The Hankook Kinergy 4S is a premium-leaning all-season tire that aims to deliver dependable year-round confidence, particularly in typical UK cold, wet conditions. Driver feedback is largely positive, with many praising reassuring braking, strong wet-weather security and surprisingly capable snow performance for an all-season. Independent testing, however, tends to place it mid-pack overall, highlighting solid balance rather than class-leading grip.
The quick answer
Owners say78%from 14 owner reviews71% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesWet, DryValue, ComfortRelative to its rivals across every test we hold
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tire - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated October 2026.
In 205/55 R16, the Hankook Kinergy 4S is projected to cost €29.28 per 1,000 miles to buy and run - about €732 over 25,000 miles - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2017 All Season Tire Test.
Tire purchase + fittingExtra fuel vs the most efficient tirecost per 1,000 miles
Assumes a typical car doing 29 mpg (rolling resistance causing 20% of fuel use), fuel at €6.25 per gallon and €70 fitting per set of four. Purchase prices are from the time of the 2017 test; financing costs are excluded.
Across the 4 wet-braking tests it has featured in, the Hankook Kinergy 4S stops 8.4% longer than premium rivals, 0.6% shorter than mid-range rivals and 1.5% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews wet score of 50/100, and owners rate it 7.6/10 in the wet from 14 reviews.
How good is the Hankook Kinergy 4S in the dry?
Across the 4 dry-braking tests it has featured in, the Hankook Kinergy 4S stops 3.6% longer than premium rivals, 0.8% shorter than mid-range rivals and 1.7% longer than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews dry score of 42/100, and owners rate it 8.1/10 in the dry from 14 reviews.
How good is the Hankook Kinergy 4S in the snow?
Across the 3 snow-braking tests it has featured in, the Hankook Kinergy 4S stops 4% longer than premium rivals, 3.3% longer than mid-range rivals and 22.6% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews snow score of 42/100, and owners rate it 9.5/10 in the snow from 14 reviews.
How fuel efficient is the Hankook Kinergy 4S?
Across the 3 tests measuring rolling resistance, the Hankook Kinergy 4S's rolling resistance is 11.9% higher than premium rivals, 2.9% higher than mid-range rivals and 1.4% higher than budget rivals.
How many miles does the Hankook Kinergy 4S last?
Based on test and owner data, the Hankook Kinergy 4S is expected to last around 19,829 miles (31,912 km).
More questions about the Hankook Kinergy 4S(8)
What do owners say about the Hankook Kinergy 4S?
Across 14 owner ratings the Hankook Kinergy 4S averages 78%. Owners rate Snow Grip highest at 9.5 out of 10 and Handling lowest at 6.8. 8 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 77% of owners score it 70% or better.
How much does the Hankook Kinergy 4S cost to run?
In 205/55 R16, the Hankook Kinergy 4S is projected to cost €29.28 per 1,000 miles to buy and run - about €732 over 25,000 miles - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2017 All Season Tire Test. The cheapest to run in that test is the Michelin CrossClimate, at €21.74.
What is the Hankook Kinergy 4S's EU tire label rating?
Across its range, the Hankook Kinergy 4S most commonly carries EU label ratings of D for fuel efficiency, C for wet grip and 71 dB for noise.
How comfortable and quiet are the Hankook Kinergy 4S?
Owners rate the Hankook Kinergy 4S 7.7 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 13 reviews.
How well do the Hankook Kinergy 4S wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Hankook Kinergy 4S 7.3 out of 10 for wear across 13 reviews. 8 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 10,000 miles.
Would owners buy the Hankook Kinergy 4S again?
71% of owners say they would buy the Hankook Kinergy 4S again, based on the 14 owner reviews that answered the question. 29% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
Hi, How come this tire came higher than the Goodyear in the all season test yet the tire data is lower than the Goodyear? Where does the information come from. Show moreHi,
How come this tire came higher than the Goodyear in the all season test yet the tire data is lower than the Goodyear? Where does the information come from. Thanks Show less
March 25, 2023
It was the newer 4S2 version of this tire in the Tire Reviews test. The bars at the top are an aggregation of the user review data not the test data.
Drivers generally view the Hankook Kinergy 4S as a strong all-season performer, especially in snow and heavy rain, with many praising grip, braking confidence, and overall safety. While several high-scoring reviews highlight wet/snow traction and value, a notable minority report rapid tread wear and some wet/dry grip shortcomings. Overall sentiment skews positive given the higher-weighted strong scores.
What owners mention most counted across 13 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 14 ratings
Owner score78%
Snow Grip95%
Ice Grip90%
Dry Grip81%
Comfort77%
Wet Grip76%
Road Feedback74%
Wear73%
Handling68%
Featured reviews
Most helpful 100%
“These tires have so much grip, that the human brain cannot resist such lateral acceleration. And I am not exaggerating. As you can see in the attached photo, I raced a slalom last week with my Renault Supercinq GTR. Due...”
“I recently got a flat so I took my car in to my trusted car maintenance folks and they said they couldn't fix it, or put on two of the four tires because of the tread wear on them. I have a 2021 Honda CR-V and these...”
“Overall I am satisfied about my decision to buy them, but I was disappointed about the fact they wore very fast, faster than expected, after 58 000 km - compared with the Continental stock tires. I had another pairs of...”
These tires have so much grip, that the human brain cannot resist such lateral acceleration. And I am not exaggerating.
As you can see in the attached photo, I raced a slalom last week with my Renault Supercinq GTR.
Due to the tremendous acceleration, I was instantly knocked out and I have just woken up again 5 minutes ago.
They even tell me that I didn't finish last in the slalom... I don't know if it's true or not, because I was unconscious.
In every case, here you have the link to my run in the slalom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaC7sEwJK9Y
Overall I am satisfied about my decision to buy them, but I was disappointed about the fact they wore very fast, faster than expected, after 58 000 km - compared with the Continental stock tires. I had another pairs of tires ALL SEASONS CONTINENTAL ALLSEASONCONTACT (I was happy with them, too). Even now, after 2 years, on dry surface the Hankooks are almost freezing my Duster (1.6, 4 x 4, petrol, 2016) when a person is appearing from nowhere at a pedestrian cross (having 50 km/h). During work time I am driving 200 km / 5 days. On highways wet surfaces I had full control. I drove on mud, too, they kept me going forward. Slowly. but surely. In summer times I am going to mountains roads and hilltops, nothing special, no aggressive off-road, just pebbled, dust and forest roads. On forest and pebbled roads they behaved very well, but there were noisy. I used them in the winter on snow on Transfagarasan from Capra Chalet till Salvamont Arges refuge Cota 2000. I won`t buy them again because they wore (as I mentioned) too fast.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
20%
Member
Honda
235/60 R18
A Combination of Roads
Average
I recently got a flat so I took my car in to my trusted car maintenance folks and they said they couldn't fix it, or put on two of the four tires because of the tread wear on them. I have a 2021 Honda CR-V and these were the stock tires Honda opted to put on the car. At roughly 24,000 miles I need new tires. This is absurd. Most of the tires this size are rated for a minimum 50K miles and I got less than half. In some places I've seen these tires rated for 70K. Absurd. I've never liked the noise from these tires or the handling but didn't realize until today just how cheap these tires actually are. Never Hankook again and maybe not Honda again if this is the cheap tire they are opting to put on their cars. Additionally, Honda doesn't cover these tires in their warranty, they expect the tire manufacturer to cover them. Guess what, Hankook doesn't provide a mileage minimum on their tires, likely because they know how awful and cheap these tires are as well. HORRIBLE customer experience.
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Replaced some old Hankook summer tires in October 2015 with these Hankook H740 4S tires as I wanted better wet and snow grip. I was limited for choice due to uncommon tire size and didn't want directional tires as I had a full size alloy spare. The 2nd day after fitting I had to travel on the M62 and was caught in a torrential rain storm. Cars if front of me started drifting all ways after hitting a huge area of standing water, so I braced myself, but needn't have worried. These Hankook H740 4S tires took it all in their stride and the car stayed in a straight line with no effort from me. Handling is great in all conditions. They have now done 16,000 miles and at my last service 2 months ago I was told they would easily last another year at least, based on my requirements, as I always replace tires when the tread gets below 4mm. I shall replace them with the same ones when required.
This is an update to my previous review, to report on the snow performance.
Scotland had a wee bit of bad weather at the start of March '18. For reasons I won't get into on here, I was required to drive through the red weather warning on both days, and the subsequent amber warnings of the rest of the week and this gave me a good opportunity to assess performance in snow/slush and ice. The front tires had around 5mm left in them (having been swapped after doing 18k on the rear), the rears were effectively brand new, maybe a few thousand miles since fitting.
And that performance was exceptional.
Motorways were cleared, but icy in places. They never feit like they were going to let go without warning. They did give enough feedback to allow easing off before anything went pear shaped.
Surface streets were variable quality, with some roads in excess of 12" of snow. Others had slush and others a mix of hard pack and fresh snow. And we charged on through. Even fairly steep hills were dispatched without drama, just an occasional touch of traction control for some of worst parts. These tires on this car means I'm getting to my destination regardless.
Now, a downside... during the snow, I damaged 2 of them (potholes can still bite when they're hidden). Thankfully, I've managed to source some replacements, they're fitted, and I'm a happy bunny again.
My car was bought 2nd hand from a well known Scottish car dealer network, and had been fitted with some of their own branded tires. They lasted less than a week before they were binned.
So, January of 2017 saw a set of Kinergys fitted. And they worked well in the snow, very well. They were also quite impressive in some of the torrential rain we had through the year, and pretty good in the 2 days of sunshine that passes for a Scottish summer.
I drive an estate, and tend to lug a fair amount of kit everywhere, and in an enthusiastic fashion. They've been good in almost all conditions except for some occasional understeer on a rather tight mini roundabout near home. But that's only ever been when the conditions have been greasy. Performance in heavy rain on motorways has been on a par with some of the more expensive rubber I've had fitted to other similar vehicles. But the winter performance has been impressive.
Wear has also been acceptable. Roughly 18000 miles done, the fronts are below 4mm, the rears are still above 6mm. Purely as a precaution, and because of the long term weather reports, the fronts were replaced with more of the same in the last few weeks. And, again, they have proven to be good in the snow and cold temps of the last month. At £50 a corner, they're exceptionally good value, and will be a permanent fixture on this particular vehicle for the foreseeable future.
We used the previous generation of these tires the H730 and unfortunately these are a great disappointment. My wife and I have both been sliding on greasy roads - in a 90bhp bmw!! - when the previous set didn't do this even when they were nearly done - so far this set has 4500miles. I honestly won't be buying the h740s again back to the h730s if I can get them.
So i replaced Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's on my EP3 Civic Type R with these. I tried these tires last year on another car when it snowed and my civic could not get out of the very steep estate and they were phenomenally good in the snow.
These tires are very good, they do feel like they provide less feedback than the Goodyear Eagles and less lateral grip however they are still very good. I feel that the loss in summer traction/feedback is worth the advantage when its wet/cold/snow handling. They feel surprisingly planted in the wet and are still miles better in all conditions compared to cheap budget summer tires. The car will not brake traction under hard acceleration which it would do previously on Toyo proxes..
Conclusion: Good compromise for massive winter benefits. No all season will be as good as a dedicated summer performance tire. Snow handling profoundly strong, going up large steep hills with compacted ice and snow the car did not brake traction once.
These tires replaced some nasty Nankang tires however on my other cars i run Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2.
First impressions have been good, the wet grip is night and day in comparison to cheaper brand tires, they handled a 70 - 0 emergency stop when a lorry pulled out in the wet very well. the car feels a lot more composed and competent. The real test will be how they cope with snow (if we get any) and how they wear during the summer months. For a everyday car they seem a good all round Tire with the potential to offer added safety in the winter months at a good price and without the hassle of changing to winter rubber. For sporty and powerful vehicles i believe that the best is still a dedicated winter tire and summer tire.
