Hankooks?

[human]

I just bought a '95 Aurora on e-Bay and will go and pick it up in a few weeks. Looking at the pictures, it's wearing a motley set of tires. It has a practically new looking pair of Hankook Optimo h418 tires on the front and the back there's a Michelin on one side and a Continental on the other. The Michelin appears to be the same tire that I had on my '98 Aurora (may she rust in pieces) and thus may be original to the car as it only has 58,000 miles on it. From what I can see in the pictures, the rear tires appear to have decent tread. Of course, I won't know until I get the car whether they're dry rotted. That's a concern for both rear tires as those two brands are known to be so durable that they tend to dry rot before the tread wears out.

The state of the tires does lead me to a couple of conclusions about the car: It's a one-owner car, so the previous owner probably didn't rotate the tires and the Hankooks went on the front to replace the worn out Michelins, perhaps in order to sell the car. The Continental on the back was probably installed at some point in the past, maybe as a used tire, to replace a Michelin that had gone bad or was damaged by a road hazard.

I'm thinking I'll need to put tires on the rear sooner rather than later and my initial thought is to get two more of the Hankooks to make a matched set, but I know nothing about that brand other than they're from Korea. The h418 appears to be a modestly priced tire at about $100 each in the size I'd need. Would that be worthwhile? Granted, I'd much rather have a full set of Michelins or Continentals, but one of those tires would probably cost as much as two Hankooks.

Another thought is to swap the tires and wheels from my '97 Olds LSS onto it. It's got a matched set of Cooper Lifeliners that have maybe 70-80 percent of their tread left. Of course, that would hinge on whether the five-spoke LSS wheels and the six-spoke Aurora wheels are interchangeable.

Thoughts?

[ntrenn]

The LSS wheels should bolt right up. I've had Aurora wheels on the Intrigues and Intrigue wheels on the Aurora.
Up until I found a split sidewall on one of the Michelins on the Intrigue, I would have voted for nothing but Michelin, but now, maybe not 100% but only 98%. I've got Michelins around here that spent 90,000 on the Aurora and are still doing duty on Intrigue 2. I rotate them every 20,000 miles whether they need it or not.
I have zero history with Hankook, but I would personally stay away from them in favor of something made in America if they are not USA made.

[human]

I agree with you about sticking with American made tires. That's one reason I'm leaning toward putting the Coopers over onto the Aurora. They came on the LSS when I got it, and I had a set on the Bonneville I had before it. I've been favorably impressed with their wear and performance.

I've also had good luck with Michelins on two other cars--my '98 Aurora and a '91 Cutlass Supreme. I really wish there were three more Michelins on the car. I had a set of Continentals on my '97 Caddy and was less impressed with them. The wore okay but succumbed to dry rot.

I think my girlfriend's Kia Rio is riding on Hankooks, but that's no indicator of how they'd do on a heavy American sedan. Come to think of it, my sister may have had a set of Hankooks on a Ford Taurus wagon a few years ago. Of course, all she'd be able to tell me about them is they were round and black. She sees cars as appliances and doesn't really pay attention to anything about them except whether there's gas in the tank so she can run carpool.

I'll continue to run the Hankooks just because they're practically new, but unless someone can convince me they're really super good tires, I'll probably replace the mismatched pair on the back with some Coopers or Goodyears or something whenever I get ready to rotate them, rather than buy more Hankooks.

[wireless]

I would highly recommend Michelins...

[robaurora01]

Hankook is not a bad tire however that tire you mentioned normally only last 20k km not miles max 30k

[human]

Yeah, my online research bears that out. Short lifespan is a chief complaint, even for light weight cars like Hyundais and Kias. I can only imagine an Aurora would eat them up even faster. It also further confirms my supposition that those tires went on the car to help sell it. Guess I'll try to run what's on there for 20k or so and then start shopping for a matched set of rubber.

[robaurora01]

Look at some hercules i know their a no name tire but ive had nothing but great luck with them their quiet and last long time i just installed my winter hsi-s from them and their quieter then my old run down michelins that were on the car

[human]

I'll have to take a look at those. Thanks.

[aj]

I love my Tigerpaws that I have on my 1995 Aurora now, so I definately recommend them. But they are a lil pricey but well worth it. It really does grip the road well in any road conditions. They wear pretty good too.

I have nothing but problems with the Continentals tires on my Buick lucerne in which they dont fit the car and are always leaking air.

[human]

So I finally picked the car up on Tuesday and got home with it yesterday. The Continental on the driver's side is in okay shape. The Michelin on the passenger side was another story entirely. was beyond dry-rotted. It was a blowout waiting to happen. Fortunately, I still had a Continental that came off my Caddy, so now I have a semi-matched pair of Continentals on the back. I took it to a Mexican tire shop around the corner from where I live. They mounted and balanced it for $12 plus the Michelin tire that came off of it. It scares me to think they're going to try to sell that tire to someone else. Once the got the tire off the rim, I pressed in on the sidewall with my toe and I could see the belts where the sidewall meets the tread. I'm glad it isn't on my car anymore.

So for now, I'm going to run the two Hankooks and the two Continentals and see how it goes. At some point down the line, I'll see about getting something better.

[lanceslambos]

Aurora tires are a conglomeration of Hankook.

[human]

The tire saga is finally--and thankfully--at an end. The Continental I put on the car didn't hold air, so I ended up going to Sam's Club and getting a pair of Goodyears put on. I'll get two more to match when I wear the Hankooks out.

[Randy T.]

Integritys have no integrity. I bought a new set once, that was a mistake, at my shop someone bought a set, 2 have basically fallen apart at the seams.

[robaurora01]

Ive ran goodyear assurance that i got at 8/32nd ran 65k km on them and their at 4/32nd and 5/32nd when i took then off my alero on the 17's

[human]

That's good to hear. My Goodyears are Assurance tires and not the aforementioned Integritys. I had a set of Goodyear Eagle GT tires on my '94 Olds LSS. They were rated at either 40,000 or 45,000 and I got 56,000 miles out of them. These are rated at 65,000 miles, so I'm hopeful they'll hold up okay.

Dec 28, 2012 16:59:22 GMT -6 robaurora01 said:

Ive ran goodyear assurance that i got at 8/32nd ran 65k km on them and their at 4/32nd and 5/32nd when i took then off my alero on the 17's

[lanceslambos]

yea the wally world "goodyear" integrity is an Asian knockoff. They won't stand behind anything on them and should all be arrested for selling warranties on them.

[human]

Those Hankooks should be renamed Hankraps. I don't know how many miles were on them when picked the car up in December, I've driven it just a little more than 2,000 mi since I've had it and they're not looking so good. The tread is wearing badly--as in pretty close to bald--on the inside on both tires. I'm also going to get the alignment checked this week.