Hankook Enfren Low Rolling Resistance Tyre Launch
June 4, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Hankook Enfren Low Rolling Resistance Tyre Launch
Would a day at the race track disprove my thoughts on LRR tyres?
-by Matt Brogan
Low Rolling Resistance tyres may sound like an oxymoron, and quite often the assumption made is that an LRR tyre will not perform as well as a conventional steel belted radial in terms of grip, stopping performance and cornering capability.
So when Hankook released its latest Enfren range of LRR (Low Rolling Resistance) tyres yesterday it seemed logical that the best place to disprove that theory was obvious – Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway.
But before we get in to that, just what is an LRR tyre, and why is it so important to know that they have become the next big thing in tyre technology.
Well the answer in this case lies within the name “Enfren”. It’s short for Environmentally Friendly, and while this may not be an inherent character of a tyre as such, the improvement the technology within this tyre makes to a car’s overall environmental performance certainly is.
The way in which this is achieved, as you might by now have deduced, is to minimise the coefficient of the rolling resistance of the tyre.
Rolling resistance is created when, as a tyre rotates, vehicle weight and gravity combine to pull the car downward slightly deforming the tyre and creating heat.
To overcome this physical challenge Hankook have combined silica and rubber together – in specific quantities – along with a few other compounds to give the tyre less friction while at the same time redistributing the resistance forces within the tyre to reduce energy loss.
But don’t confuse friction with grip because, as we discovered yesterday, in designing the tyre’s compound and structure to behave differently in its correlation to ground contact has not only assisted in improving the rolling resistance of the tyre, but has also allowed a greater surface area contact with the road which has actually improved ‘grip’ as we know it.
To put this to the test we were given a number of Hyundai i30 and Sonata vehicles shod with Enfren tyres and put through a series of tests aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of tyre load, grip and traction in specific circumstances.
First up a wet slalom run at 80km/h allowed us to assess the tyre’s wet weather grip via sudden directional changes. The test proved conclusively that the Enfren LRR tyre performed just as well as the standard tyre in similar conditions with no discernible difference in grip noticed.
Next we accelerated hard through a corner with a tightening apex (Turns Two and Three) as we continued to increase speed. The aim here was to determine if dry grip, and the ability for the car to hold its line (i.e not understeer), was the same with LRR tyres, and again, there was no discernible difference.
By now I have to say the cynic in me was becoming a little displeased so on Test Three I was determined to try a little harder when faced with a corner slalom.
The idea here is to negotiate a slalom while travelling through a corner. As such the car is off balance at least half the time.
Again, the grip was as good as a conventional tyre and despite my best efforts I could not get the car to lose direction stability with only a hint of understeer detected.
Our next test involved progressiveness whereby a series of chicanes (placed strategically between Turns Seven and 10) were intended to unbalance the vehicle to the point of losing grip. Surprisingly the side wall carried the high lateral loads well with grip maintained well before any electronic assistance was required.
So by now I’ll admit I was just a little impressed. The tyres were coping well, at least as good as any conventional tyre, but I was keen to go one step further and assess wet weather braking.
As the track was damp, but not really wet, Hankook kindly flooded the skid pan area at the back of the circuit to allow one final test.
In completing an emergency stop from 80km/h the results show that the Enfren tyre actually stopped in a shorter distance than its conventional competitor proving that through each of our five tests I was left with no reason to doubt the tyre’s performance.
Unfortunately the day’s environmental undertones didn’t allow me to perform a “smoke test” but I’ve got to say I am sold on LRR technology and would be very keen to try them out long term. If all other indicators are the same longevity should prove equally impressive.
Interesting facts:
- Up to 20 per cent of the fuel consumed by your car is used to overcome rolling resistance
- LRR tyres alone can improve fuel economy by as much as five per cent
- In testing two identical Hyundai i30 CRDi hatches the LRR shod car achieved 47 kilometres more per tank
- LRR tyres are a “bolt-on” solution to a car’s fuel economy issues
- If every car in Australia had LRR tyres we’d save 1 billion litres of fuel per year and prevent 2 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere
Enfren Low Rolling Resistance tyres are available in most popular sizes through Hankook stockists.
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Interesting……………Hankook make some good tyres although, they dont get praise like the bigger makes do.
The good news is BM that they’ll also be making a high performance tyre to challenge Pirelli later this year. Can’t wait for that one.
Proof of the pudding will be when they are fitted as ex factory on anything other than Korean makes.
BTW Driveaway on the Sonata Diesel is a bargain IMO.
could some information be provided about road/tire noise generated by these tires :)
Hi CW,
They’re said to be the same or quieter, but in our tests – being mainly performance orientated – it was a little hard to tell.
Perhaps when I wrangle a long term set we’ll have some conclusive answers.
M.
Didn’t another brand bring these things out a few years back? I vaguely remember a TV commercial. Always wondered if they were any good.
Would be good to get a proper comparison with other tyres, rather than just a marketing brochure. Actually compare and measure stopping distances, max lateral g, etc with a couple of mainstream tyres, and then compare fuel economy. Until then I’ll stick to my Adrenalines.
Hummm…Hankook?
What does it ?
Who are they?
Have you even used them before?
Are they any good, expect for price?
I never used them, someone please tell me.
Tack i suggest u do a google search….
I think Hankook mainly make truck tyres ??
Also how much are these worth ?? not cheap I bet..
These types of tyres are part of the trick to the Toyota Prius.
If they produced a normal car with these tyres and most of the technology of the hybrids without the hybrid engine you would get 50% of the fuel saving at 5% of the additional cost of the hybrid.
Seems the way to go to me for most people but no, cars are getting heavier and larger and full of junk
Hankook may produce decent tires, but all the good I can say about the DynaPro HP line of tires (damn that accountant waving the wand over the replacement set of tires on one of our cars) is that its quieter, and hasn’t worn in near enough to 50,000km’s.
Shame about its performance otherwise over that car’s previous Michelins though. (TBH I may just be being a little nitpicky, but I liked the previous set of tires more over the current Hankooks =p)
Sweet bro!
Korean Tyres on a Korean Car. Good to know the Koreans are continuously improving their technology. How much do these tyres cost?
And how do they compare to high PERFORMANCE tyres?
Yeah Matt,may shock some of the people on how good they will be against the Pirelli . Some people can be tyre snobs !
Ive had Evos on my car for a few years now , I looked at the Adrenalin’s and some Pilots for it but after reading up on several tyre tests and speaking to the guys at Bob Jane they said they were all pretty close {including price} . In the end I got the Evos to try on the back and have been “REAL” happy with them.Very sticky {better than the Pirelli’s that came off it}and quieter than the Dunlop 9000 that were on the BF GT. They look real trick but like most performance tyres have a life span of about 15,000ks.
the look real similar to the old brigestone donut tyre a few years back.hankook is pretty much standard on all the korean holdens,much to everyone’s dismay(cheap/nasty)…
BM,
I don’t think it will surprise many people that have used pirelli tyres. Way over priced and over rated. I’d take a michelin any day of the week over pirelli.
God yeah B-Man,I had P-Zeros Rosso’s on my car before I got the Evo’s.They werent worn out just gone hard and became useless and dangerous . Originally my car came out with Pilots on it but were almost $600 a pop and didnt rate that much better ,Hankook Evos came in at $380 each around the same as the Adrenalins {also meant to be pretty good}.
Seems every inch you go up they increase by a $100.
To anyone who has ever raced bicycles this is old news. Traditionally racers use “heavy” tyres for training and lightweight tyres for racing. These have the benefit of being sooo much easier to pedal (i.e. roll easier), grip way more in corners and accelerate much better. They can also usually be inflated to a higher pressure.
Bike tyres manufacturers achieve this by using a higher tpi (threads-per-inch) in the casing (hence thinner thread) and softer rubber.
The easy way to get an idea of a (bike) tyre’s rolling resistance is to see how easily an unmounted tyre twists or rolls up. Good tyres are more flexible, and hence roll better. In principle, low rolling resistance car tyres should be the same.
Hey Aussie.
I retail Hankook tyres in the Hornsby area and no they don’t do just truck tyres. Hankook do tyres for all types of vehicles, you name it they make it. Also we sold our first set of LRR Enfren tyres last week, to a Astra in the size of 195/60r15 and the cost was less than $5 more per tyre compared to a conventional Hankook tyre.
Its Hankook K406 tyre days all over!!
Yeap, Hankook have had this type of tyre before, and they did work…a little.
But still only 5% gain, nothing new, so have not really moved foward after 10 years have they?
Cheers
F-0