Worthington

Well after nearly wrecking after having the rearend unexpectedly kick sideways to the point that I was fishtailing horribly at 55mph I've decided it's times for new tires

Due to some recent changes at work I'm in a tight spot financially for the moment so I've been eyeballing these as it appears the performance for $$ is very good:

Hancook Ventus v12 K110

Per this car and driver article it seems they do excellent (outperforming the PS2s even):

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...12_evo_page_10

Something I don't really understand though. It says they pull .93 on the skidpad, but car and driver got a .98 when they reviewed the Z51 C6 (2005, which is my car).

Are you able to pull more g's than what the tires actually pull?

JoesC5

No, the car cannot make up for any deficiencies of the tire.

Worthington

So how did they pull a .98 in that study? Do the good years really provide that level of performance?

torque*is*cheap

A big thumbs-up for the Hankooks. I've run their tires (Ventus R-S3s) at autocrosses, and a know a couple of people who've purchased the V12s and love them. Hard to beat the price, too.

Skidpad numbers can vary a bit depending on the surface, bumpiness of the pad, etc. It's quite possible that the magazine generated those numbers at different venues.

brooklync5

Well I've only had experience with the stock runflats which as everyone knows suck. I upgraded my rims to 19-20 vossens and they came with the the Hankooks v12 evos. Rims and tires had less then 200 miles on them when purchased about 6 months ago. I love the tires. The grip is great, the ride is quiet and soft, and wheel hop is gone. Overall I give these tires a great grade. Performance and ride quality have greatly improved over stock. And like the article said great prie for great tires.

KneeDragr

They pulled .93G with a 328i BMW.

Worthington

Lol thanks Knee..

NotreOkc

I dont know how much the Hancocks cost. I was in the same boat as you last year and I have the same car as you do, the 2005 with the Z51 package. I went with the Firestone Firehawks and could not be happier. Out the door price for all 4 balanced and installed was 1100 even. The are quieter than the goodyears and pull just as hard. I even got up to 140 this past may out at Texas Motor Speedway and they performed beautifully. And to top it off, I am approaching 10K miles on them and they look good as new tread wise. Goodd luck with your search, let us know what you go with and how they perform.

C5 targa

I just purchased a set of of Hancook V12’s from discount tires, December of 2012. I was running Nitto Invos 305/30/19 on my vette. I was trying to upgrade to Bridgestone pole position s-04 but the special order was unpredictable, so I decided to cough up the cash for some real tires and buy pilot super sports. The problem was all the tires DOT numbers were around 3years old. I didn’t want to pay full price for a tire with half its shelf life gone. So back to the V12’s.
My Invos were absolutely excellent for 25,000 miles with perfect wear, running them at 30 PSI. They had impeccable grip in the dry, with very firm sidewalls. The rubber never squealed but I could break them loose with ease off the line. The tires had a slight drone at 70 MPH and were hard on road bumps but had crisp precise lane changes. I had very high confidence in corners. Driving with the last thousand miles the performance degraded by about 50% which made me have to swap them out. The rears got twitchy and the fronts had pronounced Dive in and wandered in the grooves in the road. I do think in retrospect that it was caused more from the back tires wandering. I had a treadsep on the inside of the right rear so I wouldn’t go over 70 MPH. That brings me to the brand new hancookV12’s.
As soon as I left the tire shop, realizing that I needed to heat up the tires first, I punched it anyway and the vette drifted back and forth for about 5 car lengths with the tires squealing. I made it to the freeway on ramp and punched it and had the same results but worse. The tires started screaming as I hit second gear. I was very alarmed since my invos never made that noise. As I got up to speed on the freeway I switched lanes and it felt like the body was rolling as I tried switching lanes abruptly. I looked down at my tire sensors and they said I had 25 PSI left rear, 26 PSI right rear, 27 PSI both fronts. The car drove like the roll bars were disconnected and the tires were very low on air. Which they actually were. I couldn’t believe how horrible the car drove. I eventually added air to the usual 30 PSI. Handling improved to normal driving status.
The tires are still no comparison to the Nitto Invos. I can’t even believe, and I didn’t believe before I bought them, that Car and Driver could say they were rated number two to the invos rating of number eight on their list.
The good news about the Hancook is that they are very smooth, quiet, and comfortable. They take bumps so well its feels like you’re driving a Cadillac…you know, like a passenger car tire. They in no way inspire confidence in driving a corvette. I worry about over steer and crashing, unless I’m driving in the city or on the freeway, but no cornering.
My only beef about these tires, since they are the cheapest tire you can get in a 305/30/19, is that people keep saying they are better than invos! That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Perhaps they work better in a premium passenger car like a Benz or Beemer or maybe G35,37. Hopefully these comments will help anyone deciding to buy these tires over invos.

Landru

New GY's are sticky, so probably. A lot of GY's rubber's scrubbed-off in the process, too. I call the process "excessive, rapid wear making for short life".

Choose your poison.

4thC4at60

I can kick the rear-end out on my '07 at 70 mph at will - with new tires. You sure it's your tires?

LS WON

Continental Extreme (DWS) Dry Wet Snow. Look it up and you will see what I mean if it applies to your style of driving and $financial$ situation.

Gearhead Jim

Thread Hijack:

How did the ride and handling change when you switched to the Koni FSD shocks? Before the switch, did you have Z51 shocks or base shocks on that car?