Does anyone drive w/Kumho brand tires & what do you think of 'em?

[chgostout]

I'm considering buying these tires for my '90 convertible, because they're about $350 less than the goodyear stock replacements.
I'm not lookin' for anything fancy or to race with - just a good handling tire for general, non-agressive, road driving.

Would any of you who drive this tire, or who've tried this tire,
mind posting your opinion of it? Thanx I appreciate your opinions!

 

[Edmond]

Hey,

A guy I used to work with has an 87' that he had Kumho's on. He said they were excellent and significantly less than GoodYears.

I think he bought them from some place called Discount Tire's. It's somewhere near the city.

Wish I could get in touch with him to ask him where so I could let you know.

 

[Edmond]

If you moved this over to the 84-96 forum you'd probably get more hits.

 

[Tom Bryant]

We can do that.

 

[Edmond]

Thanks Tom,

Figure that he'd get more exposure and feedback with the 84-96 forum.

 

[LarryBible]

Well, I'm a little ashamed to admit this here, but times are tough in my industry right now, and I'm lucky that the company I work for is still alive, so I'm cutting corners that I would not normally cut.

Long story short, I needed one tire to get my Vette inspected. I now have nearly new rubber at all four corners but it does not all match. I bought a Kumho Ecsta (or something like that) in 255/50-16. I have my own Coats 1001 computer balancer and an old fashioned "muscle powered" tire machine lagged in the concrete behind my shop building.

The Kumho was the cheapest possible tire I could buy. It was $88 from Tire Rack, $99 total, dropped off of the Brown Truck in my driveway. I mounted it and it balanced with very little weight(good sign) as I recall it was 35 grams on the inboard lip and 20 grams on the outboard lip, that's about 1-1/4 oz and 3/4 oz. For a tire this massive that is not much external balance weight.

I got the tire in my driveway last Tuesday, mounted and balanced Tuesday night and drove it about 400 miles this week. I keep all tires properly dynamically balanced since I have my own machine. The others were properly balanced and on Wednesday it saw over 100MPH while passing folks on the wide two lane that I drive alot. There was absolutely no imbalance, smooth as silk at over 100MPH. This is a very good sign about these tires.

I may not be a very good reference for these tires yet. I will not have my true evaluation until the tire has seen about 20,000 miles or so. But so far, what little I've seen of it, I'm impressed. Another reason I may not be a good reference is that I have the facilities to properly balance them. It is very difficult to find a shop that will balance tires correctly. It's not difficult, I could teach a high school kid how to do it correctly in thirty minutes. The problem is that there are so many tire shops that refuse to put weights on the outer plane. If you don't want to scratch the wheel, use tape weights just behind the spokes, but you MUST use weights on the outer plane to prevent vibration.

All in all, since the tire balanced with such little weight, and so far seems round, not square as are many tires, I give the tire a good review.

If at the end of the life of this mish-mash set of tires, and the Kumho turns out okay, I will order a set of them. The price can't be beat and they appear to be one of the few tires today that are made in a radially sectioned mold rather than a clamshell mold. This provides much more consistent positioning of the belt. Michelin pioneered this tire mold method and there are very few other manufacturers that have, so far, followed suit.

Best of luck with your decision,

 

[chgostout]

Thanks for your very detailed and illuminating reply, doc. It sounds like from as much as you seem to know about tires, that you are very appropriately nicknamed "Doc".
I have a guy I've found to help me with the more difficult repairs and technical aspects of my vette, who I refer to as, "The Professor", ... and he gets a kick out of it! But he really know his stuff!

It's nice to see their are so many, who are willing to lend their expertise and experience, for just the cost of a few minutes at the computer keyboard!

Thanks again ....

And if anyone else has anything to say about these Kumho "Ecksta" tires .... I'm all ears ....

 

[rrubel]

Chgostout, are these Ecsta 712's? I'm considering those for my Vette. Tire Rack seems to like them; the warranty isn't as nice as the Michelins I was looking at, but the tire is half the price... and has similar traction ratings.
[RICHR]

 

[Eagle85C4]

Firestone SZ-50's.....tried goodyear...did not like the way it lost it's footing in the wet weather. Tried Khumbo....remember you get what you pay for...but the cheapest tire...you get a cheap tire.Finally gave up the bucks and went with the SZ-50's purely because of the writeup on Tire Rack. I now have 5000 miles in 2 1/2 months and in wet as well as dry and I am very impressed. No slippage on a wet road and sticks like glue on a dry one. Glad I made the choice...

 

[chgostout]

RRubel: I don't remember which tire they were ... I think the 712, but they are the best tire Kumho makes in our c-4 size. They are wr speed rated ( not zr ), which only means they're not meant to be driven at a maintained speed over 150 or 160 mph ... and I rarely, if ever, even get to that speed ... So the slightly lower rating of "wr" doesn't bother me.


Eagle85c4: What exactly didn't ya like about the kumho tire, and for how long (time & mileage) did you drive on them, and under what varying road conditions? ( if I may ask?)

 

[Eagle85C4]

Well...first off I was not really attracted to the tread design, they did not stick to the road when wet like I would have liked and after 10,000 miles of assorted driving...they looked like they had 20,000. The least expensive tire I could find also gave me the least performance. I live so far out in the country they got to pipe sunshine in....the back country roads are great for playing like you are on a road course. I drive many hiway miles during the week and every twisty turney road I can find on the weekend.
2 years I have had 4 sets of tires, just had to find the best all around. The SZ-50's are by far the best I have had on the car. Read the survey at the bottom of the tire rack page on them and you will see why. One of the best rated tires ....had them up to 125 and smooth as silk.

 

[chgostout]

Thanks alot Eagle85c4 for your comments and your rating.

I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly .... Which will just help me and others to make up our minds. Of course, I'd love to hear nothing but rave comments on the tire, which would just make me feel that much better about being able to save alot of bucks on tires ... but I want to truth ... good ... or bad .... As that'll help me make the best decision.

Anyone else with any positive or negative (or neutral) comments?

 

[chgostout]

Hey -

I just noticed ... the only replies I've gotten to this question, have been from other owners of "red" vettes!

This forum IS open to everyone ... and I know there are alot more of you out there than just us owners of RED ones!

 

[KANE]

I run Khumo 255/50/16s on my 1978. They are great for the money- z rated and about $100. I only wish I had 275s beacuse my motor/tranny combo really wants more tire!!!

300hp, a 700R4, 3.08 rear, and roughly 3200lbs with those tires makes for a good set up!

 

[Shadowing1985v]

wow

where is the site to get komo's or what ever youc all it tires

100 dollars is good for z rated

ive been using furtuma's or smethin like that,,

120 a tire z rated

i like z's cause they never get at flat

 

[LarryBible]

chgostout,

You mean Vettes come in colors besides Red? Seriously, I think it is like 28% are red.

Shadowing1985v,

www.tirerack.com

Good luck,

 

[dmkoger]

Just before I bought my '00 coupe last May, the previous owner had replaced the original tires (at 43,000 miles) with Kumhos. He showed me the receipt. They were about $600 from Big-O Tires. TireRack.com might be cheaper. After about 5000 miles, I havent had any problem with them.

 

[Vettelt193]

I just bought a pair of them for the front of my vette about a month ago... My drive home from the dealer was through the worst storm of the summer, and they did great! (one of them managed to pick up a nail on the drive home though ) I have less than 100 miles on them now, but so far they are well worth the money.

 

[panzer]

What characteristic of the Z-rated tire do you think makes it less prone to flats?

 

[Vettelt193]

What characteristic of the Z-rated tire do you think makes it less prone to flats?

none? I don't think they do any better than any other tires when they don't have pressure