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Last updated 9/23/2024 - Originally published 9/23/2024
Written by SimpleTire
What is it about the design of all-weather tires that makes them so different? All-weather tires are a rather new category in the tire world; they’re designed to fill a specific need where all-season tires often fall short of what you really need as far as control and grip. Anyone who’s tried to safely navigate the roads when there’s 3-4 inches of snow on the roads will soon realize that most all-season tires are not going to be up to the job. They usually can’t get you the kind of dependable traction, braking, and control you need (in most cases), so all-weather tires are designed to provide a leg up in winter traction. All-weather tires are designed around tread formulations, more aggressive tread patterns, optimized sipe networks, and other features with the performance target of more consistent traction in snow and slush. In other words, their tires are a compromise between all-season tires and winter tires, providing enhanced winter grip without the headache of having to dismount winter tires and store them once temperatures get above 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Are you familiar with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the system that the SimpleTire team has developed to give our customers a quick at-a-glance idea of a tire’s capabilities and performance. We look at the tire’s spec sheet, reviews, manufacturer info, and other data points, then use that information to calculate 1-10 scores for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore for each tire. For the Falken Aklimate and Kumho Solus HA32, the SimpleScore numbers shake out as follows:
Falken Aklimate:
- Traction: 8.4
- Handling: 8.6
- Longevity: 9.7
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.9
Kumho Solus HA32:
- Traction: 8.5
- Handling: 8.8
- Longevity: 8.9
- Overall average SimpleScore: 8.7
As you can see, the Falken Aklimate and Kumho Solus HA32 stack up pretty well against each other and are fairly closely matched in the SimpleScore ratings, which will set things up for a pretty interesting comparison review. As handy as SimpleScore is, though, it’s the 30,000-foot view that doesn’t give you the full idea of any tire’s strengths and weaknesses. Let’s go in and take a closer look at this head-to-head comparison:
Falken Aklimate tires
For some time now, just about every tire we’ve seen in the Falken product family has been making a pretty good impression on us here at the SimpleTire team, and the Aklimate all-weather tire holds to that favorable impression. The design and performance goals with the Aklimate are to offer the ride quality, capable handling, low noise, and exemplary road manners of a Grand Touring tire, only with added emphasis on excellent traction and control on wet or snowy roads. Falken designed the Aklimate from the ground up with a revamped tread formulation (utilizing their award-winning Advanced 4D Nano Design Technology). This advanced rubber formulation helps the Aklimate deliver great wear properties, low rolling resistance for a boost in fuel efficiency, and safe, consistent grip in wet or wintry conditions. The Falken Aklimate has the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rating for severe winter service.
On wet pavements it’s a great performer, with Falken’s innovative Canyon Groove design helping to resist hydroplaning by diverting standing water away from the tire’s contact patch (SimpleScore for traction: a very strong 8.6). In standing water, snow, slush, or rain, 3D Canyon Sipes boost the tire’s surface area and traction by adding hundreds of extra biting edges that carve their way through those kinds of road conditions for dependable grip. Its sipe pattern, internal structure, and tread design all help to reinforce the Aklimate’s tread face and shoulders for extra stiffness, giving this tire what it needs for that SimpleScore of 8.6 for handling. With a 65,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty that results in a very strong longevity SimpleScore of 9.7, the Aklimate is a tire that drivers can count on for a long, long time. SimpleTire’s price on the Falken Aklimate starts at $95.00 per tire.
Kumho Solus HA32 tires
Loaded with new features and innovations, the Kumho Solus HA32 is an all-weather tire that’s ahead of the curve with a number of novel design features. Designed for the conditions on European roads, the Solus HA32 has a unique V-shaped directional tread with angled grooves, boosting wet-weather performance as they divert water and slush away from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning. Its newly developed tread compound is infused with pine resin for environmental sustainability, long wear, shorter braking distances, and consistent winter traction. For enhanced rigidity, cornering ability and straight-line road manners, 3D slope tie-bars connect the tread’s center blocks (SimpleScore for handling: 8.8). The hourglass visual wear indicators molded into the tread are extremely handy as they alert the driver with an early heads-up as to when winter performance will start to fall off due to tread wear. 3D sipes multiply winter and wet-weather grip for a SimpleScore of 8.5 for traction (as well as a 3PMSF certification for winter performance). Kumho covers the Solus HA32 with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty, rating a SimpleScore of 8.9 for traction. With an overall SimpleScore of 8.7, the Kumho Solus HA32 would be an excellent choice for anyone looking for a dependable set of all-weather tires. SimpleTire’s price on the Kumho Solus HA32 starts at $102 per tire.
Falken Aklimate vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on traction
With SimpleScores of 8.5 for the Kumho and 8.4 for the Falken in the traction category, this one’s a real tough call. Both tires have the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for severe winter service, and both tires have sets of design features that give them a real advantage in wet or wintry conditions. When the disparity between SimpleScore ratings is that narrow, we generally defer to customer reviews to move the needle on the numbers. The pine resin-infused tread compound, 3D sipes, and directional all-weather tread on the Kumho Solus HA32 make a bit of a difference, although the Falken Aklimate is a very capable tire too, so our decision is:
ADVANTAGE: Kumho Solus HA32
Falken Aklimate vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on handling
With a SimpleScore of 8.8 for the Kumho vs 8.6 for the Falken in the handling category, obviously, this one is another squeaker. Granted, with scores under 9, you shouldn’t expect either of these tires to have the steering response, cornering ability, and overall handling dynamics of an Ultra-high-performance (UHP) tire. They’re both very capable and nimble when it comes to handling, though, and both tires have rigid sidewalls, reinforced shoulders, and tread design that give them rigidity for sharp handling ability and steering response. It’s close, but we once again defer to customer reviews in this category, and our decision:
ADVANTAGE: Kumho Solus HA32
Falken Aklimate vs Kumho Solus HA32 tires on longevity
When we’re talking about longevity and service life, the gap is a bit bigger with a near-perfect SimpleScore of 9.7 for the Falken Aklimate vs 8.9 for the Kumho Solus HA32. The Kumho has a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty vs 65,000 miles for the Falken, which is notable but doesn’t quite account for that big of a spread between SimpleScore ratings. We once again leave this one to the customer reviews, and our decision as per them is:
ADVANTAGE: Falken Aklimate
When to use each
When it comes to consistent, confident traction year-round, the Kumho Solus HA32 and Falken Aklimate are both really solid choices in all-weather tires. Both the Kumho and the Falken have the 3PMSF certification for winter traction, both deliver superb performance year-round, and both come from the factory with generous manufacturer’s tread life coverage. As we noted right from the start, all-weather tires are a great, versatile choice when you have to deal with challenging winter weather, but you know that specialized winter tires are a little more trouble than you want to deal with.
Winter tires are designed with a softer tread compound that stays flexible for grip at subfreezing temperatures (think the traction of a soft rubber boot vs a hard-rubber hockey puck). While their winter traction is unbeatable, there’s a downside: that tread compound is also softer and will wear down quickly on warmer days. When temperatures get above 40-45 degrees, tire manufacturers recommend swapping your winter tires for all-season tires again, and then you have the whole seasonal hassle of dismounting them and figuring out a place to store them for the next nine months until winter comes around and the snow starts piling up again. All-season tires are a great way around that; if that sounds like your situation, you can’t go wrong with either the Falken or the Kumho.
Which one should you choose?
When we put these comparison reviews together here at the SimpleTire team, it’s usually one tire that has a clear set of advantages over the other, making the “which one should you choose” section a more clear-cut equation. That’s not the case with the Falken Aklimate and Kumho Solus HA32, though. Both tires are nearly identical in SimpleScore rankings, both tires have a bunch of design features and innovations that are next-generation, and both tires have strong limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage. While there are design details that differ between the two, they’re both tires that bring a lot to the table, and at $95/tire for the Falken vs $102/tire for the Kumho, they even come in at almost the same price point. It’s not often that our reviewers get to say this, but, it’s our honest take that if you pick either the Kumho Solus HA32 or the Falken Aklimate, you won’t be making a bad call either way.
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents will be more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.