Thoughts on Kumho Tires?
 

Looking for a reasonably priced high performance tire for street and some light HPDE duty. Car isn't a daily so wet traction isn't huge priority but steering feel is(don't want a weak sidewall). I've run all season kumho tires in the past on my daily driver and found them to be a good value.

Thoughts?

The Kumho XS, which is pretty close to what you are describing, are middle-of-the-pack tire compared to others in the same category. Check out Tire Rack for a quick comparo. And use search on this site and many others for the discussion about the Direzza II, Hankook RS-3, and the new BFG Rival for the sidewall qualities you desire.

I really like Kumhos, I love the Ecsta 4x for an all season tire, best I have used for the $$ in a long time!

Eric G

I have had a lot of friends tell me that Kumhos tend to have a poor wearing pattern in their experiences.

All really sticky tires have poor tread life compared to more general purpose tires...

Why not try some other High performance all season tire?

I tried Dunlop SP Sport Signature and General G-Max AS-03. Both were great. I liked the General better.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...S&autoModClar=

I guess I may just suck it up and get the Michelin Pilot Supers in a 215/45/17. They seem to get good all around reviews and have a relatively stiff sidewall.

As this is my toy I don't need the tires to be anywhere close to all season, I want some wet capabilties (I live in Houston) but in reality they can be as high performance as I want for a summer tire.

I ran the Kumho XS for like 10 track weekends on my SpecE30, and they still had plenty of life left in them. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

what did you think of the steering response with the XS tires?

Kumho XS has soft sidewalls from my experience and are manageable in the wet (though not my favorite).

I don't tend to recommend them as I feel there are much better tires in the same class for close to the same money.

GTM, what in your opinion is the best value performance street tire with a good sidewall?

Best all around? Dunlop Star Spec Z2 or Bridgstone RE-11A. RE-11A gets the nod due to it being non-directional so it can be rotated from left to right of the vehicle without needing to be dismounted.

RS3s are faster, but in our experience don't last as long and aren't as good in the wet as the two above. They have a softer sidewall (which makes them faster, but also makes them wear heavily on their shoulders under heavy track use.

I'm hearing a lot of good things about the Rivals on track and autox, but have not seen a decent review of them from a daily driver perspective yet.

Having lived in Houston at various points in my life, I know the occasional rain shower can pop up. Even though it may only be for 30 mins or so, it still rains (and ups the humidity big time!).

Tires are all a give and take affair. Best on track is not the longest lasting, etc. Just need to figure out what your exact priorities are (dry drip, lap times, wet handling, wear, etc).

Kumho XS (215/45-17) on 8" wide wheels are better than stock for feel, etc. They are really good on track but personally I don't like the excess grip level of 'extreme' category tires for daily driving...changes the characteristics too much that if not pushing it to the limit it actual feels worse than stock for chassis response (more 'understeer' for normal street drving...) I personally plan to go with the Kumho Ecsta LE Sports since a tire closer to stock level dry grip with excellent wet performance is what I'm after, and can get a set for less than $300 in stock size...$50 off rebate.