Hankook Optimo H725A Tires

hugh2505

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Location
Indiana
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI Silver DSG
P205/55R16 Hankook Optimo H725A came on my new Jetta. I do not drive agressively, but when I am at a stop sign and make a right hand turn, if I don't accelerate VERY easily, the tires will spin.

Has anybody else noticed mediocre to poor handling with this particular tire?
 

hugh2505

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Location
Indiana
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI Silver DSG
You may be correct, Timmy. Maybe I'm used to my other car. '06 Mercedes E350 4Matic. That All Wheel Drive is awesome! :-D
 

rtking

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Location
Southern California
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen 6MT
P205/55R16 Hankook Optimo H725A came on my new Jetta. I do not drive agressively, but when I am at a stop sign and make a right hand turn, if I don't accelerate VERY easily, the tires will spin.

Has anybody else noticed mediocre to poor handling with this particular tire?

Have you checked the TireRack tire reviews? Seems like people aren't overly impressed with this tire, though one person did state that it did get better with some mileage on it.

Me personally, I'm going to either request the dealer switch wheels & tires prior to delivery with a Jetta that has the Continentals, or else I'm going to order a set of Yokohama AVID ENVigors and work out some sort of credit with the parts department for the take off tires.
 

hugh2505

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Location
Indiana
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI Silver DSG
Thanks, rtking. I did check the reviews just now and you are correct. Most everyone is not impressed with this tire. Oh well, I'll run 'em anyway. Good luck on your future TDI! When are you planning on purchasing? Color? Auto or Manual? Model? :)
 

anotherTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Location
st pete FL
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE DSG, 2014 JSW TDI DSG
................Me personally, I'm going to either request the dealer switch wheels & tires prior to delivery with a Jetta that has the Continentals............
i hear you. after finding a car on the Internet and calling the dealer to verify they had the car, and also the brand of tires (Continental), i showed up the next morning to find it sold. an hour later they had another unit on the lot that matched the one that was sold. this one had Bridgestone EL400s.

other TDIs on the lot had Hankooks, Bridgestones or Continentals. while the salesman was busy i did some quick research on all 3 brands and made the dealer switch the tires/wheels/Bridgestones with some Continentals off another TDI. The Contis had decent reviews and also a 400 wear rating versus a 300 on the other tires.

when selecting your new ride, if you don't like the tires, ask the dealer to change them with another that you do like.
 
Last edited:

rtking

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Location
Southern California
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen 6MT
Thanks, rtking. I did check the reviews just now and you are correct. Most everyone is not impressed with this tire. Oh well, I'll run 'em anyway. Good luck on your future TDI! When are you planning on purchasing? Color? Auto or Manual? Model? :)
Well, if you don't have too many miles on them, you can see if a local chain tire store (Americas Tire, other?) near you would give you $150-$200 in credit for the set against new tires. Nice thing about the TDI 16" wheels is that you can run the stock size (205/55-16) or go with a 225/50-16 tire, and both sizes are about $100 each.

As for my TDI - It's being built, but is White Gold with Cornsilk interior, Navigation, and DSG. I can't wait!

AnotherTDI - I agree with you. I had the Continentals on my Altima Hybrid and they were decent for the most part. (Not much forward traction in the wet, but good lateral traction.) I replaced them at 80K miles with 4/32" tread left. They would have made 100K miles, but I worried about wet weather highway driving since I drive 172 miles a day round trip. I replaced them with Continental ProContact with ECOplus tires which have been very good.
 

MPBsr

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Location
NJ
TDI
2009 TDI....Traded in
I have these tires on my 09 TDI 6 speed manual and love them.
 

gergg

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Location
Georgia
TDI
2012 Passat TDI 6M
I had Hankook tires on my Infinity(can't remember tire model) and they were excellent.
 

PeteVinBoston

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Location
Boston, MA
TDI
2009 Black on Black JSW TDI; 6sp Manual
I have them and find them very weak in wet conditions. Made me change to dedicated snow and steelies for the winter!! Drive safe!
 

raybo

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Location
St. Petersburg, FL
TDI
2010 JSW DSG White Gold
On the JSW, we'll be switching out the Hankooks at around 30K before the summer rainy season. They aren't great with puddles, and not great with wet cornering. Possible choices: Pilot Exalto A/S, Yokohama EnVigor, maybe something else.
 

mo_focus

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2002
Location
stouffville, Ontario, canada
TDI
84 944
I switched out mine to Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring...only cost me $100 ;)
At the dealership? I remember when the Golf's came out with the 16 kumho's lot of ppl refused to accept the car. They didnt want a korean tire on a German car. I went to the dealership once and saw lot of kumho tires sets for a very cheap price. I think it was something like 150$ installed and balanced! :D and that was the price for the set!
 

jetlagmech

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Location
Toledo, WA
TDI
2010 jetta
the first thing I did when I bought my car was find a set of rims and bought dedicated snow ice tires. Michelins XI ICE-II.
The hankook's H725A I also noticed traction not great but they are LRR tires (low rolling resistance) for better fuel economy. I would expect less grabbing ability.
Just put them back on yesterday and stored my michelins till next winter. when the Hankooks wear out I wont buy another set of them, but would buy the Michelins again.
 

mafroze

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Location
PA, USA
TDI
Jetta MKVI
Optimo Tires

I have them on 2011 Jetta TDI 6 speed manual with about 2k miles and they run great. no road noise, and goood handling.
 

shipboy

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Location
caledonia, mi
TDI
2011 jetta
live in W MI and picked up 2011 TDI DSG with the Hankooks end of Jan 2011- and they worked just fine in the snow and rain- and are quiet.
 

TDImania

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Location
Qc, Canada
TDI
2011 Golf TDI CR
Brand new 0 miles, was raining at 4 degree Celcius. I took several speed turns, hard start and stop : no wheelspin. Good tire when cold, It could just be better when hot and dry.

CHECK YOUR ALIGNMENT if it doesnt grab on one side turn !!

/end or thread
 

tdi90hp

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2002
Location
Canuckland
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6 speed(gone but NEVER forgotten)
mine came with car...putting them on tomorrow (had snows on all winter)...probably average....but i dont go to the track and i want mileage....low rolling resistance sounds good. i will dump them in 3 yrs.
 

DC-IT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Location
Toronto, Canada
TDI
2013 EL350BlueTec & 2011 Jetta TDI Comfortline
I got my TDI with the Hankook H725A tires in early Feb and used them for the rest of the Winter without any mishaps.
They handled fine in light snow and rain and not much road/tire noise so I'm going to use them till it's time to replace.

They have 50,000 Mile or 80,000 KM tread life so should last a couple of years for my use.

I also have Hankook Ice Bear W409 winter tires on my 335D and they were able to handle last Winter quite nicely other than the slight increased road noise due to the tread.
 

rtking

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Location
Southern California
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen 6MT
I just picked up my TDI tonight and was surprised to see that I have Goodyear Eagle Vector EV2 tires. I tried to find them on TireRack and couldn't. Googling shows that this is a European Goodyear tire! I guess the factory must have had a fluke and installed this all season, V-rated tire on my car. Let's see how they perform, but I'm hoping that I got a little "bonus" on my car! :)
 

DieselNerd

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Location
Nashville, TN
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
Being V rated, your mileage may suffer, but I'm sure they'll stick like glue and you'll be secure cruising at 150mph. :)
 

hugh2505

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2011
Location
Indiana
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI Silver DSG
Just got back from the dealership for my 60 day safety check. It was raining. I told them how poorly the Hankook's perform in wet weather. Car wants to understeer when cornering at moderate (not aggressive) speed, especially cloverleafs getting onto highway. You'll never guess what the mechanic said after test drive: "Cannot duplicate problem. Tires performing as intended."

Guess I'm stuck with 'em. Not going to spend the money to upgrade. I'll just have everyone tailgate me when cornering. :-(
 
Last edited:

DieselNerd

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Location
Nashville, TN
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
Interestingly, here in Middle Tennessee we had a deluge of rain this morning. I have the Hankooks and they performed fine. I kept waiting for them to misbehave as I've heard bad things about them, but they were fine.

That being said, I have a two wheeled vehicle I ride when I feel my inner hooligan coming out. I don't putter around in my Jetta, but I don't drive it all that hard either. Maybe I'm just not pushing it.
 

TDI_Timmy

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Location
Seattle
TDI
2012 JSW, DSG, Pano
Living in Seattle we get plenty of rain - too much at this point! That being said, the Hankooks seem to be doing just fine in the wet.

Anyways, we finally had a beautiful stretch of 3 days or so, maybe a few more. I headed to the grocery store yesterday and it was raining. I went around a curve at about 30-35 and the car felt like it wanted to understeer. I am attributing this to the oil building up and then mixing with the rain. I wonder if this could be what people are experiencing because like I said the Hankooks seem up to the challenge of the rain here.
 

JM Popaleetus

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Location
Connecticut
TDI
Signature.
I'm with the "They're Complete Crap" camp when it comes to the Optimas.

I replaced them with Primacy MXM4's a couple weeks ago when I took off the snows. Much MUCH better.
 

DieselNerd

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Location
Nashville, TN
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
We've been under tornado warnings with torrential downpours in the area today. 5+ inches of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours.

I was running 80mph in the pouring rain today with nairy a squiggle. I did light up the traction control light a few times when I was pulling away from a stop, but that's all I noticed.
 

DieselNerd

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Location
Nashville, TN
TDI
2011 Jetta TDI
Mileage of the tire.

V rated tires are typically a softer compound. They are rated to 150mph.

Way back in 1990, my Corrado came with V rated tires on it. I think they lasted about 10,000 miles before they were showing cords. Of course, I abused them pretty well too. :)
 
Top