The tyre was unveiled in autumn 2021 in South Korea to replace the Winter i*Cept RS2 W452.
A premium winter tyre for compact and mid-size passenger cars, designed to deliver stable handling and effective braking on snow, dry and wet road surfaces, as well as to reduce the risk of aquaplaning. The new tyre passed its pre-sale testing at the manufacturer's Technotrac proving ground in Ivalo, a town in northern Finland. It is noted that, compared with the predecessor model, the W462's braking power on snow has been improved by 4%, while its service life has increased by roughly 10%.
The Winter i*Cept RS3 tread has an inverted V-shaped design that positions additional diagonal slots in the opposite direction to the main drainage grooves. These are intended to improve the tyre's braking and grip on snow.
The three-dimensional serrated sipes, cut tightly into the surface of each flexible tread block, limit their deformation under load, which increases the tyre's longitudinal and lateral stiffness so that it responds quickly to steering inputs and, in extreme cases, decelerates very rapidly on snow and wet surfaces.
In the shoulder areas, thanks to the water-evacuation grooves that widen towards them, the dispersal of water and snow is accelerated at the Hankook W462's contact patch with the road. The W-shaped design of the model's drainage system improves stability on cold, slippery surfaces. Along the edges of the tyre's main tread grooves, additional small grooves are "engraved", increasing the contact area and guaranteeing the tyres maximum lateral stability in snowy corners.
The W462's high-dispersion silica rubber compound delivers excellent braking power on wet road surfaces and reduces rolling resistance.
The tyre will be available from July 2022.
