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[daveinla]

I installed a month ago a set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo that I purchased from Tireeasy.com.
First let me say that this is a great website to order tire from. It's easy to filter tires by size, speed rating ... They are super fast to ship and cheap too ($10 per tire).
So a got a set of 225x45x18 to replace the stock Potenzas RE050As. I liked these in terms of grip and cornering ability but they have a few drawback: they are very stiff and it's a pain to commute with them on LA freeways, and they don't last very long. Granted, I drive spiritedly and did 3 days of tracks on them.
So I went looking for replacement tires below $150, with a V tread pattern (caus' it looks good IMO) and a central rib for good traction in dry and solid shoulders for cornering. Came out 3 choices: the Dunlop Direzzas DZ 101, the Falken FK452, and the Hankooks Ventus V12 Evo. After much review reading I decided to go for the Hankooks for the following reasons: the Falken seem to be good performers in the dry but people mention that they are stiff too. Their performance in the wet seems uncertain. I read many people complaining about the DZ101 in extreme driving conditions. And finally I read only rave reviews about the Ventus V12, and how they equal the RE01R on the dry while having better behavior on the wet and longer treadlife (280 UTQG).
So after driving them for 1 month I can tell you that I don't regret at all my decision. They are more grippy than my Potenzas on dry, squeal less. They behave very well on damp roads with no hydroplaning so far. But the best part for me is the reduction of noise in the cabin and increased comfort when cruising on bad roads. That's unbelievable the difference.
All in all, I can only strongly recommend them for a very good all around performer with added comfort. Plus they are relatively cheap.
Here are some pics of them mounted:

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

Tread looks shitty.

[Midnight_Speeder]

You mean the tread pattern looks shitty?

 

[daveinla]

"Tread looks shitty."

???????????? Can you explain ?

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

It looks like a poorly designed tire. The aqua chutes are to sharply cut. It just looks like another crappy Japanesetire.

[gar187er]

and the chutes dont exit the tread area..they stop when they should continue...

[daveinla]

What do you mean by sharply cut ? The blocks should be more squarish and not V shape like that ? What's the incidence on performance, tread life ?

"The chute don't exit the shoulder tread"
Actually I think the engineers at Hankook or Bridgestone or Dunlop know a little bit more about their job than you do... You can look at most of the higher-end tires of these tire makers, the outer groove will never communicate with a cut all the way to the outer tire. The reason is that the more the tread design goes to the shoulder, the less continuous cuts there should be in order to have a shoulder resistant to tear and reduce the feathering/cupping occurring on high-end cars.
The more a tire will grip when cornering the more chances are it's gonna perform bad in the rain. It's a compromise. All I'm saying is that the Ventus V12 seem to be a great compromise.
I'm just giving my objective point of view. Now if you're coming with your "crappy asian stuff' arguments you should be a bit more objective man. The best performer ever might be the Pilot Sport PS2 but the best bang for the money come from Bridgestone, Yokohama, Hankook and Kuhmo.

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

What do you mean by sharply cut ? The blocks should be more squarish and not V shape like that ? What's the incidence on performance, tread life ?

"The chute don't exit the shoulder tread"
Actually I think the engineers at Hankook or Bridgestone or Dunlop know a little bit more about their job than you do... You can look at most of the higher-end tires of these tire makers, the outer groove will never communicate with a cut all the way to the outer tire. The reason is that the more the tread design goes to the shoulder, the less continuous cuts there should be in order to have a shoulder resistant to tear and reduce the feathering/cupping occurring on high-end cars.
The more a tire will grip when cornering the more chances are it's gonna perform bad in the rain. It's a compromise. All I'm saying is that the Ventus V12 seem to be a great compromise.
I'm just giving my objective point of view. Now if you're coming with your "crappy asian stuff' arguments you should be a bit more objective man. The best performer ever might be the Pilot Sport PS2 but the best bang for the money come from Bridgestone, Yokohama, Hankook and Kuhmo.

The chutes on the tire SHOULD exit the tread every few inches or so once. The chute STOPS before it even gets close to the side wall and actually exits in the middle of the tread. Looks like that would cause hydroplaning to me. Yeah it "looks cool" but thats all it does. That tire will not channel out water or slush in harsh road conditions. On dry ground I'm sure its great. I'm not coming here arguing with you about the tire. I was merely stating that "I think the tread (pattern) looks shitty. I am a part owner of a Goodyear franchise, who also manufactures Dunlop, Kelly and Fierce, so I know a thing or two about tires. If you are happy with the performance and got a good deal on them, great! I am happy your not driving around with steel-belts coming through.

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

Thats a real tire!

[daveinla]

You're totally right and I've installed the same Assurance triple-tred on my wife's minivan. They're the best all-around all season tires you can get for the money I think and they handle the rain very well. They even drive pretty well on snowy road. They might be the best design of treads on the market when it comes to safety, hence the facts that I bought it for my family's minivan. BUT, when you're driving a ms3 your perspectives are different. You  want a tire that can handle the torque and the Gs of the car. Put these tires on the ms3 and they gonna cry pity every time you step on the gas or take a corner a bit to fast. I live in Southern California and like to drive spiritedly, so rain performance is the least of my concern. And even so you should always be very careful when driving such a torque monster in the rain, whatever the tire you have.

[daveinla]

On a side note, you can have the best tread design you want (depending on what your goal is with that tire) but if the silica compound is crap or the belting is crap, the tire will behave like crap...
Here is the '08 tire test of AutoBild, which is the German equivalent to Motortrend. You can see the Ventus V12 fares pretty well in almost all the tests. It's interesting to see also that some all season tires (with lots of grooves/cuts) don't fare better than some summer tires. The silica play a big role here.
http://www.reifen-goeggel.de/website_neu/reifen/pdf/Autobild_14032008.pdf

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

Agreed. We are friends. 

[WildFrisco]

It looks like a poorly designed tire. The aqua chutes are to sharply cut. It just looks like another crappy Japanesetire.

Even in this day and age of multinational companies these tires are from a Korean headquartered company, LOL. Have you tested these tires yourself or researched this?

[WildFrisco]

Thats a real tire!

Goodyear Assurance TripleTred a real tire? For what?

I believe every single tire daveinla mentioned in this thread is a summer tire. It's too bad you posted a picture of an all-season. Not only that but a passenger all-season which, out of 6 classes, occupies the lowest spot on the all-season tire totem pole:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/goodyear/goodyear-tires.jsp

Not to knock on Goodyear and their fanboys (ok I lied; I hate fanboys) but the Eagle RS-A is in the 2nd highest all-season class (high performance all-season) and I think most would agree does not provide much grip, last long, and was kinda noisy even when new. I would hope this “real tire” would at least last long and is quiet.

And contrary to how some folks interpret “all-season” tires, generally summer tires perform better in the dry AND wet, with some exceptions. One exception is the highest class of summer tires, extreme performance summer, which trade some wet performance for ultimate dry traction on the street.

I can’t believe you brought up Kelly Springfield tires. I purchased a set from Pep Boys and returned them less than a week later, replaced by some decent Yokohamas. Believe it or not these Kelly tires were much worse than the Eagle RS-A.. They squealed and slipped everywhere. What are Fierce tires? Are they sold at Pep Boys too? What did you say you do?

[tigermack]

Real tire.

[manny]

^ +10k

[Gdubb]

Real tire.

what are these?

[manny]

shaved bridgestone potenzo re-01r tires

[WildFrisco]

And finally I read only rave reviews about the Ventus V12, and how they equal the RE01R on the dry while having better behavior on the wet and longer treadlife (280 UTQG).
So after driving them for 1 month I can tell you that I don't regret at all my decision. They are more grippy than my Potenzas on dry, squeal less. They behave very well on damp roads with no hydroplaning so far. But the best part for me is the reduction of noise in the cabin and increased comfort when cruising on bad roads. That's unbelievable the difference.
All in all, I can only strongly recommend them for a very good all around performer with added comfort. Plus they are relatively cheap.
Here are some pics of them mounted:

I might pick up some Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R's, only because they have them on clearance at the Tire Rack. I didn't want to use extreme performance summer tires but for $59 (225/50/16) and $85 (205/55/16) I have to try them. After I wear them out I'll need some lower class maximum performance summer tires.

Are you sure that the Ventus EVO V12 K110 is comparable to the Potenza RE-01R? The RE-01R has treadwear rating of 140-180. I'm thinking with 280 the K110 is closer to max perf summer or ultra high perf. Could you point me to those sources?

[condor888000]

I believe every single tire daveinla mentioned in this thread is a summer tire. It's too bad you posted a picture of an all-season. Not only that but a passenger all-season which, out of 6 classes, occupies the lowest spot on the all-season tire totem pole:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/goodyear/goodyear-tires.jsp

Not to knock on Goodyear and their fanboys (ok I lied; I hate fanboys) but the Eagle RS-A is in the 2nd highest all-season class (high performance all-season) and I think most would agree does not provide much grip, last long, and was kinda noisy even when new. I would hope this “real tire” would at least last long and is quiet.

Your argument makes no sense, by looking at the category a tire is in you can't automatically tell it's a bad tire. A MUCH better idea is to look at it's ranking within the TR survey results, where the Assurance Tripletred placed first in it's category.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=AS

[WildFrisco]

I believe every single tire daveinla mentioned in this thread is a summer tire. It's too bad you posted a picture of an all-season. Not only that but a passenger all-season which, out of 6 classes, occupies the lowest spot on the all-season tire totem pole:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/goodyear/goodyear-tires.jsp

Not to knock on Goodyear and their fanboys (ok I lied; I hate fanboys) but the Eagle RS-A is in the 2nd highest all-season class (high performance all-season) and I think most would agree does not provide much grip, last long, and was kinda noisy even when new. I would hope this “real tire” would at least last long and is quiet.

Your argument makes no sense, by looking at the category a tire is in you can't automatically tell it's a bad tire. A MUCH better idea is to look at it's ranking within the TR survey results, where the Assurance Tripletred placed first in it's category.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=AS

My argument makes no sense? Although the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred is top consumer rated, i love jdm hoes is still comparing the bottom rung all-season class tires to ultra high performance or maximum performance summer tires which include the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position, Eagle Eagle F1 GS-D3, or Michelin Pilot Sport PS2. No contest there.

To paint it another way: Sure your 300 HP Honda Civic is tops in the economy class, but it doesn't hold a candle to a 1,001 HP Bugatti Veyron exotic class.

Better than the TR consumer survey results are the Tire Rack tests which are much more objective and accurate.

[condor888000]

He never tried to compare them to higher tires the way you're claiming he did. He posted it as an example of a good tread pattern and a good tire, but nowhere did he say it was better than most summer tires. You're reading WAY too far into his posts.

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

He never tried to compare them to higher tires the way you're claiming he did. He posted it as an example of a good tread pattern and a good tire, but nowhere did he say it was better than most summer tires. You're reading WAY too far into his posts.

Thanks for taking the words out of my mouth.

[condor888000]

Can't tell if thats serious or sarcastic. 

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

Can't tell if thats serious or sarcastic. 

In all seriousness, that's exactly what I was going to say.

[Barbs3]

Falken Azenis, I run 235, 40 18's and I love them.

[WildFrisco]

He never tried to compare them to higher tires the way you're claiming he did. He posted it as an example of a good tread pattern and a good tire, but nowhere did he say it was better than most summer tires. You're reading WAY too far into his posts.

Maybe he isn't comparing them, but he's posting pics of relatively subpar tires for this thread and calling them "real tires" LOL. *coughFANATICcough* Everyone else is chiming in with tire models and designs in the same ballpark.

His assumptions on how a tire looked wasn't helpful. And the real kicker is how he attempted to make himself credible with those ridiculous remarks about Kelly Springfield tires and being a part owner of a Goodyear franchise.

I just thought it was lame and kind of funny at the same time.

[blucaller]

He never tried to compare them to higher tires the way you're claiming he did. He posted it as an example of a good tread pattern and a good tire, but nowhere did he say it was better than most summer tires. You're reading WAY too far into his posts.

Maybe he isn't comparing them, but he's posting pics of relatively subpar tires for this thread and calling them "real tires" LOL. *coughFANATICcough* Everyone else is chiming in with tire models and designs in the same ballpark.

His assumptions on how a tire looked wasn't helpful. And the real kicker is how he attempted to make himself credible with those ridiculous remarks about Kelly Springfield tires and being a part owner of a Goodyear franchise.

I just thought it was lame and kind of funny at the same time.

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

OP, thanks for your review. Not many reviews on this tire. I'm glad you're happy with them. I'll definitely consider them.

[bmwmpower]

I had to sign up to set some of you ricers straight.  The Evo V12 is an extremely good tire to say the absolute least.  It was tested by Car and Driver to actually outperform the PS2s.  It was put up against the top performance summer tires in the business and came in second place.  Do your research before spoutin' off Uncle Ben's!

[Adam loves JDM hoes]

I had to sign up to set some of you ricers straight.  The Evo V12 is an extremely good tire to say the absolute least.  It was tested by Car and Driver to actually outperform the PS2s.  It was put up against the top performance summer tires in the business and came in second place.  Do your research before spoutin' off Uncle Ben's!

ROFLCOPTER.