that they "stuck like glue" in the wet.

Peter

 

[Goran Popovic]

I just got 4 new HP2s on my 15' XLT FWD. I'm exited to see how well they do.
I got the car last week form Carmax while it still had the stock Optimo's. The remaining tread on them were 5/6/7/9-32nd's. The car ONLY had 26k miles so that's another poor showing for the Optimo's. Luckily the sales manager first agreed to replace the 5/32 tire to match it with the 9/32 to be more even.
Upon discovering that the Optimo's were discontinued, they sprung for 4 new Dynapro HP2s. Made a happy customer out of me

 

[jmr061]

Nov 8 2017 5584 - 2015-2018 - Explorer - Hankook Brand Tire - Chipping, Cutting And/Or Unusual/Accelerated Tread Wear

Some 2015-2018 Explorer vehicles equipped with Hankook brand tires may exhibit chipping, cutting and/or unusual or even accelerated tread wear. If the tire side wall is marked as: 255/50R20 105H Ventus S1 Noble 2 contact Hankook Technical Service for possible pro-rated tire replacement. This may not be the result of improper alignment. For Hankook contact information refer to the Tire Warranty information located on FMCDealer.com.

 

[Odrapnew]

I just got 4 new HP2s on my 15' XLT FWD. I'm exited to see how well they do.
I got the car last week form Carmax while it still had the stock Optimo's. The remaining tread on them were 5/6/7/9-32nd's. The car ONLY had 26k miles so that's another poor showing for the Optimo's. Luckily the sales manager first agreed to replace the 5/32 tire to match it with the 9/32 to be more even.
Upon discovering that the Optimo's were discontinued, they sprung for 4 new Dynapro HP2s. Made a happy customer out of me

Based on your uneven tread depths, sounds like more of a rotation/alignment issue than "another poor showing."

 

[Ryan M]

Hello all, first post here but have already found this forum to be extremely helpful.

Recently picked up a 2017 Ford Explorer Sport on a 39 month lease. I love the truck - it's fun to drive, quick as hell and sounds nice when you step on it. One issue I have been experiencing is the "flatspotting" noted earlier in this forum. I have the OEM Hankook Ventus tires - at ~36 PSI of pressure. When colder outside (maybe down around 35 degrees), I would experience wheel shake and vibrations on the highway at around 50-70 MPH. Eventually, it would subside, at least to the point where I wouldn't notice it anymore. Does this sound like the "flatspotting" issue? I brought it in for re-balancing last week, so I'm confident the tires are correctly balanced.

Any additional input would be greatly appreciated - thanks everyone!!!

 

[peterk9]

Hello all, first post here but have already found this forum to be extremely helpful.

Recently picked up a 2017 Ford Explorer Sport on a 39 month lease. I love the truck - it's fun to drive, quick as hell and sounds nice when you step on it. One issue I have been experiencing is the "flatspotting" noted earlier in this forum. I have the OEM Hankook Ventus tires - at ~36 PSI of pressure. When colder outside (maybe down around 35 degrees), I would experience wheel shake and vibrations on the highway at around 50-70 MPH. Eventually, it would subside, at least to the point where I wouldn't notice it anymore. Does this sound like the "flatspotting" issue? I brought it in for re-balancing last week, so I'm confident the tires are correctly balanced.

Any additional input would be greatly appreciated - thanks everyone!!!

Welcome to the Forum Ryan.
Any flat spotting should iron itself out in a mile or so. My tires were out of balance from the factory and the dealership rebalanced them. Even then they were not 100% but good enough to put some miles on them. I found that they gradually got better but still not perfect. Like you, they would sometimes vibrate a bit at time until I drove a while and at times they were "smooth as glass" especially on newly paved roads. My Winters are perfect and I will have the Hankooks rebalanced again before I have them reinstalled in the Spring. If it took a bit of driving to get to the highway and then up to speed, I doubt it is due to flat spotting.

Peter

 

[Ryan M]

Thanks Peter! I should have mentioned this, but I live literally a quarter of a mile off the highway. I am not in the car for longer than 2 minutes before accelerating to highway speed. I suppose this would lend itself to being flat spotting? All signs seem to point to it because the vehicle does get smoother over time - I also hope this is what it is! It only has 3k miles on it.

Thanks again
Ryan

 

[peterk9]

Thanks Peter! I should have mentioned this, but I live literally a quarter of a mile off the highway. I am not in the car for longer than 2 minutes before accelerating to highway speed. I suppose this would lend itself to being flat spotting? All signs seem to point to it because the vehicle does get smoother over time - I also hope this is what it is! It only has 3k miles on it.

Thanks again
Ryan

In that case it could very well be flat spotting. Happy motoring.

 

[Ryan M]

Thanks Peter - not sure if I have talked myself into it, but I think that's what it may be. Unfortunately, I don't want to put new tires on it, especially because it's a lease. I guess we will just have to live with it!

 

[peterk9]

Thanks Peter - not sure if I have talked myself into it, but I think that's what it may be. Unfortunately, I don't want to put new tires on it, especially because it's a lease. I guess we will just have to live with it!

It's likely new tires will have the same issue. It is an especially common problem with 20" tires. The 2017 I have now is my 7th leased vehicle and I've never had to replace the OEM tires. If I have to replace tires, it may be the 18" Winter tires that I'm using and also used on the previous MKT. Hopefully I will be able to use them on the 2020 as well.

 

[Ryan M]

Thanks Peter - Yeah, the Sport certainly has some large/wide tires - but it certainly is fun to drive!

 

[jrgoffin]

Mine have gotten very noisy after 22,000 miles and they are coming off tomorrow, replaced with the Continental Extreme Contact DWS06. Never have liked these Hankook tires, but fortunately there are a lot more options offered in the OE size now.

 

[Floatman]

I have now got 10K on the Hankooks. My original complaint of excessive noise has not changed. I have found that in rain, they grip very well, which was a nice surprise. I have not had any issues with flat spotting to date. I'm leaving them on for the winter. So far we have had a couple of 6" snow events, and another 4" today. WIth the transmission in 4 wheel, no issues with traction, so far either.

 

[Odrapnew]

Just to throw another $0.02 in, as thefranchise713 said, the Hankooks were forgettable.

They were quiet, smooth, responsive, no obvious traction issues in warm wet/dry. I wouldn’t say they excelled in anything, but did fine for most situations. In the last 10K miles, I did notice their wet traction started to degrade, especially on colder wet roads. I racked up 65K miles on mine and the only real complaint was snow traction. I always felt their snow traction was less than desirable.


After switching to Premier LTX tires a few weeks ago, I now realize how bad the Hankooks were in the snow. The Premier LTX are light years ahead in terms of snow traction even though they are just an “all season” tire.


If I had a dedicated set of winter tires/wheels when I purchased my Explorer, I would probably have the Hankooks up to 100k miles. 65k miles and they were still had usable “summer” tread.