are any of their higher end Ventus' worth a ****?

 

Hankook makes a lot of tires with the Ventus name on it (just like Bridgestone does with the Potenza name, Kumho with Ecsta, Goodyear with Eagle, etc) - everything from crappy but cheap all-season tires to full race slicks. The only two tires anyone talks about (on this forum, anyway) are their Ventus R-S2 Z212 street tire, and their Ventus Z214 R compound track tires.

For street or street/track use, the R-S2 Z212 has fallen behind the "extreme performance" tires from other manufacturers in performance, which is why it's being discontinued by Hankook. Its replacement, the R-S3 Z222, is just hitting the market now; so far the only Z222 size of interest to most of us is 225/45-15. I would assume the Z222 will be reasonably competitive with other such tires like the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11, Kumho Ecsta XS, Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec, and Toyo R1R. (The Falken Azenis RT-615 is similarly starting to fall behind and I wouldn't be surprised if Falken is working on a replacement to be introduced in the near future.)

For track use, the Z214 has the same tread pattern as many other R compound track tires, with two longitudinal grooves for the tread pattern. It's decent, as most R compound tires are these days, but I haven't seen a lot of people using it at the track.

 

The RS-3 street tire is now available. Limited sizes, but there is a 225/45-15 which would definitely be my choice for 23" OD street tires for track days. I've done many track excursions on even old worn out RS-2's and they hold up great. I like the flippable tread pattern, too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...irePageLocQty=

I haven't seen anyone use Hankook R-compounds for autox or track, personally.

 

Sweet. This is news to me! It's interesting to see most manufacturers making very similar tread patterns for this class of tire now.

 

Note that the RE-11 is radically different, but all the others seem to revolve around the RE-01R

 

Yeah, did the MX come out before the RE-11?

 

Yes it did, to the public market. But who really knows when those tread designs were set in stone.

 

this was the most helpful thread response i ever received. thanks. im looking into all of the 225mm hankook choices now. they are running a sale on them where i am (japan), thats why i asked.

 

ive been reading up on them and it seems hankook is pretty creative with their sizing. laid next to a rt215 falken they are pretty identical on a 7j rim.

 

width means nothing .... compound is more important

 

i say stick with the KUHMOS!!!!

 

i'm running the Z214s now with bout 4 heat cycles and they're still great! stiff sidewalls and you can tell when they're reaching their limit, so it's pretty predictable.

i'm running the hard compounds that were on sale/clearance and probably still are if you look hard enough.

$80/tire for R-comps are a pretty bargain to me. 205/50/15

 

One of my friends will be testing a set of the new hankook RS3 at the track this week. will let you know his opinion of this tire. From what I've heard it should be right up there w/ the other tires in its class.