Tire: Kinergy GT
Category: Grand Touring All-Season
UTQG (treadwear): 500 A A
Another pretty normal offering from Hankook comes in the form of the Kinergy GT tire. It's definitely a jack of all trades in this performance category, with the only knock against it is that it doesn't have a long track record. This tire is often used as an Original Equipment (OE) tire on new cars...most typically on the Hyundai Sonata. This is a true four season tire and it is rated for use in light snow. Nothing huge to note in terms of it's engineering quality or materials. OE tires are generally made not to be the best at any one thing in particular.
Drivers have generally been pretty pleased with these tires. Now as we've mentioned, there isn't a long history here, but there are some folks that have already piled up quite a few miles on these tires. For the performance category, these tires are known to be quiet and stable on the highway. Don't expect them to help you light up the Autobahn though, as they have the typical amount of sidewall flex that makes them comfortable on the highway. Snow traction has been found to be adequate, average for an all-season, but not exceptional. I don't have an estimate for how long these tires will last yet, but hopefully we'll get a better sense of that in 2016 once drivers wear out a set. I would predict at least 75,000 miles though. I can't really recommend a tire that doesn't have a long performance record, but at first glance I think you could do much worse than the Kinergy GT.
Update: Ok so it's been about a year since I wrote the original post. I honestly don't have much more to add at this point. I've had a few drivers come in and say that snow traction isn't up to par compared to other tires, and that's probably true. Considering the engineering on these tires, it's not surprising for them to struggle in snow. No real longevity data yet.
