Hankook Launches First all-Season Tire with Directional Tread Pattern

Hankook used the recent “The Tire Cologne” event in Germany to launch its new all-weather tire, the Kinergy 4S2. This tire is the fifth generation of Hankook’s all season tire and is the company’s first all-weather tire to come with a directional tread pattern.

Hankook has been making all season tires for the past 20 years and with the new Kinergy 4S2 is targeting drivers who would prefer not to change their tires every six months and are looking for tires that can be used in diverse weather conditions.

Commenting on the new tire Klaus Krause, Head of the Hankook European Development Centre in Hanover said the outcome of the tire development process was a completely new product which provides motorists which leverages its special tread design and an innovative tire compound to provide motorists with a particularly stable performance.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

The Kinergy 4S2 is positioned as the first Hankook all-weather tire that has a directional tread. Hankook says this tread pattern accounts for the tire’s good performance on wet roads, and the V-shaped interleaved tread blocks play a key role in delivering good performance on snowy terrain and high driving stability. The tire has two circumferential grooves which minimize aquaplaning by quickly clearing water.

The tire’s block structure and layout on the tread help it to performs well in dry conditions with short braking distances on dry roads and at higher temperatures. The tire has a shoulder that has been designed to provide the footprint needed to ensure good performance in dry conditions, and the zigzag grooves between the tread blocks minimize noise levels, when the tire is compared with its predecessor.

The tire has optimum grip in snow thanks to the 3D sipes at the center of the tread for increasing its contact area and a 3D wave-shaped layout for shorter braking distances in winter. The sipes also reduce wear even when the tire has to tolerate heavy loads during the summer when temperatures are higher.

The Kinergy 4S2 incorporates a new tread compound fashioned from high density silica polymer. The polymer’s unique combination of natural and synthetic ingredients contribute to its grip on wet roads and high performance in dry conditions, in addition to reducing its rolling distance and improving its service life. Another factor that extends the life of the tire is its high resistance to abrasion. Hankook engineers have developed a compound with high rigidity, designed to ensure high grip at any temperature and improved steering precision.

With regard to tire labels, the Kinergy 4S2 sports the 3PMSF (Three Peak Mountain Snowflake) marking, attesting to its winter capabilities. The tire also has multiple tread wear indicators. The “WTWI” (winter tread wear indicator) is incorporated into the tread grooves at regular intervals and indicates whether the tire is still suitable for use in winter.

AVAILABILITY

The Hankook Kinergy 4S2 will initially be available in 17 sizes for 14-17-inch rim diameters from June and 43 additional sizes will be launched during the year to cover up to 20-inch rim diameters.