Your friends advise you to purchase a particular tire brand because they found it good. The tire advertisement attracts you with their high performance it can offer. The tire technicians told you to install the brands they have in stock. However, it turns out the tire does not suit you, and you have to bear with it until it is worn out (as tires are expensive afterall). During the journey, you even experience tire slip, and possibly long braking distance.
Half of the vehicle owners prefer taking advise rather than looking at data provided first, resulting in possible mismatch requirements. Before accepting any advise, you should look at the data first. And here below, are the top models, price value worth, offering good performance with reviews and data support.
1. Kumho HS52
A not renowned brand that is missed by many drivers. Its performance might not be as good as Michelin Pilot Sport but it is definitely a mid-tier model that many drivers can opt for in their vehicles, especially in Hong Kong. The authorized official product is made in Korea.
This comfort model has most sizes with a “A” rank in wet grip. Tyrehood customers review this tire as decent, value worth model. [in HK, promotional price of HS52 is just slightly more expensive than China brand tire (for around $50 difference)].
Even without price promotion, HS52 is still a good option but it might lose out on price competitiveness.
2. Falken ZE310 R
In short, highest value worth tire with low price.
Maximum 160,000km mileage. This is the result after discussing with vehicle owner about driving habit and vehicle maintenance
3. Toyo Proxes Comfort
In Hong Kong, Toyo was labeled as “eraser”, to imply this brand had a high wear off by older generation. Think of it another way, it just means it has a high traction.
Nevertheless, saying this brand as high wear off is a bias statement. Many external factors affect tire wear off including drivers lack of vehicle maintenance.
Tyrehood customers gave good feedback on this model. Good in dry and wet performance with quiet ride. Compare to other models, Proxes Comfort might have a slightly high wear off. But it offers driving with high confidence. It is more expensive than Kumho HS52 but cheaper than Yokoama AE51.
Both authorized official and parallel imported tires are made in Japan. Their pricing is almost the same. Just that parallel imported does not have a tire label stick on it, giving an impression that it was a second hand tire to many customers in HK.
4. Yokohama AE51
Cheaper than Michelin and Continental. More expensive than Kumho by around HK$100 – $150/tire. Price might consider as medium of all brands but provide top performance. Take an example of 195/65 R15, fuel efficiency is one grade better than Toyo Comfort and Kumho HS52, but its dry performance and braking is still top notch. I personally tried out a set of 4 tires uphill and downhill, the tires have a strong grip without giving in.
The tires have low noise. I am driving Toyota Fielder hybrid and the back of the passengers’ voices are still clear to me.
Yokohama parallel imported are not common in the past years in Hong Kong until just recently. Some parallel imported are made in Japan, while some are made in China.
Coincidentally, I saw a person bought a set of Yokohama tires with counterfeit tire manufacture date. If you are opting for parallel imported Yokohama, you may have a chance to get these fake date tires. Click to check on the fake tire date.
5. Michelin Energy Saver 4 / Energy Saver +
There were things that technicians can see during wheel balancing – roundness of a tire. (HK) technicians never mention about this. Why will they afterall? They are selling tires. The parallel imported XM2+ are one of the few that I saw had an issue with the roundness.
Nevertheless, Energy Saver 4 eliminates the cons of the XM2+ provide. It offers excellent performance for both dry and wet. One of my customers frequently replace this model for his Nissan env-200, not just to meeting the loading of the vehicle, but also its great performance it offers.
Energy Saver 4 were supposed made in Europe in HK market but is later changed to made in Thailand.
6. Continental UltraContact 7
The latest UltraContact model category. As a successor of UC6, UC7 still remained as wet performance tire, with great improvement in wet grip (finally). The thai tire label (e.g. for 215/45 R17) has a rank A in wet grip and E rank in fuel consumption. It is quite a surprise to see UC7 got a high fuel consumption. But it is still considered one of the most recommended.
7. Pirelli p1c
I am unsure if this model is still selling in the Hong Kong market, as I have not sold Pirelli for R16 and below for quite a long time. A taxi driver purposely drives from Kowloon to Fanling just to install P1C because of its real good dry and wet performance. Another Tyrehood customer got his P1C to replace his just recently installed XM2+. The comment is, MUCH BETTER.
8. Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (PS3)
One of the very few models at the high performance category for size R16 and below in HK market. Provide very high overall performance. With higher traction, it means high fuel consumptions. It is best for drivers who want the best performance of all.
Pilot Sport 3 has two different version. One is made in Europe Pilot Sport 3, the other is made in South East Asia / Asia Pilot Sport 3 ST. Two provide different performances.
A post about different manufacturing places is released in FB post here. Check this out if you have not seen it.
9. Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (PS4)
The release of Pilot Sport 5 does not stop PS4 production as PS5 only have two sizes for R16. As the successor of PS3, PS4 offer better wet performance.
There are two versions of PS4 available in HK market. PS4 and PS4 ST. Similar to PS3 models. Two models have different manufacturing places, providing different performances.
Click here to check to find out about performance differences due to different origin.
10. Bridgestone RE004
One of the few high performance tire category in R15 and R16 size. Although its wearoff is high, it offers good traction. Although some sizes may have a C rank in wet grip, others do provide a B rank for driving.
Conclusion
If you are driving fast, turning and steering at high speed, Michelin Pilot Sport 3, Pilot Sport 4 should be your first choice. Next is Bridgestone RE004.
If you prefer a quiet ride, a well balance performance, Yokohama AE51 is the one you are looking for.
If you want a high value worth, overall performance might not be worse than AE51, these are Falken ZE310 R, Kumho HS52, and Toyo Comfort.
The evaluation is based on publicly available data and general feedback. Actual experience may vary depending on the vehicle, road conditions, and driving habits. Readers are advised to make their own judgment.
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If you have not read this -> R16 and below, tires that do no meet up with the expectation
