Kumho ECSTA MX

Has anybody tried the Kumho's (ECSTA MX)... tire rack has them on special ... how do they compare to say a N3 Pzero Rosso or an N2 Michelin Pilot Sport? any feedback would be appreciated... <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" /> Pete

On special on top of being the lowest priced Maximum Performance tire by far? Unfortunately, Tire Rack didn't test the MX directly against the two brands you mentioned, but they did test it against the BFG g-Force KD and the Yoko AVS Sport, and the MX did extremely well. Just a tad less dry grip than the KD, but better in the wet. Also less wear, less noise, better ride, and much cheaper (if you're into cheaper). Another TR test included the PZero Nero, the Michelin Pilot Sport, and the Bridgstone S-03. They were all very close in most tests.

I have a set of Kumhos Ecsta 712's on my 99. They are great as far as tread life goes but really suck on the track. The tread wear rating says it all. I think my Kumho's are 280 and the Pirelli Rosso's are 220 (Assymetricos are 180, I think). My thinking was I would rather get mileage out of my street tires and use my track tires for track work. The problem with that theory is at lest two fold: first, the tires cannot be rotated so after 6-7K miles they are so loud I can't stand it but there is sooo much tread life left I cannot justify dumping them; second, rain at the track. I used them at VIR earlier this year because I did not want to trailer my car just to take the track wheels. The tires screamed all the way around the track, slid like crazy and really turned to mush pretty quick. I was really disgusted. I don't drive my car hard on the street so they suffice for highway commutes (except they are loud). Sorry for the diatribe.

Thanks for the info gentlemen. I'm leaning towards the PZero Rosso Asymetrico, Porsche has given them an N3 rating... they seem to be popular among other car manufacturers like on the Volvo S60R and Audi S4V8.... regards, Pete

Note that the Ecsta MX is a higher performance tire than the aforementioned Ecsta 712. -Paul

European Car did a test on the MX and pared all the top Max performance tires together. At the end the MX came out about 3rd of 4th in all the test.

I just put the Ectstas on my car a month ago. Took them out to my first track event at Infineon raceway this weekend. I noticed that after about 3-4 laps, the tires started screaming around every turn and there was a noticeable tendency for the car to start sliding. I'm just a beginner on the track though...

The 712's are known to suck, but I've heard good things about the MX's (will be ordering them myself)

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by dbelleperc: <strong>European Car did a test on the MX and pared all the top Max performance tires together. At the end the MX came out about 3rd of 4th in all the test.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">What tires where the Kumhos' compared against in that article? cheers, Peter

These are the the low cost leader tires. If you're the kind of owner that needs the 'best' for performance, name brand, etc these aren't the tires for you. However, if your aren't into the ultimate max performance, 99.9% of the world won't know or care what tires you have on you awesome Porsche -- buy them, drive them, and be happy with the significant savings and the longer life.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by c70Pete: <strong>What tires where the Kumhos' compared against in that article? cheers, Peter</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">The article was the Kumho Ecsta MX's and the V700's the MX's vere parried up against the Michelin Pilot Sport and the BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD. Dry test Autocross times ---- Best --------- Average -------- Ranking Michelin-----------30.594@.93g---33.492@.81g-------3 BFGoodrich--------30.246@.98g---32.690@.86g-------1 Kumho Ecsta MX---30.817@.96g---33.070@.84g-------2 Wet test Autocross times ---- Best --------- Average --------- Ranking Michelin-----------32.053@.81g---34.096@.76g-------1 BFGoodrich--------32.630@.81g---34.593@.75g-------2 Kumho Ecsta MX---32.901@.82g---34.643@.74g-------3 The things they liked were Grip, Handling, Price, and Appearance The things they didn't like were Noise and if you know Kumho every tire is affected by noise. Things we don't know yet Durability Competitors BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Continental ContiSportContact2 Dunlop SP Sport 9000 Michelin Pilot Sport Pirelli PZero Toyo T1-S Yokohama AVS Sport Other Stuff 220 UTQG Y-Speed rated (186 MPH) Available in 23, 15- to 19-in. sizes I hope I answered you question to the fullest.