I think the hankooks are good for the money but pefer Conti DW's

 

I'm probably going to side with the kid, will know for sure next week. I have new Hankook V12 19" tires and haven't been able to get them balanced properly. They balance good on the machine one day and no sooner than I'm on the road and drive back to them, sometimes hours later, sometimes a day later, they put them on the machine and already have to change the weights. I started losing faith that Discount Tire was simply doing something wrong and finally broke down and paid for a second shop to road force balance the wheels. I was 5 miles down the road before the shimmy was back, took the car back to them the following morning and again had a shimmy within miles of leaving the shop. I called Discount Tire back and asked them what the cost was to go to a different tire... couple hundred bucks. At this point I've spent that much trying to find a solution using these tires and am so frustrated that they won't hold the balance that I'm willing to pay twice as much if I have to. Continentals come in next week, fingers crossed that they work better than the Hankook's. If it's not the Hankook then it's the rim but I've now had these tires balanced 7 times in less than 2 weeks (road force balance, not rfb, with smart weight, without, etc).

Oh, and on top of this I took the car to BMW to see if the alignment could be contributing to the problem since I moved from 18's to 19's. Seemed unlikely but was willing to try anything. The alignment didn't help at all.

 

Sorry to hear that Andy. I'm no expert But could the shimmy be caused by the wheel bearing or some sort. It sounds strange that the shop was able to balance it but once installed and driven, the shimmy feeling comes back.

Good luck with the new tires Andy.

 

Of course Michelins are better than Hankooks! Who's arguing? but for the money they cost and their wear ratings, I'll buy Hankooks time and time again. If I could swing the extra few hundred without noticing it, I'd probably get PS2/"PS3" tires - sure! But in real life, price and wear rating count. And when you have two very similar tire sets, with one costing about half as much as the other... to each his own, but that C&D test is definitely something to consider

 

Tire places love to sell you tires they want to sell you, they're trained to sway the indecisive ,Jedi mind tricks . You knew what you wanted and for good reason. I run hankooks and love them..next time you see him say put my tires on and don't scratch my rims. I worked at a popular tire store chain in the area it's shady biz. And I thought conti's where the choice of champions.

 

What is immeasurable here is the number of real people with personal experience who recommend Hankooks. PERIOD. I dont care what any salesperson says, im happy with my Hankooks and I will spend my extra cash elsewhere. And those who say you have to put "expensive" tires on a bimmer... whatever. The day I retire from the Army and hopefully make some of that big money than I will maybe get the best of the best. But for now, im riding with Hankook!

 

As far as the Car and Driver article that was linked to in an earlier response - one thing I noted was that it was a test for smaller tires and on a 328. So my guess is that doesn't give us 5 owners a spot on true comparison test.

Here it is again for convenience: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...mparison_tests

I'm curious if Hankook owners have ever compared those to other new tires such as the PS2, that is the only way to know for sure, otherwise we all get in the mode of thinking we bought the best for the money and become happy in our own minds, just human nature. I mean think about it, we all think our 5's are the best thing since sliced bread and Mercedes are no match for them.....

 

I agree - Hankooks are definitely good enough for BMW. Maybe if you're running some sick setup on a modded M5/M6, you can buy a track set of wheels and tires. But even then, you'd be going through a set of tires roughly every 2-3 track sessions - why waste money? I agree, unless you can painlessly swing the extra dough on Michelins, it just doesn't make any sense.

Dude. Okay, you must have not read any of my [anal detail-oriented] threads on tires I've researched the crap out of this issue before I got the Hankooks. TRUST me when I tell you that there's no better tire. Unless you're tracking - for track, I'd go with something like Nitto NT05. Actually, I was going to buy the NT05's myself, but I realized that the car will just be way too friggin stiff, so I went with Hankooks. And hey, the e90 3er platform is a VERY close relative of the e60 5er - I wouldn't even think about doubting the test results based on that. Now, if they tested the tire on some 1991 Civic Si, then I'd look into it some more. But plenty - PAW-LENTY! - of people on this forum, who really drive their E60's, have bought these tires time and time again. If that doesn't convince you - you're not really ready to buy tires yet

Either way, good luck! Hope you're happy with whatever you end up getting!

 

I ordered Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus tires (replacing Hankook V12) yesterday from Discount Tire, they will be installed later today so I'll report back tomorrow on whether or not they fix the problem I'm having.

 

I just put these Hankooks on. Highly recommended by the Discount Tire manager. What a great tire. Quiet, grips very well, and holds the corners very aggressively. Would do it again, no questions. Best part, is the value!