Hankook Winter Icept RS2, renowned for its excellent snow traction, and Hankook Winter Icept RS3, praised for its superior handling on ice, are both set to put their best foot forward. But who will rule the winter roads? Let’s find out!
Table of Contents
Quick Takeaway
Hankook Winter Icept RS3 excels in:
- Ice Performance: Due to slanted incisions, V-shaped biters, enhanced flexibility, and multi-angled sipes, offering shorter braking and faster handling.
- Wet Grip: Utilizes both rectilinear and interlocking sipes for superior water absorption and clearing, leading to enhanced traction.
- Impact Comfort: Soft rubber compound provides effective cushioning, ensuring a more comfortable ride over uneven surfaces.
- Dry Grip: Superior due to the longitudinal central rib, providing increased ground contact and resulting in shorter stopping times.
Hankook Winter Icept RS2 excels in:
- Snow Performance: Wider tread voids and in-groove notches trap snow particles, enhancing grip and displacement of thick snow.
- Tread Noise: Offers a quieter ride due to more streamlined channels for air particles.
- Dry Handling: Lug firmness during cornering allows for faster overall steering response.
Also note, that both tires perform equally in fuel Economy, where similar rolling resistance values were seen on both.
Ice Performance
In the realm of icy terrains, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 emerges as the victorious tire, surpassing its counterpart with exceptional prowess.
As my testing show, the tire offered 5 feet shorter braking, and a whole second faster handling, comparatively.
So why is that?
Well, this tire offers slanted incisions, combined with V-shaped biters facing both lateral directions, and all these features offer unparalleled gripping abilities on icy surfaces.
Furthermore, the tire’s enhanced flexibility and multi-angled sipes amplify its gripping capability, providing an even greater advantage.
Conversely, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 falls short in this regard, lacking notches on its smoothed-out edges. While it offers adequate grooves and ample sipes, it cannot match the biting capability of its counterpart.
Verdict: Overall, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 takes the lead in ice performance.
Snow Performance
In snowy conditions, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 takes the lead due to its unique design features. The tire’s wider tread voids and in-groove notches prove invaluable in trapping snow particles.
This design promotes increased traction as the lodged snow provides a superior grip compared to the rubber tread itself.
Furthermore, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2’s better swooping V-shaped lugs excel at displacing thick snow, enhancing forward momentum and contributing to better acceleration times.
In contrast, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 presents somewhat limited braking and handling capabilities due to its relatively closed design, featuring a continuous central rib and narrower in-groove notches.
The tire’s directional tread pattern, lacking the as streamlined swooping arms, as seen on its competitor, limits its efficiency when it comes to snow paddling.
Hence, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 outperforms its counterpart in snowy conditions.
Wet Grip
When it comes to wet traction, two pivotal factors play a significant role: tread design and rubber compound. And considering both aspects, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 emerges as the frontrunner.
Although both tires feature an abundance of siping across their treads, aiding their grip, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 holds a distinct advantage.
This advantage stems from the tire’s utilization of both rectilinear and interlocking sipes, which possess superior water absorption capabilities. And these combined with its multi-angled sipes, the tire clears water in all directions, further enhancing its traction.
On the other side, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2’s tire lacks these features.
And it heavily relies on laterally oriented sipes, leading to longer wet braking distances and handling times.
Verdict: The Hankook Winter Icept RS3 excels in wet conditions, surpassing its counterpart.
Fuel Economy
Fuel economy hinges on several factors, including the tire’s adherence to the road surface and overall tread pattern. And evaluating these aspects reveals that both tires feature similar rolling resistance values, resulting in similar miles per gallon (MPG) figures.
However, the reasons for this similarity differ between the two.
The Hankook Winter Icept RS3’s softer compound leads to extra lug bending, which requires additional energy, ultimately reducing fuel economy. Nevertheless, the tire’s longitudinally aligned rib compensates for this drawback, resulting in fuel economy similar to that of the Hankook Winter Icept RS2’s tire.
On the other hand, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 features a directional tread pattern with lateral tread voids, which can lower fuel economy. However, its lugs remain firmly in place when the tire corners, brakes, or accelerates, allowing for comparable fuel economy to its counterpart.
Therefore, both tires perform equally in terms of fuel economy.
Comfort Levels
Comfort levels of a tire largely depend on factors such as road noise and vibration absorption capability, which can vary significantly based on the tire’s construction.
Regarding noise, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 holds the upper hand, offering a relatively quieter ride, where the tire’s swooping arms create a more streamlined channel, allowing air particles to pass through without colliding the walls, (which generates noise in the first place).
On the other hand, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 is although relatively louder, it excels in absorbing bumps, the 2nd main part of overall comfort.
Its thermally adaptive softer rubber compound provides effective cushioning, ensuring a more comfortable ride over uneven surfaces.
Thus, when it comes to impact comfort, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 takes the lead.
Dry Traction
Dry performance encompasses two essential aspects: grip and handling. Grip refers to the tire’s ability to roll or brake when moving straight, often measured through braking distances.
In this domain, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 stands out with its shorter stopping and handling times, owing to its longitudinal central rib, which provides increased ground contact.
Conversely, while the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 may not excel in gripping, its handling is superior. (Tests indicate that it is 0.5 seconds slower than its counterpart).
Handling relies on two factors: contact from the shoulders and lug bending, and in both cases, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 takes the lead.
Despite weighing similarly to its counterpart, its lugs remain firm during cornering, allowing for faster overall steering response.
In contrast, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3, with its relatively softer compound, lacks in this aspect and fails to deliver comparable results.
Verdict: The Hankook Winter Icept RS2 demonstrates better dry handling, while the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 excels with its shorter braking distances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these two formidable winter tires each demonstrate specific advantages. The Hankook Winter Icept RS2 shines in fluffy snow conditions, thanks to its wider tread voids, in-groove notches, and superior snow-clearing V-shaped lugs. However, it falls short in terms of ice performance compared to its counterpart.
Moreover, the Hankook Winter Icept RS2 excels in dry handling but lacks in directional gripping ability. On the other hand, the Hankook Winter Icept RS3 outperforms its counterpart in wet conditions.
Moreover, both tires are rated equally when it comes to comfort and fuel economy.
