The Hankook Dynapro MT2 is a pretty aggressive mud-terrain tire, designed to provide you with top-notch commercial traction. Yet the tire still meets your expectations on smooth pavements, with that, as well.
As a tire engineer, my testing shows that the Hankook Dynapro MT2 although features a superb dry grip, lacks when things get wet. Though that’s the only drawback with this tire, as comparatively, it supplies you with above-average tread life, fuel economy and paved road comfort. And off-road, the tire’s a king, no doubt about that.
Table of Contents
Tire Sizes
The Hankook Dynapro MT2 comes in 15 to 22 inches wheels, with following specs:
- Speed ratings: Q only.
- Load ratings: C to F.
- Weight range: 45 to 90 lbs.
- Tread depth: 15.5 to 18.5/32″.
- Winter ratings: None.
- Warranty: None.
Tread Appearance
The Hankook Dynapro MT2 offers a standard mud-terrain design with 2 central ribs and prominent shoulder lugs, towards edges.
In the middle, the tire features 2 unique block designs, with sharp biters in the form of off-set edges and full depth sipes.
These lugs provide most of the on-road grip and stability, as they offer a closed up design, featuring narrower longitudinal grooves in the middle.
Moreover, with their interlocking C shaped structure, they wrap around the shoulders and aid in lateral stability, as well.
Speaking of which, the shoulder lugs are the most aggressive.
Although they carry similar tread features like the rest, they have staggered outer edges and with their elongated design, they extend down towards the sidewalls, and present you with powerful biters there.
Compare Dynapro MT2 with others:
Wet Performance
Wet performance depends on the tire’s ability to clear water from its tread. And this leads to two main terms here, grip, and resistance to hydroplaning. Let’s talk about them both.
Hydroplaning
The major part of wet traction comes form their grooves, which offer prominent channels for the water to leave out in bulk.
And the Hankook MT2 with such voided structure, doesn’t have any problems in this area. It’s interconnected longitudinal and lateral grooves supply water a lot of different pathways to leave out in all directions.
This accounts for decent resistance to hydroplaning, measured with float speeds (how fast a tire can move over standing water).
Though, just like other mud-terrain tires, the Dynapro MT2 also struggles with the second part of overall wet performance.
Wet Grip
The grip comes from sipes, which clears up the left over water. So you can say they clean at a micro level.
And as these sipes basically flex to soak up water particles in their slits, the Hankook Dynapro MT2 with a good amount of silica in its tread compound keeps its lugs stretchable.
This allows sipes to have a good enough suction abilities.
Though still compared to other mud tires, its still below average.
Highway Performance
Evaluating the tire’s performance on dry asphalts, I considered it’s overall directional and lateral grip, along with steering sensitivity.
Directional Grip
Grip of the tire is directly proportional to its rubber’s exposure with the road. The more the better.
Though directional grip only looks at the central part of the tread, as it the grip of a tire when it moves on a straight line, and gets measured with braking distance (for the most part).
That’s why the Hankook Dynapro MT2 with computer optimized closed up central lugs offers a decent grip on highways.
Handling and Steering
The handling of a tire is dependent on the shoulder’s footprint, and although the tire’s outer area is just as voided as any other M/T (well, at least the popular ones), its decent handling abilities can only be explained by looking at its steering response.
The tire although does not come with a lighter structure, and has a softer tread compound, it’s shallower tread depth (on average), allows it to still have an above-average steering sensitivity.
Basically the weight puts pressure on the lugs, and and lugs with a softer compound become more susceptible to bending, as the tire corners. This slows down the steering response. Though with shallower tread voids, blocks still manage to keep things good enough.
Tread Longevity
The Hankook Dynapro MT2 offers a decent treadwear performance, that caters to off-road enthusiasts. Even though the it comes with a softer, off-road traction focused compound, which is more susceptible to wear on highways, it’s chip-resistant rubber ensures better performance and durability when tackling off-road terrains.
Basically tread depth and weight are the two main factors judged for tread life, besides tread composition, and Dynapro MT2 lies average on the scale, comparing other MT options.
Meaning it’s despite having a pliable tread compound, it’s lighter weight still keeps rolling resistance at bay, and it’s tread depth of up to 18.5/32″ although not so great, still takes a good deal of time to come down to 2/32″ levels (where its time to change).
Comfort & Noise
Ride quality is often inversely proportional to the aggressiveness of a tire’s tread design, that’s why, on-road tires tend to provide the most comfort, followed by all-terrain tires, and finally, the more aggressive mud-terrain tires, which are not comfortable at all.
Though comparing other mud terrain tires, the Hankook Dynapro MT2 outshines its peers in terms of comfort.
Its cushioning compound excels at absorbing bumps, while the relatively closed-up tread voids limit noise production, as they don’t allow air particles to easily (relatively) come in and strike the walls around (which generated unwanted sound-waves).
Winter Traction
You don’t see any mud-terrain tire with 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rating symbol, as they are entirely incapable of performing on packed up snowy tracks.
Though these tires demonstrate remarkable proficiency on aggressive terrains, where you see fluffy snow. Their thick lugs and tread voids provide impressive scooping capabilities, generating forward momentum in such conditions.
And comparing other mud-terrain tires, the Hankook Dynapro MT2 comes out as a very preferred choice after considering various factors and evaluating their performance across multiple terrain types.
So why is that?
Well because of two things. One, the tire’s interlocking structure possesses superior snow-carrying abilities.
And two, it features a tread with superior thermal adaptability, meaning that its biters remain pliable even in freezing temperatures.
Rugged Terrain Traction
For off-road tracks, you need tires with exceptional cleaning capabilities and durability. That’s because these features account for confident navigating through various types of terrains, I discussed below.
On Mud
The Hankook Dynapro MT2, with its staggered shoulders and expansive gaps, delivers efficient self-cleaning capabilities, ensuring superior traction in all types of muddy conditions.
While there may some better options available, the difference is very little, and the Dynapro still provides all the necessary features to conquer various types of muddy tracks.
Its voided structure incorporates three longitudinal grooves connected to lateral channels, which efficiently expel out all sorts of mud and debris. And its robust sidewall lugs contribute to overall traction by propelling thick clay backward to generate forward momentum.
Rocky Areas
When tackling rocky terrains, two things are the most essential, tire’s toughness (due to the increased risk of punctures on this terrain type), and the overall gripping efficacy. And I have to tell you, the Hankook Dynapro MT2 excels in both of these key areas.
Compared to other mud-terrain options, the Dynapro MT2 yields impressive chewing power, where its softer compound effectively grip the rocky surface from all angles, while its interlocking central lugs and wrapped-up shoulders, further enhance traction (adding to that grip).
Additionally, when air pressure is lowered, the tire’s sidewall lugs also come in to action, effectively grabbing and pulling, with substantial lug thickness (relatively speaking).
Overall, its pretty safe to say, that the Dynapro MT2 will not disappoint you at all, when it comes to navigating all types of rocky tracks, and inclines.
On Sand
Maintaining traction on sandy surfaces requires minimizing digging, which can be adversely affected by the tire’s larger weight and sharp outer tread edges, (or shoulders).
Having said that, although you don’t get a “light” structure with Hankook MT2 (reaching up to 90 pounds), the tire’s slanted shoulder blocks and sidewall lugs, still provide exceptional sand traction among its competitors.
They basically distribute the weight in a more streamlined manner, and account for creating a relatively larger footprint in contact with the sand, when air pressure is reduced.
This further promotes flotation, ensuring optimal traction and performance on all types of sandy terrains.
Summary
To sum things up, the Hankook Dynapro MT2 tires stand out as a strong contender in the off-road tire market, featuring improved traction, durability, and performance.
The innovative tread design, enhanced sidewall protection, and stone ejector technology work in harmony to provide drivers with a superior off-roading experience in various terrains, including mud, rocks, and snow.
Despite some minor drawbacks such as potential road noise and reduced fuel efficiency, the overall balance of performance, quality, and value offered by the Hankook Dynapro MT2 is noteworthy.
For those in search of an off-road tire that can confidently tackle challenging conditions while maintaining a high level of reliability and resilience, this tire is well worth considering, no doubt about that.
