Hankook releases Kinergy 4S all-season tyre

Hankook has launched a new all-season tyre, the Kinergy 4S (4S stands for “Four Seasons”).

The manufacturer says the new tyre is distinguished by harmonious performance features across all seasons, making it an attractive alternative when it comes to ensuring legally compliant year-round mobility. The tyre can be used all year round even in countries with seasonal winter tyre requirements, as it bears the M+S and snowflake symbols (which will be required for winter tyres in Europe, as elsewhere, starting in 2018). All-season tyres have generated plenty of interest from tyre manufacturers recently, with rising sales in the segment indicating great potential for these products in markets with less extreme temperatures.

Hankook states the Kinergy 4S combines the advantages of a summer tyre – short braking distances and good driving characteristics on both wet and dry surfaces at higher temperatures – with the benefits of a winter tyre, especially in the areas of traction and braking performance under cold conditions or with moderate snowfall. With their asymmetrical tread configuration, the new generation of Hankook all-season tyres adopts major design elements from its predecessor, though the manufacturer says the new tyres have been fully redesigned, as the new name also indicates.

The “summer shoulder” of the Kinergy 4S has been given a larger block structure in combination with stepped tie bars between the blocks, aligning it in particular to the more stringent requirements that apply when driving in dry conditions at higher temperatures. Its five-rib tread design also offers high stability. Special summer sipes on the outer tread blocks deliver better steering precision even when driving briskly on a dry surface, Hankook says.

The tyre has an extra-wide belt package and highly dispersed silica tread compound for maximum bonding of silica and rubber. This makes the tyre especially durable and reduce wear, extending the tyre’s lifespan and boosting cost-effectiveness. In combination with four main grooves of which the outer comes in slanted design, this ensures optimum drainage, shedding water (or even slush) from the tread with high efficiency and effectively guarding against hydro- or slush planning.

The tyre’s inner tread has a winter design, with a higher number of sipes and blocks providing secure braking abilities in fall or winter weather conditions. An optimised tread surface with V-shaped crosswise grooves also enables controlled handling on snowy roads. Winter tread wear indicators incorporated into the tread grooves at regular intervals also make it quick and easy for drivers to check whether the tread meets the minimum depth requirements for winter tyres.

Hankook has form in recognising the potential of all-season tyres for the European market early on; the Korean manufacturer says it has been advancing its development efforts in the segment since the 1990s. The model that preceded the Kinergy 4S, the Optimo 4S, was already granted the coveted German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) Blue Angel for environmentally friendly driving back in 2008 in recognition of its excellent safety and performance features combined with outstanding fuel efficiency.

“In developing our new all-season tyre,” explains Gangseung (“Tony”) Lee, Hankook’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Europe, “we focused on achieving a further improved combination of crucial winter and summer features in a single tyre in order to offer drivers a high-quality alternative to regular summer and winter tyre changes. With its balanced design, the Hankook Kinergy 4S can be a real alternative when it comes to staying mobile all year round – safely, legally, and without a lot of fuss. This is especially true in areas that tend to get less snow and have a more moderate climate, but also for example in urban settings.”

The Hankook Kinergy 4S line-up will initially include 45 sizes ranging from 14 to 18 inches in series 70 to 40 and tread widths from 155 to 255 in T, H and V ratings and in some cases also as extra load.