Due to apparent pothole damage on one of my Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 tires, I have ordered a new set of Sumitomo HTR Z III tires. Does anyone have any experience with these?

Tire Rack seems to give them pretty good performance characteristics, and reading user reviews doesn't give a whole bunch of complaints about quality issues. They seem to be a very popular HPDE tire, and also seem to have long tread life. Oh, and they're cheap--about $750 installed for the whole set!


I was hoping to wait until next summer to replace these tires because the tires are pretty worn, but still have a bit of tread left. However, I would've had to replace at least the two fronts (RF had the damage), and then at that point I might as well have replaced all four, especially since I was hoping to change brands.

Anyhow, the tires get here on Tuesday--hopefully I'll have them installed sometime next week. Then when it gets warm out, I can give you my impressions!

 

I used the Ventus V12 on 3 Jags. 2 XKs loved the tire, my present XJL hates it.

So, I will have to say with some reservation that the HTR Z III tires are an excellent choice. I last had them on my ultra-performance RX-7 in 17" sizes, 245F, 275R and they worked superbly. Never broke away, always linear, razor-sharp turn-in...

Albert

 

I was doing some research, apparently Sumitomo was created from Dunlop? And now Goodyear also has a stake in them?

 

So I take it I'm the first person on earth to put these tires on an XK?

 

I use Sumitomo HTR Z III on my 05 STR. I have used them on my past 03 x-type and my dad also runs them on his STR. I have never had any issues or complaints with them and you can't beat the price. I also like the long tread life. You shouldn't have any issues.

 

Guys,
I've been singng the praises of the Sumitomo HTRZ III via numerous posts since I replaced the original Dunlops back in November 2011. 15,000 miles later and I couldn't be happier. I had previously used them on my Infiniti G35 and had no hesitation putting them on the XK. Overall they are hard to beat. Go check the Porsche and Vette forums - they rave about them. My only benchmark for comparison is that they are much better than the original Dunlops - ride, noise and grip are superior. I'm a spirited driver who also likes my tires to be quiet when I'm cruising and these meet that criteria. However I have no experience of how they stack up against the Michelin's, Bridgestones and Hankooks which seem to be the popular choices for the XK/XKR. I look forward to your review. I hope you're as pleased as I am.

Steve

 

I always ran Sumitomos on all of my previous cars. They are inexpensive and perform really well.

The only downside is that they wear out very very fast. You might get about 12,000 miles out of them and that's it. If you drive hard, probably much less. They heated up quick and melt away even faster.

BTW, they are owned by Dunlop - same tire, different name.

 

Next time around, I'm going to go the A/S Ultra High Performance route instead of Summer specific tires. I did likewise on my Porsche and noticed no performance shortfalls, the tires lasted much longer and are were expensive to buy.

 

I've got them on the rear of my XKR. They seem to be quiet and ride well. Too many straight roads here to really comment about the grip. One thing I did notice is that they track one some types of grooved highway, but I'm not sure any tyre of that width would be any better.

 

The tires should be here today, but due to the impending snow storm and me being out of town this weekend, I may not have them installed until next week. Hopefully I will be able to give you my impressions soon!

 

look forward to it. The only tires Ive ever been satisfied with are the Michelin's PS2s or Super Sports. Tried continentals, bridgestones and dunlops... haven't found a reason to revisit these as of yet.

 

So do we assume you have a mixed set from front to rear? And if so do you see this as a problem and has it affected normal driving.

 

Gone are the days when performance car tyres match front and rear anyway; they may come from the same company, but they're different widths and often different tread patterns and even different compounds. I'm not so fussed about front-rear matching - I do want the same boots on each side, though. So, when one of my P-Zeros on the rear reaches its limit, I'll replace both with MPSS, but I'll leave the fronts until one of them needs replacing.

 

Somehow I bet the rears wear faster then the fronts , LOL.

 

Yeah, can't to seem to get out of the driveway without breaking traction. Oopsie...



Need more rubber!! MPSS 305s might help, a little - 3% more black stuff.

 

Nope. On non-grooved highways it is very stable in a straight line.

 

I find that hard to believe, but it makes me wonder how useful tire reviews are if the tire compounds are different within the same model for different sizes!

 

In the summer with my Hankooks, I don't believe I was ever able to turn off traction control and mash the throttle in 1st without doing a one wheel burnout. We'll see about these Sumitomos!

 

It's not so much different sizes of a given tyre, it's front vs. rear tyres on the same car. For example, the P-Zero System, which has Direzionale on the front and Asimmetrico on the rear.

 

Wait, the P-Zero system is always directional on the front and asymmetric on the rears? I had P-Zeros on my 2012 Mustang and never noticed this when rotating the tires!