I run them on my XK and 997

 

Obviously you have considerable faith in them. I'm still breaking mine in so time will tell.

 

I had nothing but problems with the Hankooks. Like everyone else, I bought them because of the great reviews and the low cost - big mistake on my part.

The first thing I noticed after having them installed was that the sidewalls were very soft.The car felt mushy and the handling went straight out the door. Then there was the vibration - never ending front and rear end vibration that just would not go away. I had them balanced several times (read 9 times), road force balanced both at the shop and at the BMW dealer - no change (while the tire shop said they passed at 10lbs each the dealer said they ranged from 18-24lbs - spec was max of 16).

I finally had all four tires replaced. While it did get better, the vibrations merely changed. After having the tires replaced twice under warranty I had a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S installed and all of the issues vanished. It was like buying a brand new car.

I had new tires thrown in as part of the deal when I bought my XK and the salesman said "We'll install some new Hankooks on there for ya". I almost kicked him in the nuts lol. I ended up with a new set of the same Pilots I installed on the 535i that I traded in.

You're mileage may vary but I wouldn't use Hankook tires if I they were free. The amount of frustration they caused was worse than the monetary cost.

I sure hope you have better luck with them than I did.

 

I have run run Hankooks on my Range rover for years and LOVE them. I have zero complaints, when its time for tires on the XKR, I'll be taking a serious look at them.

 

I've been using the Hankook V12s on my XK and even put them on my new XJL with only 2K miles. Very happy with them. Regarding the sidewalls being too soft, that is absolutely NOT the case. When I removed the near-new stock Pirelli Zero Nero tires, I deliberately checked sidewall stiffness. The V12 sidewalls were FAR stiffer than the Pirellis. I could compress the Pirelli sidewalls by my hands while I could not budge the V12 sidewalls, at all.

Albert

 

I can't speak too much to the level of grip (it's the only tire I've known on the XKR), but my Hankooks are very quiet and vibration free--after the first few miles.

 

There is a difference between compressing a sidewall with your hands and having it support a 4,000 lb car.

In any case, it's like I said, you're mileage may vary. They were nothing short of a total nightmare for me and the cost in time, money, and frustration, far outweighed any money I may have saved on the original purchase.

I read all manner of great reviews on the V12's before I bought them. That's why I bought them in the first place. Not only were the reviews good but, they look great too.

During the whole 3 month debacle, I researched them quite heavily and found that I was far from the only one to find the sidewalls to be overly soft and I certainly wasn't the only one to have vibration issues.

I'm happy other's didn't have my experience, trust me on that. There's nothing quite like having an $80,000 car that wobbles like a shopping cart.

Personally, I'll never buy cheap tires again, be it Hankook or any other brand. Just not the risk imho.