Hankook Winter I cept RS3

Hankook Winter I*cept RS3 tyres were bought brand new in october of 2023, was manufactured a few months earlier and stamped as made in Korea. Tyres were used on 1997 Volkswagen Golf Mk3, 1.9 TDI 66 kW (90 Hp), without ABS, TC or other driver assists.

First season/initial thoughts:
Dry roads - car was predictible, tyres felt a little bit softer and less responsive, in comparision with summer tyres (in my case it's 195/55 R15 2020's Michelin Energy Saver+), but it's a winter tyre, so it's absolutly normal to have a slightly different feeling in steering response or handling when having in mind they're softer compound than summer tyres. But they felt secure from city roads to country roads or motorways.
Wet roads - car was fully predictible too, I didn't had to face any aquaplaning, unexpected sliding or something similar, when driving in wet conditions, everything felt safe on all type of roads.
Snow - if we're talking about one of the most important winter tyre quality, then Hankook Winter I*cept RS3's were perfect. There was zero problems in inclines, declines, corners, in slush or deeper snow, also in traction or braking on snowy roads (biggest part of driving was on country roads). And last winter in Lithuania we had enough deeper snow, colder temperatures (few weeks up to -25°C, usualy around -10°C), etc., despite that traction was great, handling too. And even when car was having a wheel spin (mostly when driving more agressive, with calm, easy going driving style - tyres had more than enough traction and didn't spin the wheels, quick reminder - an old Golf Mk3 without traction control), it didn't stop moving, didn't start to slide in a middle of the corner uncontrollably, and I was a little bit shocked, because tyres had plenty of playfulness and room for safe driving on the limit.
Ice - I didn't had much experience on icy roads last year, but in a few situations, they didn't felt too bad, so if you're driving safely enough in those icy conditions, you shouldn't have any problems. Considering fact, that they are non-studded and/or not soft compound tyres, they do their job great enough.
Handling/road feedback - overall they felt secure and responsive enough, you felt that tyre limits line great and tyres gave enough response of what they're doing.
Comfort - in first season I didn't hear too much of the tyre noise, didn't felt any major comfort issues overall, it was slightly noisier than summer tyres, but no big deal.
Wear - I don't remember brand new tyres depth, I believe it was around 7.5-8 mm, after winter season and about 5000 km's I measurred it, and it wasn't much of a difference, maybe ~ 0.5-1 mm less, in comparision when they were new.

Second season:
Winter tyres season in Lithuania started only a month ago, so we didn't have any snow or ice yet, at least in my region, only dry or rainy days with temperatures around 0°C, with a light cold at nights and positive temperatures at days. On dry or wet roads they feel same as in last years, in snow or ice - we'll see, but main change is - noise. Tyres became much more noisier, especially around 70-80 km/h, around 90-100 km/h they become less noisy again. And it's not the worst tyre noise I have experienced in my life, but it's not the most fun too.

All in all - tyres are great for their purpose, bought them after Jonathan winter tyres review on Tyre Reviews YouTube and I haven't regret this choice, because of their great properties on dry, wet, snowy or even icy roads. Price and quality rate was great too (~ 230 Eur for set of 4 tyres, I should say thanks for small and narrow size, for me Hankook's price was a sweet spot, because budget tyres set would have cost ~ 160-180 Eur and premium tyres set would have cost ~ 300-500 Eur, so in middle price range, there wasn't much of a better choices), I would strongly consider buying them again, but off course - it would be nice if they would be less noisy.

The Hankook tyres are brand new, DOT 2024. I just put them on the car a month ago and I've done probably about 1000km with them, so I can't give proper feedback yet on how they handle and cope with snow. However, I can provide feedback on the noise levels. Do yoursleves a favor and DO NOT but that tyre! The noise is pretty terrible. Imagine all wheel bearings have gone bad overnight. This is how bad it is. These are supposed to be premium tyres, premium my a**. I have Kleber Krisalp HP3 on my other car and it is a far better tyre for everyday use.

Good tires, especially compared to my old Debica Frigo tires. On snow, they are quite predictable: you know what to expect from them and where their limit is. They also hold up average on ice. For frequent driving on ice, I would recommend other tires. These tires perform best on wet snow, when the snow is mixed with water, like slush. In those conditions, they're unbeatable. They handle well, especially when there's a lot of snow mixed with salt or on a strong snowfall when the temperature is mild. These are probably some of the most challenging conditions in a city, because everyone is tense, driving conditions are tough, but you feel confident, both braking and handling in these conditions are excellent.

I have used this tyre on my Mazda 3 in the German winter. In my opinion this is the best budget winter tyre you can buy. I have driven this tyre for one season covering 4000miles. The tyre is very noisy in general and washy over 75mph. My review is based on driving this tyre in a semi worn, 3 year old state, only!

Hankook winter I cept RS 3
Size: 205/60R16 92H, DOT23

+ cheap
+ good enough for average drivers
+ acceptable wear and snow performance

- noisy
- bad handling at high speeds (Autobahn)

In the last 2 months of the 4th season, wet grip significantly decreased. I expect it to be a combination of different factors: the temperature was higher than usual for February and March, I had some fast highway driving at higher temperature (170 kmph at approximately 17 degrees C), and of course, the tyre age. Maybe if it were driven in perfect conditions (temp always below 7, less hard push on highway), I suppose it could last one more year. But who knows? So I throw them away after 4 full winters (in my country, every year it is mandatory to have winter tyres from 15.11. to 15.4.) and just 21.500 km on them.

Would I buy it again? Maybe.

If I look for a tyre that will be safe for 3-4 years, I think the RS3 is really a winner. The feeling was great in all conditions for the first 3 and a half years, and the tyre was perfect in any way. In my country, the price is significantly lower than the premium. In my size (185/65/R15), UGP3 is 87 euros, TS870 is 92 euros, and RS3 is 64 euros.

I think I will try UGP3 next just to see how many years it can survive. If it can be safe for 6 years, then it can be cheaper than Hankook per year... Also, I think it is important to mention I don't do many km, so I always need to change tyres just because of their age and not because they are finished.

These are my first winter tires (it's my first car) so I can't really compare them to other tires on this car. Tires are quite loud and on dry roads in higher speed corners they feel elastic, almost like the car is gliding latteraly. Fuel consumption is higher than on my summer tires (about half a liter more per 100km). After 3800km, wear is pretty good, still around 7mm of tire tread left. One specific thing I must praise them for is the snow grip. We had a lot of snow this year and grip was impeccable! They really make you feel secure and rarely loose traction. For the price they are great. Definitely would recommend them.

This is the fourth winter season I'm using Hankook icept rs3 winter tyres. After having a very positive experience with Hankook tyres before (Ventus prime 4 and icept rs2 winter) I thought this was a no brainer. I was wrong.

Straight after the purchase the tires were having two issues - vibrations and pulling to the left. The solution was to rotate the tires front to back. It did help, but some light-ish vibrations continued to be felt and noticeably coming from the rear tires. I've tried a few different tire shops for balance, but the problem remained. The car was checked of course and showed no issues that would cause this behaviour.

For the first two seasons, everything seemed fine. I did notice a slight increase in fuel consumption, but I do think that's the way with all winter tyres. They weren't even noisy as some reviews say they are, at least not on my car. Comfort wise they were and remained OK, but nothing special.

Third season, after having done around 9000 miles (15000 kms), showed some noticeable decrease in performance in deeper snow, a mixture of snow and ice or just ice. I didn't get stuck anywhere but I was negativly surprised indeed.

The fourth season, after about 17000 miles (25000 kms), showed that performance decrease even more. The tyres were basically useless on the ice or mixture of ice and snow. Also, they showed more rolling resistance on the dry surface. I did a thorough inspection of the tires and found that while the tread is around 6,5 mms the dry rot has appeared almost everywhere on the surface of the tyres. Not really happy with that. I have used these tyres only during winter season, my car is garaged and regularly cleaned. I check tire pressure at least twice a month. I was expecting way more from Hankook and will not be using them any time soon. I was counting on these tyres for at least two more seasons, but this one is their last one.

immediately after installation I noticed that it has very strong and good sidewalls, it holds the height of the front of the vehicle well, which despite the weight of the engine does not drop that low. The tire is a little harder after 2 years and probably therefore a little louder and less comfortable. However, overall it is a higher class winter tire, good grip on all surfaces snow, ice and rain. The handling is also quite direct and offers enough feedback.

Terrible at noise. Overall grip is good bit tgis tyres are so loud that i will replace them after 2000km driven. My first and last hankook. I will stick with Conti or Goodyear

2 winters on them, not very much snow in those 2 winters but I did try them in mid life on a montuain during a snow storm going on RWD car and I made it with zero problems to the top. Biggest complaint is the wear on them. 3rd winter will be my final with this set.

I used continental ts850 for 11 winters since they were new. I replaced them due to age although they still had some 6,5mm left, no dry rot or something like that and worked decently. Hankook Winter I cept RS3 were again bought new in 2023 and were manufactured several months ago. Compared to ts850 the car now feels stiffer on the road, ts850 gave sensibly softer feeling like I was driving on some soft rubber surface, not aphalt. RS3 being stiffer, rolls a bit better. Grip wise, I can feel in sharp cornering on asphalt RS3 gives sensibly more grip than ts850 at its last 3 years. Snow, wet works well, but my driving style is conservative, I can't say much about their limits. They start getting much noisier over some 93 km/h, but I rarely go above 90, so I don't care, but ts850 did not have this problem. To me they feel like good tires.

absolutly perfect winter tyre they brake and turn very well on dry and wet roads no problem with aquaplaning, grip on snow is amazing, on the highway 140+km/h 90+m/h little bit noisier but I am very glad that I bough this tyres for my 310hp Cupra Formentor AWD no problem drive on limit

I'm pretentious where many might be not. So the noise for me is a huge dissapointment, I should have known but I just didn't think clearly before buying, other winter tyres can get to 69 DB, this one is 72 DB for my tyre spec size. And it's LOUD inside the cabin compared to my continental efficientgrip summer tyres.
Other than that, snow, rain are very good. Feels safe even at 160-200 km/h. Comfort is kinda lower than a summer tyre for me and it feels softer when steering.
It does the job done but.... one tyre cracked for me, and I didn't hit ANYTHING and very low mileage maybe no more than 4000 kms, so I just changed that one tyre but it definitely gives me a bad and cheap feel about them right now, scary actually. I hit some car breaking holes with the summer tyre and no issues so that's what I'm comparing with.

The noise just makes me regret them so much though :(, I might end up selling them, that bad for me, but they were pretty pricey so I might just be stuck with them as I don't wanna lose too much money on them. 100 Euros per tyre and I had higher expectations from the reviews.

The grip in dry and wet is really good, i had an opportunity to drive on a snow-ice covered highway lateral grip is great, no slip while accelerating and braking. Aquaplaning resistance is high, I drove on the highway in pouring rain and didn't feel unstable or like it was aquaplaning, overall great in wet. Ice grip is as accepted for a non studded winter tire, drove up a icy driveway with stopping in the middle to check the grip, and it climbed with no difficulty and bit of wheel spin. Overall i recommend the Hankook Winter i*CEPTrs3 strong in dry, wet and snowy. Handling is like you would expect from a soft 15" winter tire, not direct but also not unusable.

Fitted these as it was getting too cold for my summer tyres (Bridgestone Turanza T001), but haven't hit any snow with them. After fitting them, it completely transformed my car, in a very positive way. On my summer tyres it was very easy to start spinning in second gear in the wet, when just mashing the throttle, but now it's an absolute acceleration monster. These tires proved to me, I really need to get rid of my summer tyres, even tho they have enough thread left, they are just done age wise (about 10 years old). Fuel economy is pretty good, didn't notice any decrease from the summer tires, but those might have been bad aswell. Cornering in both dry and wet is really good. It gives plenty of confidence you're gonna make the corner, even at silly speeds for wet conditions. In all fairness, it almost feels like driving on dry roads, when it's wet out. Haven't noticed any form of aquaplaning, even in insane rain which made me float on summers. Even tho I do enjoy sporty driving from time to time, I have a hard time getting to the limit of the tires, it keeps impressing me by handling more then I would imagine it can do while staying very neutral. Braking is also very impressive on both wet and dry. The couple of times I had to do an emergency stop, the tires wouldn't stop gripping and just stopped the car, making me look backwards so to not outbreak the person behind me instead of being scared of hitting the person in front of me. All in all, very recommended tire. It might be priced a little below premium tires, but they perform just like (if not better) then premium tires.