In Defence Of Kumho

years ago, I had a set of Kumho's on my 308QV. They really were a good set of tires. I never tracked the car, so I don't know about how they'd do on the track, but for street driving- great. I'm sure they've evolved quite a bit since then too.

 

I'm no expert but I have Kuhmo's on my 328 and love them. By no measure is my car the tire shredder your 360 is, but I think you will appreciate the performance and longevity of the Kuhmo's. Many F-chatters are using them.

 

Kumho is a popular brand of tyre for performance cars here in Singapore. Grips and wears much, much better than one would think based on the price. Good choice.

 

I had them on my BMW 740i (01) and thought they were quite good.

 

I'll jump onto this bandwagon too! I think Kumhos are WAY underrated! I had a set on my last Testarossa and they were great. A friend of mine who has a serious track Mustang uses them and raves about them. I have Potenzas on my current Testarossa, but I'm thinking of getting Kumhos for it this spring. Some Ferrari owners think it's beneath them to run this brand....but they are wrong. Kumhos are grippy, fairly quiet, have a nice sidewall design, and an aggressive tread pattern. The fact that they cost much less than the "better" brands is icing on the cake.

 

I'm a Kumho fan as well.... but why the need to "defend" the brand? Do they have a poor brand image in general?

 

How does the Kumho compare in grip to the Pirelli PZero Corsa? The Pirelli is supposed to be a big factor in the improved handling of the CS. However the Pirelli is $500 compared to less than $200 for the Kumho. Has any CS owners used the Kumho?

 

Have Kumho's on the wife's everyday Jetta, probably have 50K miles on them. Long lasting, and seem great in the rain. The name cracks me up though.

 

Are tires really where you want to be squeezing six cents out of a nickel?

 

Having run 2 sets and 60,000 miles on a Boxster S, I do not think that anyone here is risking their lives with these tires. I drove my car hard and the Kumho's were better than any Pirelli tire I have every had on a car. They are almost as good as the Michelin Pilots, not quite but almost. Considereing that most people including me are not driving at 9/10 all the time, they are good tires.

 

Kumho Ecsta ASX on the front, Eagle F1 on the rear...big difference from the TRXs that they just replaced.
We are also getting a set of Kumhos put on my wife's car.

 

I've run 2 sets of Ecsta ASX and 50,000 miles on my 328, these tires are fine.

 

replaced my Falken with Kumho Esta on my 348. Very good decision. Heat up faster and better grip.
Kai

 

Kumho is far from an unknown brand. It's just unknown to people with expensive cars.

When I replaced the tires on my 328 it came down to either Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's for $500 or Kumho Ecsta spt's for $280. I chose the Goodyears based on previous experience on other cars, their marginally better overall performance, and also because push come to shove the Goodyears just looked better to me. Also my wife thought that "Kumho" sounded obscene

 

I had Kumhos on my 96 993 Porsche and was not particularly impressed.

The 993, particularly, had a real habit of shredding the rear tires, (about twice as fast as the fronts) probably because of the way they did the variable toe-in for cornering stability. Both Kumho and Bridgestone would last about as long as anything else, but when they do begin to wear, even about half life, they become very twitchy in the rain. I am now using Mich. Pilot Sports and just replaced the rears with same - the previous Pilots were well worn and did not give me that unstable stuff at all.

For me, it is Michelin all the way - ZR-1, Testarossa, and Porsche. Call it brand loyalty if you will, but they are not really all that much more money for the peace of mind.

 

+1.
They are fine for safety. But for performance, and to get the most out of these cars, there are much better tires out there.

 

I wouldn't use a bargain tire as a replacment.

 

Yup, a buddy works at DTD and said they are "junk" compared to Pirelli/Michelin/Bridgestone/Goodyear/BFG etc.


For a "regular" car I'm sure they are fine, would I put them on a performance car? Nope. IMO of course.

 

There is nothing wrong with Kumho's. Like all tires they have good and bad points and work better on certain cars. They are fine on my TR. On my 360 I use BF Goodrich tires. Horses for courses. Michelin are probably the best overall, but not using OEM spec tires on a Ferrari (or most any car) is not a big issue, usually. Sometimes a car is very sensitive to the OEM spec tires-I have seen this with Lotus and Porsche-and the NSX.

Also there is a 430 GT2 ALMS team racing right now using Kumho race tires. So for all the "purists" out there-that should put paid to the notion that Kumho's aren't good enough for your Ferrari.

 

I had them on both my M3 and the wife's 525. The only bad thing I can say about them is they are LOUD after about 10K miles on them. So, if you don't drive the car much, no big deal. However, on the wife's car, it was as real pain listening to those tires.

 

Kumho's are dirt cheap (I love that name........mispronounce it though and you've got a classic case of misguided marketing in action, unless they were planning on capturing the rappers car market)........their overwhelmingly best redeeming quality. Problem is.....they get noisy when they start to wear and they also sem to "cup" easily for no apparent reason. I've had lots of clients compain about tire noise.....so I don't buy them anymore when I am replacing tires.

 

Y'all are worried about road noise....on a Ferrari?

Hell, I can barely hear the radio, much less the tires.

 

Porsches......the odd BMW and Benz.......and yes, they are really noisy.

 

I suppose if you're splashing out the money for a Ferrari you might feel compelled to justify why you went with a 'downmarket' tire instead of Pirelli, Goodyear, etc.

And I agree, 'Kumho' was maybe not the most fortunate brand name ...