Tires Hankook or DUNLOP

I've run a couple of sets of Hankook Ice Bears: 225/40/18's on the stock MS3 wheels - My primary winter setup. The car performed wonderfully. Aside from being a plow at some points (my car is lowered), the traction control + LSD + snow tires made for a flawless snow driver.

I spent this weekend driving my R with the OEM Dunlop A/S M+S tires in light snow, snow that was about 6" deep, ice covered roads and wet roads that were iced over in certain locations (black ice) such as bridges etc.

Well I finally had a chance to road test the new Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D tires on the R32 on wet ice in freezing rain. Bearing in mind that I have driven VWs on top quality snow tires for many years, I can say I was pleasantly impressed with both the R32 and the Dunlop 3D tires.

I had a set of Dunlop wintersport M3s on my last car and was really happy with them.

While I won't say that the M3 or 3D is the best snow tire ever they are a fantastic all season tire that will get you through the worst that winter can throw at your car.

Living in Denver and spending a considerable amount of time in the CO mountains I have had Dunlop WS M3's and 3D's and I would rank both as the best winter tires I've ever driven on compared to Pirelli's, Blizzak's, and Michelin Artic Alpin's. Their ability to do it all, from deep snow, ice, wet slushy mess, to dry roads is unparalled.

I used to run Dunlop SP Sport Maxx on my S4 and they were awesome. Great balance of wet & dry handling, fairly quiet, and very sticky. Loved em.

Not much noise, but have seen an uneven wear pattern, even with periodic tire rotation. For my Passat, at least, the rear tire position begins to create a "finned edge" to the shoulders of the tire.

Having had bad experiences w/ a few different sets of Dunlop tires (most recently the craptastic SP Sport 5000s on my Genesis which are 90% worn with only approx. 10k miles on them since I run snow tires in the winter), I have to say I'm not a fan of their tires generally speaking.

The OEM A/S Dunlop has a 92 sidewall rating; it certainly isn't "soft." it is, unfortunately, just a weak tire design/build in this case I've lost 3 already as well and currently running a 4th with a bubble... they suck