I am going to change the stock tyres of my Proton Preve Turbo to the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 due to its low price. It is a budget tyre anyway at RM200 to 230 per piece for 205/55 R16 so the performance is expected when compared to costlier tyres RM300 and above.

Too bad most tyre shops do not have the Champiro Bax 2 tyres, the stock tyres of the Proton Preve Turbo. I would certainly go for these tyres again if given the choice as the performance is stellar. Not sure about the price of these stock Champiro Bax 2 tyres though.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 18 2016, 06:35 PM

Just changed the stock tyres of the Proton Preve Turbo (GT Radial Champiro Bax 2) to this Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 Made in Indonesia, 205/55 R16. So far so good.

An update on the HanKook Ventus V2 Concept 2 Made in Indonesia tyres. Previously on GT Radial Champiro Bax 2 on Proton Preve Turbo 205/55 R16.

In comparison with Champiro Bax 2, the Hankook V2 Concept 2 is a softer and quieter tyre. Grip, cornering at moderate to higher speed and braking distance are not as good as the Champiro Bax 2 as you can feel the car wobbling and losing the line when doing a cornering at relatively higher speeds. The steering also felt looser and not as precise with the Hankook V2 Concept 2 at higher speeds. At moderate speeds, little to no difference in handling and grip between the Hankook V2 Concept 2 and Champiro Bax 2.

On comfort and quietness, the Hankook is better than the Champiro Bax 2 as the rubber is not only softer (you can feel the tyres acting like a cushion when going over bumps and unevenness) but tyre noise is lower too. However, due to the quieter sound from the tyres, the engine sound is now louder. As some might have known, the Proton Preve Turbo's engine sound is quite loud and unrefined. With the lower tyre noise, the low rumbling or "wooo"" sound from the engine is more prominent. I am not sure if I prefer to hear the louder tyre noise more or the unrefined engine sound more. Both engine sound and tyre sound are different in the tonal quality.

All all, the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 are good tyres for moderate speed levels of use mainly for comfort and quietness. It may not be as quiet as the quiet-type tyres around, but nevertheless it is still decently quiet with average comfort levels. The price is the selling factor at RM200 bucks each plus free balancing. Perhaps they can be had cheaper elsewhere in some Klang areas such as Kapar.

Last paragraph, at typo in "All in all".

A note is the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 and Yokohama Bluearth AE50 are on different cars.

It is subjective and may not be all that accurate but this is what I feel. For dry handling, the AE50 is slightly better. With Hankook, the steering is slightly looser. Cornering at high speed, I am not too sure as I rarely do spirited drives with these "comfort" tyres. During the one or two occasions of high speed cornering with the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2, I am actually quite surprised. Although the tyres are soft and you feel the softness of the tyres during high speed cornering, the tyres still stay on the curve line and the car does not slide or wobble. But the softness of the tyres can be felt as you feel the car leaning lower to one side when doing hard cornering. With the AE50, I rarely take corners at high speeds.

With cornering at moderate high speed with the Hankook, there is a slight instability with the car as I can feel the car sliding a bit, just a bit. Perhaps the loose steering also plays a part. No such feeling with the AE50. It is funny that with moderately high speed cornering, the Hankook shows a bit of sliding and instability but at high speed cornering there is no sliding but you will feel the softness of the tyres.

In summary, I would say on dry handling, the Yokohama AE50 is slightly better than the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 as the tyres do not slide or lose the line as the Hankook during moderately high speed cornering. Stability with straight line performance with the AE50 is also better as the steering does not feel loose as the Hankook. More precise and sharper steering with the AE50.

For wet performance, I have not driven the Hankook in heavy rain yet (dry season these days). But I am quite certain the Yokohama AE50 will have better wet performance than the Hankook in the wet due to the larger groove lines and pattern. Going through puddles of water and braking on wet roads, I believe the Yokohama will be superior than the Hankook. I have purposely tried driving the car over (quite deep) puddles of water collected at the side of the road after a heavy downpour with the AE50. When the tyres hit the puddle of water, the car was still moving straight without losing control or the line. And the car was still moving forward and maintaining the speed (if other cars the speed might have reduced considerably when the tyres hit the water, or the car may swerve and lose control).

Final summary, for all round quality and performance I recommend the Yokohama Bluearth AE50 tyres over the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 as the better tyres. As expected, the price is also much higher. The Yokohama Bluearth AE50 tyres (205/60 R16) cost RM297 while the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 (205/55 R16) costs RM200.

An additional information on the straight line performance of the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2 I forgot to mention is the slightly loose steering when driving at higher speed. The steering wheel will feel a bit loose when the speed of the vehicle is at about 120 km/h on the straights. It's not that you cannot drive the car up to 150 km/h or higher with the Hankook but once the speed gets to about 120 km/h you will feel that the steering doesn't feel as sharp or precise. But it is still manageable.

With the Yokohama Bluearth AE50, straight line performance is not compromised at high speed cruising up to 200 km/h as the steering still feels sharp without showing any "looseness".

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Jun 30 2016, 08:06 AM