I couldn't seem to find my original "tire help" thread so I made a new one...

Ok, so I still need new tires and have further narrowed it down to 2 choices.

My 1st choice is the kumho SPT, which I've read and heard it is an excellent high performace summer tire. and is one of the best tires for a DD car that drives in both wet/dry conditions(which can happen in so cal)

another choice which I'm not totally sold on yet(due to what I've heard about wear) is the hankook RS2. I've heard that it is an R compound, and that it is just a very good street tire, which is true?.....do they make them in different compounds or something? I've heard it's an excellent tire for traction and handling (much more so than the SPT), but that it also wears out "some what rapidly". I can actually get the RS2s quite abit cheaper(250 out the door for RS2s vs. 320 out the door for SPTs) due to some kind of hankook liquidation at a local tire shop, but if they wear as poorly as I've heard I'll deal with some slightly less grippy tires to get 4x the life out of them.

I guess my only question is how much quicker do the RS2s wear out than the SPTs?


Modified by broketuner-Sol_Si at 11:25 PM 5/15/2007

 

Mileage varies, of course. But I would expect to get at least twice as many miles, maybe more, from the SPT as the Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 (a lot of people refer to it as the Z212). Typical treadlife is 25-45K with the SPT, 15K or so with the Z212. So no, that's not four times more, but 2-3 times more.

The SPT is more of a "bang for the buck" tire, with very good dry performance, excellent in rain, long-lasting, and inexpensive.

The Z212 is more of a "dry traction and the heck with all else" tire. The Z212 is similar to the Falken Azenis RT-615 in that regard, although the Azenis is better on dry pavement, the Z212 is better (or, I should say, less bad) in rain, and the Z212 may last a bit longer than the Azenis (15K vs 10-12K miles). If you're interested in a comparison of the Azenis and Z212 on the autocross course, click here.

The Z212 is definitely a street tire. Hankook makes R comps, like the Z211 and Z214, but the Z212 is not one of them. Also, the Z211 and Z214 are available in three different compounds, but AFAIK there is only one compound for the Z212.

I usually tell people who are concerned only with dry traction to get the Azenis, because it's better than the Z212 in that regard, but if you can get a deal on the Z212, and you think it otherwise meets your needs, go for it.

HTH

 

cool thanks for the help.

unfortunately the guy @ the shop was looking at the price of the hankook rh2 and not the rs2 so looks like kumhos it is(which I don't mind since it is a good tire and almost anything would be better than what I have now....kumho 711s)

 

I'm sure you'll be very happy with the SPT.