Hankook Winter i pike RS2

One of my favorite parts of the tire is its side grip. I think it handles good in all conditions and is reliable on unexpected black ice and ice in general.
I haven't measured the rubber tear but I can say that the studs are very firmly attached even after 2-3 years of driving.
This is my 3rd set on 3 different cars :)

I bought the Hankooks a couple of months ago and are now driving them through their first winter. Can’t comment on tire wear yet, but we had a fair bit of snowy and icy roads, slush, dry and wet roads with temperatures from +5 down to -18. I’ve driven them for almost 2 months now.
So this is an initial ”first impression”.

Snowy and icy roads:
They are actually quite good for the price. Good braking and traction on ice and snow, I would say they are exemplary on snow and good on ice but not exemplary.
But if you drive calmy on ice, no problem. Even soft and big lumps of snow are no problem. Have driven through heavy snowfall on unplowed roads and they feel secure and safe. I would recommend them for winter roads.

Dry or wet roads: They are not sensitive to heavy rain fall, no aquaplaning. Feels secure in the wet. However, I’m not happy about how they drives on dry road. They wanders on the road so I have to correct and compensate with the steering. They feels squishy, unprecise and are very noisy. Driving on them for some hours is tiresome.

Rolling resistance is low, can’t say I notice any difference from driving on my summer tires there (GoodYear Effecientgrip 2 SUV). Similar fuel consumption.

Amazing tires for the money, exelent grip on Ice, great handling, quiet and compfy with great wear. Nothing not to like.... Next to Michelin, GoodYear and Pirelli.

I have driven these tires for 3 winters now in northern Finland. They came with the car one season driven so they've been through 4 proper nordic winters. There is still plenty of tread left and all studs, albeit well rounded at this point, are in place and intact. Rubber still feels malleable and soft so I am expecting to get another winter or two from these tires.

Biggest weakness according to my observation is poor steering feedback on dry tarmac and noticeable understeer in dry. Of course tall sidewall, deep tread and soft compound do that to handling. Wide grooves on pattern also tend to pick up pebbles and fling them out hitting fender liner more than most other tires I have driven. To my ear Hankooks are noisy especially on dry. You can also hear studs gripping very clearly when approaching limits.

I don't have much to say about wet handling since I tend not to push winter tires too much on tarmac but it seems at least adequate and I never felt like tires weren't doing their job. Snow handling is downright excellent and easily my favourite part of this tire. On unploughed backroads and smaller county roads these grip amazingly well and provide solid ride. At limits they lose grip gradually and as opposed to dry, I can feel what is going on with the tires. These make even low powered AWD such a blast to drive in snow. Ice grip is good too, and on ice tires give logical feedback and recover from slides easily. As a bonus mud performance is good, this isn't A/T tire but large tread blocks can claw quite a way in October mud.

Honestly Hankooks are really impressive considering the price point and I have no hesitation in recommending them if you are looking for tire that can handle near arctic conditions and shine in snow. From our family's other cars I have experience from Hakka 8's and X-Ice North 3's and I Pike RS2 is on par with these when it comes to winter performance.

-The best winter tire I've driven so far (and there is plenty), pretty huge improvement on ice handling compared to iPike RS due to the added studs and a new pattern, you can really push your limits in corners before it start to lose side grip, but even then it corrects so fast and easy, losing the rear end is almost impossible even with a little help from the handbrake.

-Day to day driving in at normal conditions, feels pretty much the same as driving at summer. Even while having 250 horses front the front wheels, I don't really find any trouble on accelerating harder. Braking distance feels as good as it can feel with an older car ABS only.

-Tire noise was quite surprising, inside the car, can't really tell if I'm running studs or not. Comfort, well its there as the 55 profile suggest.

-Can't really say about the wear yet, but if these have anything in common with the previous iPikes, they will last you for few years easily.

I was so happy for these tires that I bought a new set for my fiancee too, and even she was impressed. At its price point I can only recommend these.