Hankook Vantra LT (RA18) Reviews

Great tires for my Toyota motorhome and you can't beat the price!!

These tires were the replacement for the popular RA08 offered by Hankook. The reinforced side wall, and load rating paired with their small rim size offerings made them the ideal tire for vans, like the VW Bus (Type II) and the later Vanagon. Because the vehicles have a higher center of gravity, and the lack of power steering made non-reinforced tires a bear to turn on and very squirrelly in winds, curves, or uneven roadways. These tires - like the vans they're so popularly found on - aren't designed for off roading, ice-road trucking, or racing on the track. As such, they're absolutely perfect. They handle well, better than any other tire I've mounted on my little 14" wheels. They wear very well and still offer a decent enough ride that you 1) don't mind driving but 2) can't forget you're in a VW bus. Turning feels buttery smooth with the reinforced walls, no more strong arming the tires through a curve. They also fit the look of the bus far better than the passenger tires often found. The 185 and 195 offerings are perfectly matched to our needs and van'ers. Simple tire made it easy to buy, and financing with Affirm have better Rae's than my credit card. Looking forward to buying tires again with Simple Tire!

4000 miles and first rotation on these tires and still a comfortable quiet riding tire.

Bought 6 Hankook Vantra Tires for our mini motor home, the date codes were all good, the price, even with shipping was still less than Walmart's prices. Highly recommend!

I have these tires installed on my 1971 Westfailia VW Bus. They are the best thing I've done to my bus yet. Very nice ride and at about 40-45 lbs pressure they ride pretty smooth. Very nice buy and got great service from SimpleTire.com

Bought these for a 2wd Vanagon and they're a great fit. Highly recommmend for the Vanagon set.

second set

So far so good. Only took 1 short camping trip with my 83 Vanagon but tires seemed better than the GoodYears that I had before. Ordering and delivery was very smooth and installation at PepBoys was very reasonable. Happy with my purchase.

Purchased the Hankook RA18 for a VW Vanagon after numerous online reviews indicated these are THE tire for a Vanagon. I couldn't agree more! These replaced some 205/75R14 93 load index tires that failed at 25K miles. I was concerned putting a 185R14 would look too 'skinny' on the van but the Caret looks great with these on there! Quiet ride too with much more confident handling! The power steering pump is out on this van but the van also now steers much easier than the last tires on it.

It's a little early to give a complete evaluation, but overall I'm pleased with these tires. I bought them to replace some badly worn Hankook RA08's in the stock size for my '85 VW Vanagon. They're an excellent direct replacement. I noticed a reduction in road noise, but whether that's due to the tire design or simply that the tires are new, I can't say. Immediately after getting these tires I drove from Ohio to New Hampshire and back in winter with variable conditions and had no issues. The RA08's wore out pretty quickly, so we'll see how these do, but in general I think they're a pretty good match for the Vanagon. Note that I'm only giving the 2 stars for Tread Life because the review form requires a star rating for all categories - I'd say "unknown" otherwise- so I'm giving a less than average rating based on my experience with the RA08's.