Honest opinions on kumho tires

[Y_K]

I had a set of Kumho Crugen tires on a Lexus LX470 from a previous owner once. I was prejudiced initially, but was surprised how decent they were on that vehicle, 205/70-16 was the number. Sidewalls were softer than Michelines or BFG.

IMO, it is a function of a vehicle for a tire, the same tires can be excellent on one vehicle and horrible or so-so on others. I have seen that a lot on various platforms.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I bought a set of Kuhmo's for my Corvette and they were fine and less expensive than the run-flats.

 

[ClarkSuper100]

Originally Posted by tony1679
Kumho is at the very very bottom of the list for me. Debatable if I'd rather ride on Kumhos or ride on rims. Never again.


I bought one Kumho Solus tire. For a spare tire kept in the trunk. Research shows it's not a great tire. The other four tires were Goodyear Assurance ComfortTred which have proven to be excellent.

Buying cheap tires seems penny wise and pound foolish to me. Tires are your car's only contact with the road. Considering the speed, heat and frictional forces placed on a tire which is to perform in all weather over the course of six or seven years I cannot imagine putting anything less that a very good to excellent tire on my ride. When you consider the tire engineering experience of a company like Michelin or Goodyear, Kumho pales by comparison. I value that expertise gained though a century of design innovation and continuous improvement.

If you're only gonna drive from home to the 7/11 I guess they'd be OK. But to do a road trip through the Arizona desert, include me out.

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by ClarkSuper100
Originally Posted by tony1679
Kumho is at the very very bottom of the list for me. Debatable if I'd rather ride on Kumhos or ride on rims. Never again.


I bought one Kumho Solus tire. For a spare tire kept in the trunk. Research shows it's not a great tire. The other four tires were Goodyear Assurance ComfortTred which have proven to be excellent.

Buying cheap tires seems penny wise and pound foolish to me. Tires are your car's only contact with the road. Considering the speed, heat and frictional forces placed on a tire which is to perform in all weather over the course of six or seven years I cannot imagine putting anything less that a very good to excellent tire on my ride. When you consider the tire engineering experience of a company like Michelin or Goodyear, Kumho pales by comparison. I value that expertise gained though a century of design innovation and continuous improvement.

If you're only gonna drive from home to the 7/11 I guess they'd be OK. But to do a road trip through the Arizona desert, include me out.
Bingo.

Originally Posted by edyvw
What Kumho forgot to put is instruction to pray to all known Gods when braking in wet.
This is why I'll never use them again (not so much the braking part, more like wet traction anytime)... My '97 LT1 Z28 paid the price. God I miss that T56

 

[spk2000]

To me they are an ok low end tire. They won't last and don't do anything great so they really fill the budget tire category. Mine never handled well, rain and snow were lousy but if you knew it you just adjusted driving habits so they will do ok. Personally I would not buy them at retail but if you get a good enough buy maybe the performance can be tolerated.

 

[Jim K]

I have the Kumho Solus T11 tires and they are high ed on Consumer Reports . They ride nice and hold up well . I think they are ever bit as good as the stock Michellans that came on my 2014 Corolla . I recommend this model of Kumho.

 

[csandste]

I'd look at Tire Rack or similar ratings for that particular model. I don't trust brand-wide ratings, they mean almost nothing. One of the worst tires I ever had were OEM Michelins.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by tony1679
Originally Posted by ClarkSuper100
Originally Posted by tony1679
Kumho is at the very very bottom of the list for me. Debatable if I'd rather ride on Kumhos or ride on rims. Never again.


I bought one Kumho Solus tire. For a spare tire kept in the trunk. Research shows it's not a great tire. The other four tires were Goodyear Assurance ComfortTred which have proven to be excellent.

Buying cheap tires seems penny wise and pound foolish to me. Tires are your car's only contact with the road. Considering the speed, heat and frictional forces placed on a tire which is to perform in all weather over the course of six or seven years I cannot imagine putting anything less that a very good to excellent tire on my ride. When you consider the tire engineering experience of a company like Michelin or Goodyear, Kumho pales by comparison. I value that expertise gained though a century of design innovation and continuous improvement.

If you're only gonna drive from home to the 7/11 I guess they'd be OK. But to do a road trip through the Arizona desert, include me out.
Bingo.

Originally Posted by edyvw
What Kumho forgot to put is instruction to pray to all known Gods when braking in wet.
This is why I'll never use them again (not so much the braking part, more like wet traction anytime)... My '97 LT1 Z28 paid the price. God I miss that T56

They are just miserably bad in wet. I just pointed to the most important aspect. Like UG-Passat said, they break loose fast, but I could live with that for time being, but not with braking in wet.
But anyway, after 12k they went out of balance.
I do have spare Kumho in my Toyota though.

 

[GoldDot40]

I'm on my 3rd set of Kumho tires on my '02 Silverado. The first set, I took off a set of stock size Firestone Destination tires and put on a set of stock 265/75-16 size Kumho Road Venture AT78's...but the "LT" load range...which are basically 4 ply. They lasted about 25K miles. I really liked the way they performed off road as well as hwy wet or dry traction and the ride quality.

I put a leveling kit and new wheels on the truck and stepped up to 285/75-16 (33") of the exact same AT78 tire, but went with a D (8 ply) load range. Still had good ride quality and everything else was the same. Got 60K miles out of those and they were just shy of the wear bars in the tread when I took them off.

Kumho discontinued the AT78 in the size I use. They replaced them with a Road Venture AT51, which has a completely different tread design and black walls only. That's what I have now in a E (10 ply) load range. They ride very well for a 10 ply tire on a 1/2 ton pickup. They perform every bit as good off road as the previous model and run quiet on the hwy. I have about 20K miles on them so far and still 2/3 tread left. Will absolutely run another set after these. Cannot beat them for the price.

 

[UG_Passat]

Had ECSTA SPT summer tires... couldn't complain about them... on my old modded Golf TDI (bigger turbo, bigger nozzles, custom tune)

THe Platinum LX, despite the A-traction rating... on a APR Stage 1 passat with a 6-speed manual transmission, it was easy to break the tires loose, if I had to launch the car to get to the on-ramp of a highway.

 

[Zolton]

The new AAA *worn* tire tests came out favorably for Michelin and some Asian brands. I have yet to read the whole article, but it's covered in this EE video...

Skip to 7 Minutes...

 

[wdn]

Kumho Solus tires came with my Elantra. Had to replace one. They were miserable in wet and did not last. Worn out gone at 33,000 miles. Also got out of round Replaced them with Michelin Defenders that have worn much better it's my son's car now he commutes 140 miles a day. They were wearing well but he picked up a nail in the sidewall and took it to the dealer, he replaced the pair of them with Kumho Solus again since that is what they stock. I bet the Defenders will still outlast the new Kumhos on the rear.