Remember when they were a budget brand that nobody had heard of? It wasn’t that long ago.
They initially entered the SA market at very reasonable prices but have progressively increased prices to place their tyres at the upper end of the market.
I recently priced them as possible replacements for my ATs but they were more than I was prepared to pay.
Personally I’ve always noted how well they’ve performed on & offroad.
Now I see that they intend to take on Pirelli for the F1 tender. That’s big news & shows that they are now very much a serious brand.
But the Koreans have really got their act together on the motoring front . Brilliant cars and parts coming out of that country from very modest origins 20 years ago.
KurtG wrote:Pity though that and Dynapro ATM is so crap in the sidewall department, utterly useless in fact, on rocky terrain. But good on tar and gravel etc.
Have they let you down?
Disclaimer: Uninformed, no research, just very strong opinions
Yes. I’ve owned two sets and lost two tyres on some easy trails, nothing too serious (one was at Baviaans on the gravel road).
Then Rabbidog lost one on the mountain passes tour earlier this year and another two on the river trip.
I had a Hankook and a Geolander as two spares (off the rim) in my garage at some point and I noted that I could easily deform the Hankook sidewall with my fingers, but the Geolander was much more difficult to deform in the same way.
Like I say, I think they are very decent on road and smooth gravel but they are not very tough.
The MT's, although also with soft sidewalls gave me excellent service on some serious trails - Hex river for one, without so much as a chunk broken off any of the lugs or any damage to the sidewalls. IMHO, a soft, but strong sidewall handles rocks better than a hard, unbendable one. Tyre pressures are important, though. Most people do not deflate enough and a hard tyre will pick up damage a lot quicker than a properly deflated one. Just do the balloon test - it is a lot easier to pop a fully inflated balloon than a half inflated one, as the hard one will not "give" against the point of pressure, while the softer one will deform around the pressure point.
The Kook MT's had better on-road grip in dry or wet conditions than the GY Wranglers I had on before and after and gave excellent mileage - I destroyed one at 87k km, because it picked up a puncture and I did not notice it soon enough, even though it was completely airless with the sidewall destroyed, the only indication was a slight pull on the steering. They were also very quiet for Muds.
Unfortunately, they have become too expensive for my budget as well. The original set of 5 cost me under R9k and the same size (265/70x16) are now selling for about R3.5k EACH
I refuse to be POLITICALLY CORRECT to impress others - Deal with it
FLEX is UNDERRATED
