T.O.Bullitt
Well-Known Member
I have not tried those tires but I would like to make sure we all are on the same plane when it comes to winter driving.
If they are the same width as stock, they will not be as good as narrower tires. In snow, narrower is your friend.
Look at the tread. The more and wider gaps and sipes a tire will have, the more snow it will collect which is desired. Snow sticks to snow better than rubber does. You want the tire to collect snow.
The more gaps and sipes, the less they will handle well. There is a reason track tires do not have gaps in the compound.
Coefficient of adhesion of snow vs dry pavement is about 4 times lower. It is about 3 times lower than wet asphalt. Drive smart. No winter tire in snowy conditions is going to give you the traction anywhere close to dry or wet conditions. Drive accordingly.
Will a winter tire designed for snow be better than most all season tires in the snow, probably. Some winter performance tires are designed like summer tires with few gaps and sipes(if any) and are just designed for dry traction in cold weather.
From looking at their website, these Hankook tires are cold weather performance tires not really meant for snowy conditions.
Below is the tread pattern of my Blizzak LM-32 tires.
This is your Hankook Winter I*Cept Evo 2 tires
You can see, these only have a narrow section near the outside of the tire (right) that is designed for snow. I have to guess my Blizzaks channels are wider still than those in the snow section of your Hankook. The inner part (left side in picture) channels look rather narrow and might not do so well in snow. I would suspect this tire to be for performance driving in cold weather tire than a true all cold weather tire which includes snow and ice not just cold temps.
If it were me, I would go REALLY, REALLY slow if I am caught in snowy/icy conditions with the Hankook tire and avoid snow and ice at all costs with them if possible.
As for low (below 50F) driving in dry or wet conditions, I think they might be good. Of course, they will not be as good as summer tires in warm conditions are. Still drive accordingly.
YMMV.
Rode around town in the snow pony today, Hankook horseshoes did a decent job.Last week it was rainy and around 10C and the Michelins were feeling pretty slippy. That and some nighttime lows in the 2s and 3s coming up in the Toronto area this week has got me making the switch earlier than I expected.
Nothing to report yet - it got to a sunny 16 today - except that the ride and handling seemed okay and no excessive tire noise.
Wouldn’t have been able to drive at all today if it was still wearing the summer wheels.
They’ve been really good in dry cold, too.
Haven’t hit any icy conditions yet, nor any severe cold. Not looking forward to it, especially hitting ice, no matter what tires I’m riding on, but inevitably I will and shall report further then.
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