In the arena of winter tires, Hankook Winter Icept RS2 and Kleber Krisalp HP3, each offering unique strengths in handling, endurance, and ride comfort, are set to compete. Which one will steal the show? Let’s find out!
Table of Contents
Key Takeaway
Hankook Winter Icept RS2 excels in:
- Ice Traction: The Winter Icept RS2’s smaller voids, more notches, and multi-directional sipes provide superior ice traction.
- Dry Performance: The Winter Icept RS2’s compacted running rib provides more rubber-to-road contact, offering better directional grip.
- Handling: The Winter Icept RS2’s closed-up shoulder lugs and weight distribution provide superior handling, especially during cornering.
- Noise Reduction: The Winter Icept RS2’s compact tread gaps and superior pitch sequencing technology minimize noise generation.
- Wet Traction: The Winter Icept RS2’s aggressive siping pattern and multitude of biters on the tread offer better wet grip.
Kleber Krisalp HP3 excels in:
- Snow Traction: The Krisalp HP3’s wider tread voids and bolder directional pattern allow for better snow-to-snow contact, providing superior traction in fluffy snow.
- Shock Absorption: The Krisalp HP3’s softer tread compound offers superior shock absorption, ensuring a more comfortable ride.
- Aquaplaning Resistance: The Krisalp HP3’s wider grooves provide superior resistance to aquaplaning.
Areas for Improvement:
- The Hankook Winter Icept RS2 could improve in terms of snow traction and shock absorption, given its more closed design and harder tread compound.
- The Kleber Krisalp HP3 could enhance its ice traction, dry performance, handling, noise reduction, and wet traction, given its lack of notches, streamlined running layer, open shoulder lugs, larger tread gaps, and less aggressive siping.
Review Krisalp Hp3 in detail: https://snowytires.com/kleber-krisalp-hp3-review/
Ice Traction
When it comes to navigating icy surfaces, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 confidently asserts its dominance.
This is because the tire is characterized by relatively smaller voids, filled with a lot more notches, and coupled with multi-directional sipes.
Moreover, speaking of sipes, its tread also offers a combination of lateral and longitudinal slits, which allows it to provide superior braking and cornering abilities.
On the flip side, the Kleber is lacking all these features, where you don’t see V-shaped notches in both lateral directions, and only less aggressive siping.
Verdict: The Hankook Winter Icept RS2 excels in ice traction due to its superior design and features compared to the Kleber Krisalp HP3.
Dry Performance
Dry grip is determined by the extent of the rubber’s contact with the surface, influenced by two key components: directional grip and lateral traction.
Let’s take a closer look at these aspects.
Handling
Handling is greatly influenced by the tire’s shoulder areas and overall weight distribution. Let me explain why this is the case.
During directional travel, pressure is exerted on the middle lugs. However, when cornering, the weight shifts towards the tire’s shoulders due to inertia. It is crucial for these lugs to connect effectively with the road surface to ensure optimal handling.
The Hankook RS2, with its closed-up shoulder lugs, offers better performance in this regard. In contrast, the Kleber Krisalp HP3, in addition to having wider grooves, features a heavier structure. Consequently, the tire’s lugs flex more, as it corners, resulting in weakened steering feedback and a reduced balance between understeering and oversteering.
Therefore, superior handling can be expected from the Hankook.
Directional Grip
The efficiency of directional grip depends on the central tread area, which determines how much rubber-to-road contact is established. When a tire rolls straight, this middle area experiences the most weight concentration.
That’s why the Hankook Winter Icept RS2, with its continuous, more compacted up running rib, there, ensures consistent surface contact as the tire moves straight, resulting in superior performance.
On the other hand, the Kleber Krisalp HP3, although featuring an almost continuous running layer, is not as streamlined as its counterpart, leading to a noticeable braking distance that is nearly 9 feet longer.
Verdict: Hankook Winter Icept RS2 is a better choice in terms of directional grip.
Snow Traction
In snowy landscapes, both tires exhibit impressive performances, although the Kleber Krisalp HP3 provides slightly better traction, particularly when it comes to fluffy snow.
The Hankook Winter Icept RS2 features a more closed design with a continuous running rib in the middle part of the tread. However, this configuration lacks interlocking grooves, limiting its ability to collect snow.
In contrast, the Kleber Krisalp HP3, with its wider tread voids, allows for better snow-to-snow contact. Its lug voids effectively retain fluffy snow particles within their interconnected grooves, creating a favorable traction environment.
Moreover, the tire’s bolder directional pattern provides paddling action, scooping snow backward and generating superior forward momentum compared to its counterpart.
Overall, the Kleber Krisalp HP3 demonstrates better snow performance.
Wet Traction
Wet traction primarily depends on two elements: the tread pattern and the type of rubber compound used in the tire. These factors play a crucial role in determining the tire’s grip on wet surfaces and its ability to resist hydroplaning.
Now, while both tires are equipped with significant siping, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 manages to offer slightly better performance in wet grip. The tire gives out a more aggressive siping pattern, incorporating a combination of rectilinear and interlocking slits.
Additionally, it features a multitude of biters on its tread, enhancing its ability to grip wet surfaces effectively.
Sipes work by expelling air and creating a vacuum, which helps in sucking away water particles from underneath. And here, the Kleber Krisalp HP3, with its less effective siping design, falls behind its counterpart.
Though one thing to note here, is that this tire has the advantage of superior resistance to aquaplaning, due to its wider grooves.
So overall, the Hankook is superior in wet grip, while its counterpart does better with hydroplaning, as seen with straight and curved aqua tests.
Comfort Levels
The overall ride comfort consists of two factors: noise reduction and the tire’s ability to absorb road shocks.
Let’s begin with the noise factor.
To put it simply, noise is created when air particles collide with the walls of the tire’s tread. So, the larger the tread gaps, the noisier the tire becomes.
This is where the Hankook Winter Icept RS2, with its compact tread gaps, offers better overall performance by minimizing noise generation. Additionally, the tire incorporates superior pitch sequencing technology, where the slight variation in geometry among its tread blocks allows the air particles hitting the walls to create different tones that cancel each other out.
On the other hand, the Kleber Krisalp HP3 excels in dampening vibrations. Its comparatively softer tread compound grants it superior shock absorption capabilities, ensuring a more comfortable ride.
Therefore, when it comes to comfort, both tire options from these giants have their strengths.
Summing Up
In summary, both tires offer different scenarios.
The Kleber Krisalp HP3 stands out in fluffy snow conditions with its distinct tread design. However, this very design limits its performance on icy and wet surfaces.
The wider grooves that offer superior snow scooping put this tire at a disadvantage when it comes to dry traction. Nonetheless, the difference in dry traction performance between the two tires is minimal.
Moreover, the Kleber Krisalp HP3 performs better in vibration absorption, while the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 provides superior road quietness.
When it comes to wet traction, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 offers slightly better wet grip, while the Kleber Krisalp HP3 excels in hydroplaning resistance.
