Hankook Kinergy GT Tire Review and Rating

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Wet
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Pros

  • Affordable
  • Refinement levels are excellent
  • Excellent dry and wet performance
  • Long treadwear warranty

Cons

  • Snow performance is barely average
  • Handling characteristics aren’t on the same level as the premium tires

Tires are an essential part of any car, so getting a good set means having a good and safe performance. For the most part, touring tires are your best option if you want a longer-lasting tire that won’t disappoint in terms of performance and refinement.

The premium manufacturers were way ahead of the pack for a long time, and if you wanted the best, you had to look there. Lucky for us car owners, things have changed, and today, it’s a different story.

Mid-range brands have begun to come close to the premium ones and are popular for offering excellent performance for the price. Sure, in most cases, they will still be behind the premium ones, but when you consider the price and performance ratio, it’s not a bad choice.

The model I’ve chosen for today comes from a Korean brand. Hankook is known for offering affordable tires, and in this review, I’ll be covering the Kinergy GT.

What are the features of the Hankook Kinergy GT?

The Kinergy GT is an all-season grand touring tire, and Hankook aimed to make it deliver on all fronts. This means the tire is designed to perform well, last a long time, and be comfortable and quiet.

Hankook Kinergy GT Tire Review

Like any all-season tire, the main feature of the Kinergy GT is the rubber compound. Hankook utilized a silica-enriched rubber, which is intended to keep the tire performing on colder surfaces. This should result in a tire that won’t struggle with traction and grip in winter or on wet roads.

Snow performance is backed by the tread pattern, which features multiple sipes designed with chamfered edges. As a result, the Kinergy GT should have decent traction on snow-covered roads.

The tread pattern should also deliver a few more advantages in terms of performance. With a 5-rib design, Hankook made the center one more rigid, which should help with braking and accelerating. The shoulder blocks and sidewall are also stiffened up so that the Kinergy GT remains soft without sacrificing the handling.

In heavy rain conditions, water evacuation is crucial, so Hankook tried to address that as well. The circumferential grooves are wider than the standard ones, meaning more water can be channeled through them. As a result, the Kinergy GT should have good aquaplaning resistance.

How does it behave on dry tarmac?

When you’re going for a mid-range tire, you need to be aware that you won’t be getting the absolute best. If you have that in mind, then the Kinergy GT won’t be a disappointing choice.

Under normal driving conditions, the Kinergy GT delivers very good performance levels. The traction levels are more than enough to eliminate any kind of slip. With that, the tire also has plenty of grip in the corners to avoid understeer or oversteer. In terms of safety, you have pretty short braking distances for a mid-range tire, so overall it’s a good performer.

Things start to disappoint when you push the tire more. The Kinergy GT doesn’t have the same levels of grip and traction as something like the CrossClimate 2, so this kind of driving will be disappointing. Sure, a touring tire isn’t generally designed for performance driving, but this one doesn’t have enough to the pushed a bit more.

Dry Rating: 4/5

4/5

How does it behave over wet and slippery roads?

Wet conditions aren’t ideal, and some tires tend to struggle a bit, which is not the case with the Kinergy GT. In some areas, the tire almost feels like a premium option.

In normal driving conditions, the Kinergy GT is a tire that will have almost no problems. Traction is excellent, and the tire will minimize or eliminate slip without any issues, depending on how aggressive you are with the gas. Going into a corner also isn’t an issue, and you can expect the tire to provide pretty good levels of grip.

The area where it surprised me the most was the braking distances. While they aren’t the shortest in the grand touring category, they come pretty close to the premium tires like the PureContact LS.

Hankook’s design with the wider grooves does the job, and they evacuate water very efficiently. As a result, the Kinergy GT delivers excellent aquaplaning resistance, making the tire feel planted in heavy rain.

Wet Rating: 4/5

4/5

How is it over snow?

Even though Hankook doesn’t make any promises about the Kinergy GT being spectacular in the snow, I was expecting a bit more out of it.

The silica in the rubber compound enables the tire to remain soft in colder temperatures. As a result, the Kinergy GT delivers decent performance on clean roads, which is fine.

On the other hand, as soon as it starts snowing, things aren’t so fine. The Kinergy GT manages to deliver barely usable traction and grip in light snow conditions. With that said, even then, you’ll need to be careful and go easy on the inputs.

The chamfered edges provide you only acceptable performance on unpacked snow and not so acceptable over packed one. Going for the harsher conditions and the performance degrades even more, making the Kinergy GT unusable in deep snow or on ice. To be fair, most all-season tires are useless on ice.

Snow Rating: 3/5

3/5

Is it comfortable and refined?

Moving on to a more positive side of the Kinergy GT, we have the refinement. Like in the previous tests, it may not be the absolute best, but it does pretty well.

Starting off with the noise, the Kinergy GT is a very quiet tire, a mark of a true grand touring tire. Regardless if you’re driving around town or on the highway, the noise levels are very low, making the tire very quiet. The only time you may hear something is over rougher surfaces, but it’s not overly pronounced.

The comfort levels are also on the higher end of the spectrum. Thanks to the internal construction, the Kinergy GT manages to smooth out the smaller bumps and imperfections on the road. Hitting a pothole is something that will unsettle any tire, so you will feel a slight jolt, but the vibrations will be mostly muted.

Comfort Rating: 4/5

4/5

Is the Hankook Kinergy GT ideal for sporty driving?

The Kinergy GT may be a good grad touring tire, but it’s not something you should look at if you’re looking for sporty performance.

Regardless of which conditions you drive in, the Kinergy GT is a tire that won’t deliver the highest levels of grip and traction. As a result, it’s not a tire that you can push hard and have some fun while doing it.

Then there’s the handling, which is perfectly fine for daily driving, but not for sporty one. The Kinergy GT isn’t terrible in terms of responsiveness and does pretty good for a grand touring tire, but on the limit, you’ll notice a slight delay. Also, the feedback you’ll get through the steering wheel isn’t overly pronounced, so you may find yourself looking for some indication about what’s going on.

Noise Rating: 4/5

4/5

Hankook Kinergy GT Warranty

In the warranty department, the Kinergy GT is a tire that offers a lot, considering that it’s a mid-range tire. With a 70,000-mile treadwear warranty, it’s positioned above the 60,000 Michelin offers for the CrossClimate 2 and below the 80,000 for the Turanza QuietTrack.

Hankook Kinergy GT Pricing: Is it worth the money?

As a mid-range tire, the Kinergy GT comes at a lower price than its premium competition. For a standard 16-inch model, you are looking at around $130, similar to the CS5 Ultra Touring. This makes it a bit more affordable than the Assurance ComfortDrive.

Value Rating: 4.5/5

4.5/5

Should I buy the Hankook Kinergy GT?

If you’re looking for an affordable grand touring tire with safe performance, the Kinergy GT is an excellent option. Like most tires on the market, it’s not perfect, but it does a pretty good job at covering most people’s needs.

With decent performance in dry and wet conditions, you can expect the Kinergy GT to keep you safe without paying a premium price. In the package, you also get very high levels of refinement and a long treadwear warranty.

The area where you should be more careful is snow performance, as the Kinergy GT will struggle. You may be fine for a short drive, but caution is critical.

In general, the Kinergy GT is a tire that will cover most people’s needs. It may not excel in every condition, but considering the overall package, it’s a very solid choice.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

4.5/5

What Vehicles Will the Hankook Kinergy GT Fit?

Here’s a sample list of cars that the Hankook Kinergy GT will fit:

  • Acura ILX, TLX
  • Audi A3, A4, A6
  • BMW 3, 5, 7 Series
  • Ford Focus, Mondeo
  • Honda Civic, Accord, Legend
  • Hyundai Elantra, Sonata
  • Kia Optima, Rio
  • Lexus IS, ES, GS, LS
  • Mazda 3, 6
  • Mitsubishi Lancer, Galant
  • Toyota Corolla, Camry
  • Volkswagen Golf, Passat, Jetta

Tire Sizes for Hankook Kinergy GT

15″

  • 175/65R15 84H
  • 185/65R15 88H
  • 195/60R15 88H
  • 195/65R15 91H
  • 195/65R15 91T
  • 205/60R15 91H
  • 205/65R15 94H

16″

  • 195/60R16 89H
  • 205/55R16 91H
  • 205/60R16 92H
  • 205/60R16 92V
  • 205/65R16 95H
  • 215/55R16 93H
  • 215/60R16 95H
  • 215/60R16 95V
  • 215/60R16 95T
  • 215/65R16 98H
  • 225/60R16 98V
  • 225/65R16 100H

17″

  • 205/50R17 93V
  • 205/55R17 91H
  • 215/45R17 91V
  • 215/50R17 95V
  • 215/55R17 94H
  • 215/55R17 94V
  • 215/60R17 96H
  • 225/45R17 91H
  • 225/45R17 91W
  • 225/50R17 94V
  • P 225/55R17 95H
  • 225/60R17 99H
  • 225/65R17 102H
  • 235/45R17 94H
  • 235/50R17 96V
  • 235/55R17 99W
  • 235/60R17 102H
  • 235/65R17 104H
  • 245/50R17 99V

18″

  • 215/45R18 89V
  • 225/45R18 91H
  • 225/45R18 91V
  • 225/55R18 98H
  • 225/60R18 100H
  • 235/45R18 94H
  • 235/45R18 94V
  • 235/50R18 97V
  • 235/60R18 103H
  • 245/40R18 97V
  • 245/45R18 96V
  • 255/65R18 111H

19″

  • 225/55R19 99H
  • 235/40R19 92V
  • 235/50R19 99H
  • 245/40R19 94V
  • 245/45R19 98H

20″

  • 245/45R20 99V

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