[Coach Steve]

My car is badly in need of new kicks - like yesterday! The current tires are 245/45R17 Falkens and were on the car when I bought it. These tires are garbage! I've watched the tread disappear by the day it seems.


I've read lots of reviews about Kumho and know a few people who have them on their rides and they've been very happy with them. However, none of these people drive an Accord so I thought I'd ask here to see if I could get some feedback on these tires.
Bear in mind, I don't live in a place that experiences anything but dry conditions 99.9% of the time so any comments good or bad with regard to how they handle in snow/ice will be lost on me.
It's a great looking tire with great reviews on its grip and quiet ride - and not too shabby a price at $67.00 per tire or $369.00 out the door including everything.

The only thing that bothers me about the tire is the lack of warranty which, I guess can be overcome by purchasing the lifetime road hazard warranty.

Anyway, thanks for your time and I look forward to your replies.

Here's the tire if anyone's interested in seeing it.
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/ti...ctSize.do;jsessionid=sljdsdCa32YCXPJPg3CBbw__.dtc308?r=CSNINT|pc|92055&pc=33656

 

[snarky]

I bought the Kumho Ecsta 235/45/17 ( don't know about AST ) for my 5.0 Mustang and absolutely loved them. I gave the car to my cousin so I'd have to go over and see if that is the exact tire. Very sticky tire. Excellent grip and ride.

 

[accordtech]

We have a 2007 Accord with Falken Ziex ZE612 tires with 5k driven miles and a 2006 Accord with Kumho Solus EXpert KH20 tires with 15k driven miles...both Accords have stock 16' rims...the tires on both Accords have plenty of tread and handle great...i've noticed you have 17' rims, which might affect the life of your tires/tread and also the your photo shows outer tread wear, unless that's the design of the tire...when was the last time you had an alignment? it seems like the tire camber angle is tilted which can cause tread wear and if you drive aggressively that too will decrease the tire life/tread

 

[Coach Steve]

I bought the Kumho Ecsta 235/45/17 ( don't know about AST ) for my 5.0 Mustang and absolutely loved them. I gave the car to my cousin so I'd have to go over and see if that is the exact tire. Very sticky tire. Excellent grip and ride.

Thanks for the info!

We have a 2007 Accord with Falken Ziex ZE612 tires with 5k driven miles and a 2006 Accord with Kumho Solus EXpert KH20 tires with 15k driven miles...both Accords have stock 16' rims...the tires on both Accords have plenty of tread and handle great...i've noticed you have 17' rims, which might affect the life of your tires/tread and also the your photo shows outer tread wear, unless that's the design of the tire...when was the last time you had an alignment? it seems like the tire camber angle is tilted which can cause tread wear and if you drive aggressively that too will decrease the tire life/tread

The Falkens you cited are the very tires I'm replacing. It's possible the +1 tire size has something to do with the faster wear on the tires - I really can't say since they were already on the car when I bought it last April and I have no idea how many miles were on them when I got the car. They do seem to have worn pretty fast though. I've driven a little over 16,000 miles since I got the car and I'd say the tires were maybe about half through the tread at that time?
As for the alignment, I've not had it aligned. I have rotated the tires 3 times in the past year to try and preserve tread life. I'll ask the guy at the tire shop if he thinks I should have it aligned based on what he sees when he swaps tires.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[Juan102009]

I had the michellin primacy MXM4's great tire and will last very long my set lasted me 75k miles. Now I replaced them with the pirelli p7 all season and could not be happier 6k miles on them and the car drives amazingly smooth, tires still look brand new. Again you're looking at a $700 OTD to me it was well worth it. I highly recommend you the Pirelli tires.

 

[2i2dk1ny2i3]

I bought the Kumho Ecsta 235/45/17 ( don't know about AST )

same, i've had really good w/Kumho ASXs

they have been through hell and back w/me (meaning cross country from SoCal to NYC)

not the greatest tire in the Snow but never had a problem w/them

 

[hebrew_hammer]

I have them in a set of 225/45/18. Def good handling all around tire.

 

[Coach Steve]

I have them in a set of 225/45/18. Def good handling all around tire.

Well, that's all I need to hear/read. I'm headed out the door to go get the tires installed. Will post pics in the "So what did you do..." thread when I get home.

I'm as giddy as a school girl! :banana::nuts:

 

[ikethegreat]

I'd avoid the Kumho Ecsta tires. They are nice tires when new and very cheap. However, I went through 3 sets of them and never got more than 15-20k miles before they needed to be replaced. Two sets actually had the steel belts showing before they hit 20k. Tread life is terrible and I wouldn't buy them again.

 

[2i2dk1ny2i3]

I'd avoid the Kumho Ecsta tires. They are nice tires when new and very cheap. However, I went through 3 sets of them and never got more than 15-20k miles before they needed to be replaced. Two sets actually had the steel belts showing before they hit 20k. Tread life is terrible and I wouldn't buy them again.

hm, what set of Kuhmos because usually they're not the "cheap" option unless they're a lower model

it'd be important and helpful if you could include a Model, size, new or used and where you got them

usually when i buy a Tire, i look at Trear Wear first then compare other things side by side. only Tire i had that went real fast were Nittos but thats because they are performance rated Tires and all about performance than tread life

 

[ikethegreat]

215/45ZR-18 (fronts) & 225/45ZR-18 (rears) Kumho Ecsta SPT from tire rack.

Bought the first set on Jan 2008, then the second set on March 2009, then the third set on September 2010. Only got 15-20k on each set. I've moved on to Continental tires after that and haven't looked back!

 

[MasTRE]

Kumho Ecsta 4X 225/45R17 here. No complaints, decent tire for the money, have over 50k miles on them. Time to replace but that's because a) mileage and b) had an alignment problem that wore insides.

 

[Coach Steve]

Well, I've had the new Kumho's on for 3 weeks now and I couldn't be happier with the choice - so far. They're super smooth, incredibly quiet and OMG the grip is insane! These tires make my Accord handle like my BMW! I can't believe the performance in sharp turns and sudden stops. They look sexy as Hell too! It's really nice to have the peace of mind that comes with a good set of tires and all the situations that could arise that involve their performance and ability.

 

[Coach Steve]

UPDATE:

I thought I would update my thread with info I think will be useful for readers in the future who are considering these tires.

The Good:
These tires were very inexpensive and at the time of purchase, I needed exactly that. At $60 per tire, I really didn't have the highest of expectations of them in terms of both performance and longevity. As it turns out, I got more of the former and less of the latter.
These tires looked and performed fantastic. The tread pattern looked very sexy - not that that matters all that much when talking about how well the tire does what it's supposed to do, but it's still relevant all the same. As far as performance, I couldn't ask for more. The desert southwest region of the US sees very few days with wet roads and where I live, Phoenix, there are zero days with snow or even ice on the roads so the overall condition of the roads is very good year round. That's important to note because it has a lot to do with the physical condition of the surface of the roads here. The lack of water/snow and snow plows helps to maintain smooth, pothole-free surfaces.
I don't race and I definitely don't drive like a bat out of Hell. I do, however, tend to drive faster than the posted speed limit and take turns perhaps faster than the average person would but hey, it's fun sometimes and that's just who I am. That said, these tires had fantastic traction and held the road in every situation where I either had to hit the brakes to avoid a collision and/or taking a turn faster than I should. These things were seemingly incapable of losing traction. Excellent grip all the way around.

I rotated them every 5,000 miles with the hopes of prolonging their life which I had read in several posts was shorter than expected.

the tires came with no mileage warranty so I really didn't know what to expect going in. As I said, I was sold almost exclusively on price and name recognition.

The Bad
The single largest complaint as written by those who reviewed this tire was longevity and I have to agree. I'm probably within 3,000 miles of needing to replace them. Since installing them, I have logged just shy of 22,000 miles. I had the car aligned at the time I bought the tires so at least they wore evenly but still, 25,000 miles seems like a short life when I'm used to tires that came with a 40-60,000 mile warranty.

Was I happy with my purchase of these tires? Absolutely! They exceeded my expectations with regard to performance and safety. Would I buy them again? If I was low on funds and they were an option, I definitely would. Fortunately, I'm not in the same financial situation I was when I bought them so this time around, I won't be buying them as replacements.

I'm a big fan of Yokohama and Hankook so my new tires will probably be one of those brands.

 

[boring 08 EX]

I am also a huge fan of Kuhmo tires. I have had them on just about everything I have owned over the last ten years. From the ASX to the 4X to the 4X II, I have tried them all. I LOVE their four season handling, dry grip and tread noise. I less than love their longevity, but that comes with the territory when you spec anything "extreme performance" on Tire Rack. I drive roughly 45-50K a year and usually replace tires once a year, regardless of brand. The only exception would be an aborted experiment with Michelin Premacy MXM4s on my Mazda. Those tires (215/45-17) had the most brittle sidewalls I have ever experienced in any tire at any price, after replacing three blown tires in less than a year I went back to Kumhos.