K107 VENTUS S1 EVO

Very good small car tyres allowing for spirited driving with a wide safety margin. I got them with the car and didn’t give them a deeper thought throughout the 40.000 km they lasted, being convinced all decent brand low profile tyres should perform like that nowadays. So I thought… until I replaced them with a set of newly introduced Continental EcoContact 6. I never thought the gap in the level of grip through the bends and general feel of the car would be so huge. Knowing that I would surely buy them again, unfortunately they don’t make them anymore. In general, getting UHP 16" tyres is getting more and more difficult these days, it’s aging SportContact 3, equally dated Pilot Sport 3 and that’s about it.

Excellent tyres for spritely driving in a moderately powerful sub-compact car. The dry handling 'wears out' over time a bit quicker than the thread. After 5 or 6 years of going like glued to the tarmac, with still plenty of thread left, they started to gradually lose a bit of that grip, probably due to rubber aging. I wish they would feel a bit quieter inside, especially at A-roads speeds at which you still hear more rolling noise than engine and wind noise, but I guess that's the price you pay for such performance at a relatively attractive price.

I have 4No Hankook Ventus S1 evo tyres fitted on a 2017 Mini Countryman Cooper SD which has now covered 11,767 miles from new, with one pair having 6mm of wear left and one pair with 4.5mm of wear left, all 4No tyres have started to perish around the outer treads and 2No in particular are perishing around the tyres in the inner grooves, I have been advised to replace these or risk a high speed blow out, I have contacted Hankook Tyres UK who have stated that they take these matters seriously but would need the tyres returned to them through the vehicle dealership in the cases of original equipment fitment to consider a warranty claim, what's the car going to run on during this period?, I will let everyone draw their own conclusions as to quality and warranty

I can't believe how bad these tyres are considering the good reviews they get in larger sizes. I know that tyre manufacturers use different compounds and carcasses for different sizes but in this size on this car (195/50R15) they are awful. They feel like they've been designed for taxi drivers and slow drivers. Compared to the Turanza T001 Evo tyres I had before they have no steering feel, a harder ride, less grip and zero progression at the limit they just snap into understeer. I've driven budget tyres for less money that are better overall. The good thing about them is that they aren't noisy the hard tread means they wear slowly. For the tiny price difference per corner (about £3-9) I'd buy a better tyre from Bridgestone, Michelin or Continental unless you drive slowly and want a tyre that lasts a long time.

I have switched to Hankook (run flats) after reading reviews for them on my car, I did have Bridgestone 050 rft. The Bridgestones had poor grip, breaking away with no warning and had serious tramlining feeling dangerous. Since getting the Hankooks they make the car feel as it should, both wet and dry performance is great, I will definately replace with the same when the time comes. I am so glad I did not wait for the old tyres to wear before replacing them!