I'd love to hear from those who opted to replace the stock Hankooks with something else. My car is new, so the Hankooks still grip well, although I find the ride pretty jittery and bumpy with these tires. I really want to replace them (either with snow tires, or just good all-weather tires; I'm thinking specifically of the Continental PureContact since they seem to get great reviews and are rated really good in the snow; but I'm open to suggestions). If you chose to replace the Hankooks, what was your new tire of choice? What positive changes did you notice (smoother ride, better traction, improved mpg, etc)?
For those who opted to replace their tires: would love your feedback
- Thread starter pounamu
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ahtoxa
New member
Ah, a topic I can actually be useful for!
By 26k miles my stock Hankooks still had some life in them, but they were losing wet traction steadily and hydroplaning resistance was suffering.
I replaced them with General Altimax HPs. All-season tires that perform very well.
Great, great tire. Outstanding in deep standing water, great wet traction and good in the snow/ice that we've had for a couple of days. Good in snowy slush, too.
For the first 300 miles or so they felt a little marshmallow-ey but tires do need a brief break-in period and after those miles, they respond well. Not as well as a summer tire but very well for an all-season tire.
Not my picture
By 26k miles my stock Hankooks still had some life in them, but they were losing wet traction steadily and hydroplaning resistance was suffering.
I replaced them with General Altimax HPs. All-season tires that perform very well.
Great, great tire. Outstanding in deep standing water, great wet traction and good in the snow/ice that we've had for a couple of days. Good in snowy slush, too.
For the first 300 miles or so they felt a little marshmallow-ey but tires do need a brief break-in period and after those miles, they respond well. Not as well as a summer tire but very well for an all-season tire.
Not my picture
zippypcs
Site Supporter
Replaced my factory Hankooks @ 5500 miles with Conti DWS extreme contacts.
Factory tires had trouble in rain and light snow. I figured I would replace before I got caught in heavy snow.
84 miles round trip each day showed that the factory tires were not to my liking.
Went with a 215/50/15 size on the new shoes. Work great and no problems with bad weather.
Factory tires had trouble in rain and light snow. I figured I would replace before I got caught in heavy snow.
84 miles round trip each day showed that the factory tires were not to my liking.
Went with a 215/50/15 size on the new shoes. Work great and no problems with bad weather.
Ah, a topic I can actually be useful for!
By 26k miles my stock Hankooks still had some life in them, but they were losing wet traction steadily and hydroplaning resistance was suffering.
I replaced them with General Altimax HPs. All-season tires that perform very well.
Great, great tire. Outstanding in deep standing water, great wet traction and good in the snow/ice that we've had for a couple of days. Good in snowy slush, too.
For the first 300 miles or so they felt a little marshmallow-ey but tires do need a brief break-in period and after those miles, they respond well. Not as well as a summer tire but very well for an all-season tire.
Not my picture
Oh great, I heard good things about that tire. Is this the one you got:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...2013&autoModel=Sonic Hatchback&autoModClar=LT
I have to say, I'm liking the price on the tiretrack website
Ever Victorious
New member
I haven't replaced mine (don't even have 1000 miles on them), but I always take tires on my car seriously.
After looking briefly at the selection available, I have to say that the Altimax HP is the best "cheapie" tire option out there for this car, by far. That's what I was running on my Spectra.
If you're willing to spend a hundred bucks per tire*, the Goodyear FuelMax tire is also a really good one. We had a set of these on my wife's Tucson before we had to trade it in for a bigger 'ute.
And my winter tire choice would actually be the Hankook option, the iPike. We also had a set for the Tucson (which was only FWD), and they did great, even in near-blizzard conditions in the mountain passes up here. Blizzaks are great, but not worth the cost difference IMO.
*Based on the stock 15's on my LT.
(also bear in mind, I'm not leaning towards a high performance application, as many people here will be. My modding days are long gone, I'm "too old for that stuff" now. I just look for a comfortable, good handling tire with reasonable tread life)
After looking briefly at the selection available, I have to say that the Altimax HP is the best "cheapie" tire option out there for this car, by far. That's what I was running on my Spectra.
If you're willing to spend a hundred bucks per tire*, the Goodyear FuelMax tire is also a really good one. We had a set of these on my wife's Tucson before we had to trade it in for a bigger 'ute.
And my winter tire choice would actually be the Hankook option, the iPike. We also had a set for the Tucson (which was only FWD), and they did great, even in near-blizzard conditions in the mountain passes up here. Blizzaks are great, but not worth the cost difference IMO.
*Based on the stock 15's on my LT.
(also bear in mind, I'm not leaning towards a high performance application, as many people here will be. My modding days are long gone, I'm "too old for that stuff" now. I just look for a comfortable, good handling tire with reasonable tread life)
ahtoxa
New member
Forgot to mention.
For a winter tire I've used General Altimax Arctic on an different car of similar size to the Sonic. They were great as well, which was one of the reasons why I went with General tires. I've had General Exclaim UPS - an awesome summer tire, a General Altimax Arctic - a very good winter tire and for the price vs. performance the General Altimax HP was a no-brainer for me, based on my experience with the brad. When it comes to Generals, you can have a quality tire for a price that's reasonable.
For a winter tire I've used General Altimax Arctic on an different car of similar size to the Sonic. They were great as well, which was one of the reasons why I went with General tires. I've had General Exclaim UPS - an awesome summer tire, a General Altimax Arctic - a very good winter tire and for the price vs. performance the General Altimax HP was a no-brainer for me, based on my experience with the brad. When it comes to Generals, you can have a quality tire for a price that's reasonable.
TMac
New member
Ah, a topic I can actually be useful for!
By 26k miles my stock Hankooks still had some life in them, but they were losing wet traction steadily and hydroplaning resistance was suffering.
I replaced them with General Altimax HPs. All-season tires that perform very well.
Great, great tire. Outstanding in deep standing water, great wet traction and good in the snow/ice that we've had for a couple of days. Good in snowy slush, too.
For the first 300 miles or so they felt a little marshmallow-ey but tires do need a brief break-in period and after those miles, they respond well. Not as well as a summer tire but very well for an all-season tire.
Not my picture
I had them on my last car (Elantra GT) and they where great tires for being all seasons. The only thing to be mind full is that they tend to get noise at the end.
It could also have been the car as well. I'm going to put them on the Sonic very soon.
Trevor
wasteoffilm
Member
Just in case anyone cares, the Arctic and the iPike are the same tire, same tread, just badge engineered. I just put a set of the Arctic's on my 15's on Sunday, because I got them cheaper, we had both on the shelf.
rdss
Junior Member
I ran the Continental DWS' on the LTZ 17's and they were perfect. Plenty of grip, wet or dry. Being in Fl the DW's probably would have been fine but it tends to rain a lot here and with the power out out of the Sonic 1.4 I felt that the extra tack of the DW over the adverse weather grip of the DWS didn't benefit me.
Swordsmith
242hp/252 ft-lbs BNR EFI
I found the stock tires to be the most disappointing feature of my Sonic. I replaced them within 1000 miles. However, I can't say I did a great job of doing so. I went with a bigger rim (16 instead of the stock 15) because I wanted something that looked cool and because there were very few options in 16. And I let the guys at NTB talk me into a tire they reccomended, rather than doing any research on the topic.
I've been pleased by the performance (I got V Sin 16" wheels and Sumitomo touring plus LST tires), in all seasons, and I prefer not having a set of summer and a set of winter tires, so "all seasons" works better for me. But if I had it to do over, I'd seriously investigate the weights of the wheel plus tire combo, in addition to the handling. Weight savings here is worth about 4 times what it is anywhere else in your car... and weight seems to matter a LOT to the Sonic.
Still, I have put about 38000 miles on these tires, and they still look and act like they did when they were new... and they grab the road and hang on, in all sorts of slippery conditions from wet to snow to ice to leaves, in a way that leaves the OEM Hankooks gasping for breath.
I've been pleased by the performance (I got V Sin 16" wheels and Sumitomo touring plus LST tires), in all seasons, and I prefer not having a set of summer and a set of winter tires, so "all seasons" works better for me. But if I had it to do over, I'd seriously investigate the weights of the wheel plus tire combo, in addition to the handling. Weight savings here is worth about 4 times what it is anywhere else in your car... and weight seems to matter a LOT to the Sonic.
Still, I have put about 38000 miles on these tires, and they still look and act like they did when they were new... and they grab the road and hang on, in all sorts of slippery conditions from wet to snow to ice to leaves, in a way that leaves the OEM Hankooks gasping for breath.
Scot
Athletic Supporter
I bought these wheels & tires and installed them this week (Michigan).
I have a steep driveway that slopes down from the street to my house:
When it snows, not much (short of an AWD vehicle) can get out of my driveway. The first snow we had was just over an inch - and I couldn't slowly creep down my driveway w/o the ABS going nuts and accelerating toward my garage. Thankfully, I have sort of a "runaway ramp" to slow down when this sort of thing happens. So, once I was safely stopped, I turned around and tried to go up the drive (stock tires, of course) and wasn't even able to manage the first slight grade.
I installed RDSS's old wheels and tires (225/45R17 DWS) and I am fairly happy with their performance in the snow. Really, they couldn't have been worse than the 428's.
I would like, someday, to get a set of altimax arctics; I ran those on my ex-wife's car and loved the performance they provided in the snow.
zippypcs
Site Supporter
I bought these wheels & tires and installed them this week (Michigan).
I have a steep driveway that slopes down from the street to my house:
When it snows, not much (short of an AWD vehicle) can get out of my driveway. The first snow we had was just over an inch - and I couldn't slowly creep down my driveway w/o the ABS going nuts and accelerating toward my garage. Thankfully, I have sort of a "runaway ramp" to slow down when this sort of thing happens. So, once I was safely stopped, I turned around and tried to go up the drive (stock tires, of course) and wasn't even able to manage the first slight grade.
I installed RDSS's old wheels and tires (225/45R17 DWS) and I am fairly happy with their performance in the snow. Really, they couldn't have been worse than the 428's.
I would like, someday, to get a set of altimax arctics; I ran those on my ex-wife's car and loved the performance they provided in the snow.
And just in time as the weather is about to turn bad next 24 hrs.
Well, after tonight's snow storm in Boston, this fool is getting new tires. My 30 minute commute took me 3.5 hours. Granted, the roads were NOT plowed (it amazes me how every year people are so surprised by the snow in New England. No one is prepared). I got stuck twice, both times going up a hill, both times lovely people pushed me out. I didn't feel too bad since it was about 8 inches of snow at that point, and many other cars were getting stuck. I witnessed several accidents on the way home, too. Frankly, I'm just happy I got home in one piece (and so did the car). So many cars sliding around, fishtailing, etc - would have been only too easy to hit or be hit by one. Of course, the actual driving experience was nuts - I had to turn off traction control, and ABS was super annoying. Stupid tires would totally ignore me trying to steer - it's a miracle I didn't end up in the oncoming lane of traffic. Thank god for the manual option, though. M1 got me out of many a tight spot, and M2 got me through the easier ones. Had to rev the car to about 4500 a bunch of times (hopefully that' s ok, had no other choice). Getting a set of good tires right after work tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your suggestions!!!
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Palmaris
New member
Thanks Palmaris!
Ahtoxa, I'm thinking all weather vs. winter since I don't want to deal with switching them out, and have nowhere to store them. I'm going to try and find a place that carries the General Altimax you recommended, if I can't find them, then I'll try one of the other recommendations from this thread, or a set of Michelins recommended on another one. My main concern with the Altimax is that they perform well in this crazy winter weather - from the recommendations here, I think they will work well. I'll update on this (hopefully) later tonight. Now just wondering whether I should keep the Hankooks or just throw them the heck away.
Ahtoxa, I'm thinking all weather vs. winter since I don't want to deal with switching them out, and have nowhere to store them. I'm going to try and find a place that carries the General Altimax you recommended, if I can't find them, then I'll try one of the other recommendations from this thread, or a set of Michelins recommended on another one. My main concern with the Altimax is that they perform well in this crazy winter weather - from the recommendations here, I think they will work well. I'll update on this (hopefully) later tonight. Now just wondering whether I should keep the Hankooks or just throw them the heck away.