Tire/Make Model: Hankook Ventus Rs2 Z212
Size: 215/45/17
Review: I purchased these for my daily driver SRT-4 mostly to see if I could improve my track 60' times over the Falken Ziex ZE-512's that I used the previous season. It made sense as the Z212's are very aggressive summer performance tires, use a fairly soft compound and were made to compete with the newest Azenis. The ZE-512's are all season tires and are made out of a harder compound, and last a lot longer.
After a few months with the Ventus Rs2 Z212's on, and one visit to the track, I'm not impressed. At the track, I barely scrounged out a single 2.1 60' (vs several 2.0 60's on the ZE-512's) so far. I plan on giving these tires a few more chances at the track, but I'm not too confident that they'll supercede the "all season" Ziex tires. It makes no sense, considering the all season, high treadwear, great wet grip, cheap tires did much better than the summer high performance, soft compound, low treadwear, hydroplaning more expensive tires at the track.
Another problem with the tires, is that their tread design appears to love to try to turn your steering wheel as they decide to follow any lump, bump, groove on the road. It's
very pronounced. I thought I had some serious issues prior to noticing it was just the tires reacting to the road surfaces.
The Z212's also haven't done very well during heavy rain either. I've had to slow down a good bit on the highway during heavy rain due to the tires slipping while trying to cruise at a constant speed. (Again, something the ZE-512's excelled at avoiding).
So far, the ZE-512's have been a much better tire, but since I've only had the Z212's on for a few months now, and only one visit to the track, I'll give them some more time before I make a final decision on them.
Update 05/26/06: Today in moderate rain the Z212's proved to be rather dangerous, losing traction with ease during careful lane changes and various atempts to accelerate normally. Also had some slippage going uphill at a steady 60 mph. Definitely not a good wet tire.
