Anyone with expierence with KUMHO ECSTA SPT tires

Anyone with expierence with KUMHO ECSTA SPT Ultra High Performance (rated YR) tires. Please post your comments. These are nearly half the price of the Michelin Pilot Sport Rib and Pirelli PZero System Asimmetrico tires. I don't need ZR rated tires since I rarly even to 180km/hour.

I would not put Kumho tires on my Porsche.

Any reason? or just because of the name brand/look good factor.

They are better looking than Fuzion Zri...

There is a reason they cost so little.

I ran the Kumho Escta 712 Sport tires on my E36 M3 and liked them. They felt a little mushy are high speeds, but in all they were fine. I still have them on the wheels. For the money they cannot be beat. I think you should get the best tires you can afford. If your budget limits you from getting better tires, than that is life. I have not tried them on my p car, but if you are thinking about getting Kumhos to save yourself $500.00 remember, only 4 little 4 square inches connect your 2 ton bullet to the road. Is $500 worth it, are you willing to take that chance with your car.

I run the Kumho Esctas on my daily driver older C4 Corvette, but rarely exceed 75 mph. The tires have been greatly improved over the last couple of years according to my indy tire guy. I would not run them on my Porsches.

I have these tires on my C4 cab. They came on the car when I purchased it used. Horrible. Must be out of round, or something because they're noisy and make the car sound like it has bad wheel bearings. I am going to run them for while and Will be beating them severely on the Autocross Circuit, but in my opinion is that they are terrible.

I ran a set of Ecsta 712's on my Boxster and regretted it every single time I drove the car. They have limited dry grip, feel "greasy", and flat spot horribly. They squeal terribly also. They are almost impossible to get balanced properly. Basically, you get what you pay for, and when you consider the life of a tire, premium tires only cost pennies per mile more than cheap ones. Tire selection has so much to do with the performance of any car, that I will NEVER again buy anything less than a premium quality tire for my Porsche. Never again. Never.

The Kuhmo tire I would imagine they will be fine for average driving. However they are cheaper for a reason which may be less maximum grip, or not as soft as a ride, or noisier, or not good in the wet. The best advice is to spend the amount of money you are comfortable with. I have used Toyo tire on an older 911 and can say they were OK tires. They wern't great but not uncomfortable nor greasy as some would have you think of a cheaper tire. I'm sure Michellin are better, but like I said its what are you confortable with.

I have been using the Ecsta 712 for a while now and very happy with them. I initially bought them for the price and found they are not bad for street driving. I don't drive very fast in public roads. A better tire will just be wasted for the way I drive in public road. I use them as rain tires or when my track tires are done at the track where I drive faster. I have no problems with them.

Have used the Escta's as track (rain) tires on my 930 as well as alternate track (dry) tires when my Victoracers wore out. They performed very well, wore like iron, but did get a little greasy after 10 or so heat cycles. I also used a pair of Escta ASXs on my Audi A4 at a winter rally school and although they are not Blizzaks, they were amazing in the snow and ice. (Shocked a lot of people) I also used them on the same car for a couple days at Watkins Glen and they were as reasonable in the dry and heat. I use the ASX as daily winter tires on my 996 C4 and they are great all-temperature tires. Use P-Zeros during the summer. Escta are not as good as the P-Zeros in the dry or summer rain, but close. The big problem is they wear too long and really need changed out before they wear out. As daily drivers they are not as quiet as P-Zero, but if I really want tires for the track, or that stick like glue, I use track tires! Been a Kuhmo fan for years!

I just put a set of SPTs on the 993 to replace the Pilot Sport IIs. After two autocrosses, I feel that they have a bit less grip than the Michelins, but are predictible and stable. They like lower pressures, and ride better. They do not go away when hot like the Bridgestone S02s did. The cost was about half the price, which was a major factor.

I run these on my TT. Soft sidewall, so not the best track choice but a decent value on the street.

I'm on my 2nd set of Ecsta MX for track beaters. I would not recommend them for the road as the are quite noisy on the freeway. But the price is great and they grip like crazy. I don't find them to be greasy at all - they make plenty of noise before they let go. They're even decent in the wet. We had an autocross a couple of years ago where it started to rain in the morning. Everybody with slicks went home but we continued the session in the pouring rain. Only a C4S with regular street tires was faster than me. That was probably the most fun I've ever had at an autocross.

I have SPT on my family car, liked them for their ride and noise, handling is definetely not bad. All tires get noisy after they wore. 2 tire designers told me running unidirectional is the main reason for the noise. when rotating tires, I should swap them left to right, to even out the wear (to reduce noise), even if they are directional tires. Since it doesn't rain much here in socal, I usually run all my tires directional just before raining season, swap them when summer comes. btw, in autocross world, Kumho IS the premium brand. model 710 IS the BEST, period.

I have no experience with SPT. But the other "street" kumhos like t he 712 lack any sort of confidence inspiring grip or stability. They squeel, as mentioned, and after two runs on a 65 second ax course, they were really greasy.

Just put on KUMHO ECSTA SPT tires, with Nitrogen. I took off Toyo Proxes with 9k and Bald. I have had Pirelli Pzero rosso bald at 7k. Just 3 days on the Kuhmo my 86 runs like a new car. For $350 including installation, wow. We will see in 18 months. I will keep you posted. David

My experience with Kumho: Despite what you see above, it's not all bad - the failure happened on the inside of the rear drivers side tire on my wife's Boxster. Caused complete deflation, and I was able to get my fingers through the holes in the inside tire shoulder! However - she drove home 15 miles at normal road speeds on this - and neither lost control or damaged the rim.... So that's major points to Kumho She heard something flapping - and being in the cabriolet she thought it was 'a helicopter overhead'. Then the noise stopped, so she continued driving home! I was called out to look when she got in the drive, as 'the tire was a little flat' Go figure - I guess loosing 70% of the shoulder of a tire will make it go a little soft... and get it red hot as well. She's a luck lady! Chris.

NICE! The damage in that photo looks to have been from running flat, not the initial cause of the flat. I am willing to bet that something else caused the original flat. Either way, the Kumho 712 was not that impressive on a performance car. The dealer that I purchased an M Roadster from put some on and I couldn't wait to get them off! They were good daily street tires but when you pushed their limits, they just didn't have the traction.

Thanks for the great input - I just went from the "not on my car" camp, to the "Something to consider" side.

I don't think Kumho 712 has been considered to be their performance offering for the last 5 years. 712 was an old tire from 10 years ago.

I believe Kumho makes good tires, and they are working hard to make a name up there among the leaders. Right now, they make good tires, but without a "brand" name, it's hard to win over people's minds, and their loyalty to their regular brands. A few more years from now, I can see Kumho becoming a premium brand competing with the leaders, but with a price advantage of course. Just like Samsung...they were junk years ago, today they are on the top with the leaders. Hyundai is another example...give them a few more years and Toyota or Honda will have something to respect for competition. Often times, it's all about brand and marketing. If you do a blind test...take some Michelins and hide all brand traces, put on a fake new name. Sponsor them to racers on the track, they will tell you "hmmm...yeah, it's not bad, but...I prefer the Michelins". That is IF they will even agree to try them out in the first place!

I tried Kuhmos at the recommendation of a frined with an R32 that did some SCCA autocrossing. The first Auto-X I went to was sponsored by the PCA. One of the local PCA instructors commented about what a good experience he's had with the SPT's on his Boxster S. I've continued to buy Kuhmos upon replacement and also bought a couple for my son's Mitsu 3000GT

I've had extremely good luck with them. I've never DE'd with them, though. They are noiseier, but I prefer them to Pirelli any day. Well-wearing tire for the price, and good with wet auto-X