Hankook Winter iCep Evo - Full review.

[Superhatch]

I swore off snow-sport tires after running a Pirelli SnowSport 210's a couple years ago due to their quicker than expected tread wear and their less than spectacular snow grip. When looking at a winter tire for the BRZ I was going back and forth between a snow-sport with newer technology, and a full winter tire like the Blizzak.

Here in WI we get about 4-5 good snowfalls a year but otherwise our roads are clear and dry due to heavy salt use (good and bad). Because of this, and the nature of the car itself I was going back and forth about what kind of tire to run. I went to my local tire shop who shoes LOTS of high power cars and one of the techs there who drives a 500hp CTSV said that he had run the Hankook tires last winter and really liked them. He said they had good dry pavement characteristics and did well in the snow even with his very powerful rear wheel drive car.

I bought a set in early November and had them on far before any snow hit the ground.

My initial thoughts about the tire were good. They were stable and very predictable on dry pavement. I drive a LOT for work and the wear seemed even and low across all 4 tires. In our initial first light and medium snow falls the tires did great. They handled slush and light snow very well, with great response as long as I kept the traction control on. I was happy with my purchase, and as long as this is the type of snow you get then these would be a great tire.

For me they really started to show their weak points in any packed snow, hardened snow, or icy snow. In anything fresh they were good. On driveways, parking lots, back roads, alleys or anywhere snow would stand for a couple of days/weeks after a hard snow they were like having our OEM tires on...maybe a little better, but not much. Perhaps my expectations were too high for them in the tougher snow conditions, but regardless I was disappointed with their performance. Even in more snowy conditions where we had gotten say 7-8h of constant snow the car was very hard to get moving. Once at normal city or highway speeds I did have good confidence in my ability to switch lanes, and my braking was improved.

I will be taking these off soon and selling them, opting for running a full snow for next season. In a less wintry climate or perhaps on a fwd car these would be a very solid choice as a snow sport tire, but as a choice in a tougher climate I think a full winter tire is a better option.

Cheers.

-Jacob

[shu5892001]

I had blizzak LM60, no complaints, by far the best snow tires I have had so far and I have used Hankook Ipike, Micheline Alpine Primacy PA3

[f0rge]

I ran a full winter Hankook i-Pike W409 tire this winter, seems we get similar amounts of snow and it gets quite cold all winter.

I HATE these tires in the dry, they are absolutely terrible, so much squirm I thought something was wrong with my car at first. I can activate the TCS at WOT at the top of 1st and 2nd gear, something I thought impossible in a car with this little power, but it shows the lack of grip in the dry.

In the snow they great, but like you we don't have snow on the ground for very long after it's snowed, maybe a full 24 hours after a huge storm before all major streets are cleared.

I'm of the opposite opinion as you, I'd like to get rid of these for snow-sport tire.