Hankook Tire’s Ventus S1 evo 3 achieves top position and outstanding rating from Auto Bild tire test

• Declared exemplary from Europe’s leading automotive media ‘Auto Bild’ along with other two products
• Acknowledged for its global top tier technology, delivering excellent performance in all road conditions

Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 22 May 2019 – The all new Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3, an Ultra-High-Performance tire for passenger cars and SUVs, has achieved a top position and outstanding rating in its very first 3rd party test from Germany’s leading automotive media Auto Bild. The magazine recently has tested Ultra-High-Performance (UHP) summer tires from 53 brands in size 225/45 R 17 in all performance criteria, including mileage. As with all Hankook tires, safety was again the emphasis in the development engineers’ product specifications for the premium tire maker's latest model. Great importance was therefore attached to further improvements especially in the areas of wet grip and handling/steering precision. Consequently, the new S1 evo 3 has outperformed all other tested tires in wet braking, which is probably rated the most prestigious test criteria from the point of safety. Furthermore, the Auto Bild testers highlighted the tire’s precise steering behavior and good feedback on dry roads. The new Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 is initially being offered in the European market in 72 dimensions ranging from 17 to 22 inches.

As a completely new development, the Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 is the logical continuation of the success story of Hankook’s Ultra-High-Performance tires. Like its predecessor, it offers a very safe and sporting-yet-comfortable driving experience in both dry and wet conditions. The Ventus S1 evo 3 as the latest member of the Hankook Ventus family, which celebrated its market launch back in 1994 with the original “Ventus”, sets a new focus, particularly in the area of environmental protection and resource conservation, without compromising safety relevant criteria.

For their 2019 edition, Europe’s largest automobile consumer magazine Auto Bild has evaluated the size 225/45 R 17 on a BMW 1-series in probably the globally largest-scale tire test, involving 53 summer products including all the top brands. Having achieved good and very good marks in all tested criteria, the Auto Bild editors testified the Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3 in their final verdict to be ... “a balanced, high performing tire, truly without blame and blemish, offering a precise steering behavior with a good feedback on dry tracks and the best overall wet braking ...”.

“Our tires have already established themselves as premium original equipment amongst leading car makers, including the high-performance sports car segment,” explains Han-Jun Kim, President of Hankook Tire Europe. “With our new flagship, we're consciously continuing along this path and I am very glad, that the large number of new technologies we have applied into series production for our new flagship tire, have shown their performance potential in one of the globally most prestigious independent 3rd party tests. I am certain that our new Ventus S1 evo 3 will be an immediate success with our customers from its launch.”

Thanks to continuous research, a new generation of innovative materials are being used for the Ventus S1 evo 3. Hankook’s compounding experts have optimized the driving characteristics of the Ventus S1 evo 3 on wet and dry roads by using high-performance natural resins in the tread compound. This not only increases the grip level at the peak of performance output, the tire also remains at this grip level across a significantly larger range of temperatures, resulting in a very wide threshold range. A high-grip full-silica tread compound and a special mixing technology for a significantly better distribution of polymers and filler material are used in the tread compound. This results in a clear improvement in brake performance in the wet as well as in reducing rolling resistance.

A new type of compound for the tire’s side wall also contributes to this reduction, further lowering the rolling resistance of the Ventus S1 evo 3 by at least an additional 2.5 per cent versus its predecessors. A new 0-degree cap ply made from aramid composite further reduces the unwanted growth in rolling circumference at high and very high (300 km/h and more) speeds by up to 60 per cent compared with traditional nylon-based fabrics, giving the Ventus S1 evo 3 significantly better driving stability and thanks to lower heat generation a longer tire life.

The cap ply also contributes to an improvement in cornering forces of just over five per cent. ‘Hyper slants’ in the center tread bar ribs also help to increase the cornering force by enlarging the contact surface under load, for example when sudden evasive maneuvers are necessary. The blocks of highly rigid and especially widely outer ribs of the asymmetric tread have been reinforced with additional connecting bridges to provide precise and stable handling through corners.

The pronounced outer tread groove within the special block design is a purely visual feature reminiscent of the distinctive first Ventus S1 evo design, with its typical line in the outer tread area. From a technical perspective, the ‘interlocking groove', in combination with the further flow-optimized 4-channel design, effectively reduces aquaplaning whilst also greatly increasing wet grip without causing any loss of performance on dry roads.

Engineer Klaus Krause, head of Hankook’s European Development Center in Hanover/Germany, says: “For the Ventus S1 evo 3, our engineers set their sights on beating its predecessor – as Hankook's most successful tread in the market to date – in virtually every area. The result of their work is an Ultra-High Performance tire who’s handling and driving characteristics have been optimized in such a way as to make driving emotion a true experience. Furthermore”, Krause continues, “the future requirements of so-called real driving emissions that the automotive industry needs to meet, have already been incorporated into the development of the S1 evo 3.”

In addition to the Hankook main R&D Center Technodome, the development for the Ventus S1 evo 3 was as well undertaken in the tire maker’s European Development Center in Hanover, which is part of the global Hankook Tire research network. Production will take place primarily in the company's ultra-modern production facility in Rácalmás, Hungary. The Ventus S1 evo 3 will also be available at market launch in an adapted version for SUVs with a two-ply rayon carcass. A number of versions have already received original equipment approval from German car makers for their latest models. The initial line-up will include over 72 dimensions ranging in size from 17 to 22 inches in the 50 to 25 series, with tread widths ranging from 205 to 315 mm.

In March, Ventus S1 evo 3 was named at the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019, one of the world’s most prominent design awards.