Never seen this before

[ChrisW]

Originally Posted By: Finklejag
Please take some pics and post. I would send the pics to Jessica Gomez at Kumho USA. They need to see this.


Will do as soon as I can; the more we can show to Kumho from different vehicles in different driving conditions, perhaps the more inclined they would be to consider this more than 'cosmetic.' Other than this oddity/defect, I find to Ecsta 4X tires to be great overall.

 

[Rand]

I have a set too but they are off for the winter. it will be 8 months before they have serious mileage on them

 

[ChrisW]

I had to change out these tires due to fronts being at cords, so I do not have the tires anymore. However, I was able to snap a couple pictures of one of the tires that showed this behavior (more than one showed this behavior at least one 255/40R18 and on of the 225/40R18 that I can recall). All the tires were within 8 weeks of each other on the DOT code. Although the IS250 had a bad alignment (which lead to the premature inside shoulder wear), I do not believe it contributed to the odd behavior we see here. These are the only pics I took so hopefully they are sufficient enough for Kumho.

Close-up #1 on a 255/40R18


Close-up #2


DOT Code on this tire

 

[Finklejag]

That sure looks like my old tires. Did you send the pics to Kumho?

 

[ChrisW]

Originally Posted By: Finklejag
That sure looks like my old tires. Did you send the pics to Kumho?


Do you happen to have a contact for them? Or is it relatively easy on their website? I suppose what I'm wondering is if there is a case number I should reference? Thanks.

 

[Finklejag]

Just fill out the form on their website. Say to forward it to Jessica Gomez in the comment box.

 

[sxg6]

I've had kumho tires on my car for 2-3 years now and I absolutely love them. But after reading this thread, I'm having second thoughts about buying kumho again in the future. I'm not impressed with Kumho's response to this issue at all. Even if the tires are perfectly safe to drive on, I don't see how this could be considered acceptable by them. They should have replaced the tires for you in my opinion, no questions asked. What's replacing one set of four tires to a big company like kumho?

 

[jrustles]

I was told by a tire shop recently to say away from Kumho.
7 years ago, they were the sleeper tire with great value, now the fella at the tire shop says that they've been in financial trouble recently, and have not been paying employees in a timely manner. He said since then, craftsmanship has totally plummeted.

The tire looks like it hasn't been vulcanized? properly and the belts are separating at the seams.

 

[Rand]

My kumho 4x's seem perfect on warm days we had recently (70F+)

today it was 30F and I felt like I was driving on really out of round tires.. was bouncing me out of the seat for the first 5 miles. It was so bad at 45mph I couldnt drink coffee.

on the way home.. they were fine. Just a tiny bit of wobbly
of course it got upto 45F and they were in the sun.


Its been a love hate relationship so far.
I believe i have about 2.5k miles on them now. but I havent checked recently.

This somewhat concerns me as maybe its just mental but rather than a wobbly out of round its more like

a tire with 3-4 pieces of small gravel stuck in same spot on the tire. But it goes away 95% when its warmer out and/or 20+ miles driven.

Makes me wonder if I'll be seeing 4 of those lines show up in 5000 more miles.


I have 225/55R17's

 

[cutter]

Hmm, I am still contemplating these vs DWS, was leaning towards 4x but now I'm not sure.

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: Rand
My kumho 4x's seem perfect on warm days we had recently (70F+)

today it was 30F and I felt like I was driving on really out of round tires.. was bouncing me out of the seat for the first 5 miles. It was so bad at 45mph I couldnt drink coffee.

on the way home.. they were fine. Just a tiny bit of wobbly
of course it got upto 45F and they were in the sun.


Its been a love hate relationship so far.
I believe i have about 2.5k miles on them now. but I havent checked recently.

This somewhat concerns me as maybe its just mental but rather than a wobbly out of round its more like

a tire with 3-4 pieces of small gravel stuck in same spot on the tire. But it goes away 95% when its warmer out and/or 20+ miles driven.

Makes me wonder if I'll be seeing 4 of those lines show up in 5000 more miles.


I have 225/55R17's


You're probably getting "flat spotting". It's a problem with some types of rubber compounds. Once rolling, it takes longer to "smooth out" a flat spot when the tire is colder vs warmer.

 

[CapriRacer]

Man, I love tire threads and this one is particularly entertaining.