Given
73%
while driving a
Mazda 3 2.2D 150
(215/45 R18 W) on
a combination of roads
for 19,000
spirited miles
Fitted a set of these to my Mazda3 Sport Nav. I’ve always been a fan of Hankook tires but have had various on different cars, Michelin to Budget.
First thing you notice with these tires is just how much they improve the ride. The car had stock Dunlop Sport Maxx TT tires and whilst these gave a sharper steering feel you felt every little ripple in the road. The Hankooks certainly smoothed things out, with only a small trade off in steering feel. Next is the grip. In both wet and dry I’ve been known to do some pretty stupid things, but I’ve yet to trigger the ABS or lose grip with these tires. They grip and go. Aqua planing isn’t any more of an issue than any other wider tire.
Downside to this tire is wear - front tires down to 2mm after just 19k but expected with a 2.2d fwd car. Even then no noticeable loss in grip. Regarding noise it seemed quieter when I first put the tires on, however these Mazda3’s aren’t the quietest and there is a lot of road noise coming through. Unsure if this is the tire itself or the actual car, but on a previous vehicle (Seat Ibiza) I noticed a similar intermittent droning noise when switching from the Ventus V12 Evo to the Ventus V12 Evo2. Will be trying the Michelin PS4 now that it’s available in this size, as had on an A3 S Line Saloon, found I got around 30k on the front tires and they’re only £10 per tire more.