Hankook Tires, Coming To Mercedes OEM Supplier List

[MTI]

OE push: Hankook supplies Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Nissan - News - Modern Tire Dealer




BMW, Audi, and now Mercedes will have Hankook tires as OEM on certain models.

[Mike Murrell]

I have a set of what I'll call their "Grade B" tires on 2 of my "beaters". I won't buy anymore once these have worn out.

Hopefully the OE stuff they might supply to MB/BMW/etc. will compare with Michelin, but I would be skeptical.

[Hatterasguy]

Mediocre tires, disappointing that you spend $100k on a car and they don't even put Michelin's on it.

I suspect a lot of people are not going to be happy with them.

The crazy part is now GM is putting better/more expensive stock rubber on their cars than Mercedes and BMW, go figure.

[KarTek]

After the end of the long standing relationship between Ford and Firestone, I think they became the stock tire on Ford vehicles. My friend bought a set for her Tundra and they're great tires so far, much better than what came on there stock.

[MTI]

Tuck this little "factoid" away for future reference:

China currently accounts for more than half of all Mercedes S-Class sedan sales. Mercedes still lags behind BMW and Audi overall in China.

[DeliveryValve]

Originally Posted by MTI

Tuck this little "factoid" away for future reference:

China currently accounts for more than half of all Mercedes S-Class sedan sales. Mercedes still lags behind BMW and Audi overall in China.

But these are South Korean tires....



.

[compu_85]

Fail fail fail. Our Passat came with these. They are noisy, don't have a ton of grip, and are already dry rotting after just over a year! I'll be glad to be rid of them.

Our mechanic friend calls them Chinapops. He's seen many with sidewalls that failed

-J

[MTI]

Originally Posted by compu_85

Fail fail fail. Our Passat came with these. They are noisy, don't have a ton of grip, and are already dry rotting after just over a year! I'll be glad to be rid of them.

Our mechanic friend calls them Chinapops. He's seen many with sidewalls that failed

-J

I've heard the same said about certain Continental and Michelin tires. I think it's fair to say that there's hardly a tire maker that has an unblemished history through its entire product range.

[t walgamuth]

I have some on my Mitsu and am happy with them. I also bought them for my 39 Studebaker truck. After I see how I like driving it I might spring for more expensive tires.

[compu_85]

Originally Posted by MTI

I've heard the same said about certain Continental and Michelin tires. I think it's fair to say that there's hardly a tire maker that has an unblemished history through its entire product range.

True, but I don't think even the best Hankook is as good as the midrange Michelin....

I know that I will NOT be putting another set on our car. A set of 4 Michelin's is only about $100 more.

The spare is a Firestone

-J

[Dudesky]

Originally Posted by MTI

OE push: Hankook supplies Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota and Nissan - News - Modern Tire Dealer




BMW, Audi, and now Mercedes will have Hankook tires as OEM on certain models.

Some research showed high noise issues after they got some miles on them...I forgot about them after that.

[MTI]

From R&T

When it comes to tires, Hankook may not be a household word...unless that household is home to a family of autocrossers who spend their free time crazily flinging cars around cones on abandoned airfields. Consider the most recent Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska, where the most popular street-tire class consisting of Honda S2000s, Mazda Miatas and the odd Toyota MR2 Spyder was running almost entirely on the Hankook Ventus R-S3. Thirteen of the top 17 trophy positions (64 entrants total) in Street Touring Roadster were on Hankooks in this hyper-competitive class, where the difference in time between 1st and 5th (the sum of a competitor's best runs on two separate, roughly 70-second courses) was 0.159 sec! Sneeze during one of these runs, and you'd drop five spots.

[Dudesky]

Originally Posted by MTI

From R&T

When it comes to tires, Hankook may not be a household word...unless that household is home to a family of autocrossers who spend their free time crazily flinging cars around cones on abandoned airfields. Consider the most recent Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Nebraska, where the most popular street-tire class consisting of Honda S2000s, Mazda Miatas and the odd Toyota MR2 Spyder was running almost entirely on the Hankook Ventus R-S3. Thirteen of the top 17 trophy positions (64 entrants total) in Street Touring Roadster were on Hankooks in this hyper-competitive class, where the difference in time between 1st and 5th (the sum of a competitor's best runs on two separate, roughly 70-second courses) was 0.159 sec! Sneeze during one of these runs, and you'd drop five spots.

Cool, but I bet they don't GAS about road noise.

[t walgamuth]

....and that is exactly why I would have ever bought a Hancook. they support autocross.

[Skippy]

While I've never tried Hankook, I'm not going to bash Korean tires in general. I have Kumhos on the '83 and have been quite pleased with them. They have as much grip (if not more) than the Sumitomos they replaced, and seem to be headed for a considerably longer tread life.

I have Michelins on my bike and have been extremely pleased with them. I had Pirellis on my old bike, but it got totalled by a Toyota before I got a chance to get to know them very well. Based on the F1 tire debacle this season, I would be reluctant to buy Pirelli tires again.

A couple years ago I was in Afghanistan, and we had some dropneck trailers that came equipped with Michelins. The OEM tires had a relatively short life under the "road" (using that term very loosely) conditions, but the replacements we got from the Shandong Linglong Tyre Co. of China were simply awful. At the time I speculated that the quality of Chinese rubber may account for the overpopulation of that country. It will be a long time before I ever consider the purchase of Chinese tires.