pocholin

Well on my way to Chicago I had to change tires in Memphis due to excesive rear wear showing belts and all, LOL. I put the fronts 245/40/18 (and the old fronts in the rear) only because they didn't have the rear size in stock, once I made it into Chicago I put the rears (275/35/18).
What a huge HUGE H U G E difference vs the Potenzas RE730 (or something like that), way quieter, softer ride (specially on rough streets) and lots of grip (I can hardly spin tires with the ESP off now), I love these tires, although I really wanted to get the Kumho MXs but beggers can't be choosers on emergency moments, I don't have that extremely anoying sound from the tires at ~20 mph roll.

I highly recomend these tires!

Petie

Im going to have to 2nd Poch's opinions on the Kumho 712s. With my new wheels on the way, i ordered my second set of these tires, for the money, they cant be beat. I pay $113 a tire for 225/40/18 with a W speed rating and $156 a tire for 255/35/18 with a W speed rating. Both front and rears come with 280 treadwear rating, they last forever. They are also very quiet tires. Performance is also suprisingly good. I also highly recommend saving some money and buying these tires.

nickv

Hey pocholin,
I am in total agreement with you! I recently put the 712s on the rear of my CLK430 and am so surprised at how quiet the ride is as well. So far these tires make the overpriced Dunlops 9000s look bad, great performance and ride quality for almost 65% of the cost!!
Congrats from a fellow Houstonian!

pocholin

Thanks guys, this is the third set of kumhos 712s I own, I used two sets on my 96 Impala SS, they lasted about 22k miles with 5k mile rotation intervals (275/40/17), since kumho released this model in the US in June 2000, I remember the date because I had to wait 4 months before I got them
Like you've guys said, it is well worth the "little" money you pay when compared to Dunlops, Goodyears and Bridgestones.

JamE55

Nice but still can't believe you got beat by that modified T-Bird!! You need to go back to chicago and see if you can beat him!!!!

shtatc

I just ordered a set of Kumho 712's for my C240 - 225/45/17 front and 245/40/17 rear. I had a major blowout on my right rear last Friday. I needed a new set of rears anyways, but ordered fronts also. This will be my first set of Kumho's. Thanks for the good reviews...I have heard good things about them. Was kind of skeptical when I ordered them. They will be installed Monday.

pocholin

ohhhhhhh, ooouuuuccccchhhhhhh, you had to remind me of that , thanks Jam

pocholin

Great! Let us know your opinion once you have driven them for 300-400 miles

shtatc

pocholin...
I will...I will put 300-400 miles in a week...both city and highway...
I will let you guys know what I think about them.

AJChenMPH

Definitely a great tire for the dollar. Make sure you rotate them regularly, and keep your alignment/camber in order -- these tires are known on my other forum for wearing a bit unevenly and cupping as time goes on.

JamE55

Hey it's your fault mang! So go back there and show em who's the boss!!!!!

JamE55

Oh and btw your front tires are still mounted backwards!!

pocholin

Thanks it has already been brought to my attention :o

shtatc

Initial Impressions

I just got the Kumho's installed - drove about 20 miles before coming back to work (5 miles on highway/15 city). Here are my first impressions - overall, fairly quiet, unless you go over rough roads, but which tire doesnt do this? But somewhat noisier than my ContiSC. Cornering - could not make a call yet - the road that is pretty windy was busy - was following a mini-van and once that cleared, a sherrif's officer was in front. However, corners well, these seem to be stiffer in side wall, as I seem to feel more bumps and road variations than the SC's. Maybe because they are new? Not sure. So far, smooth running tire, but will report after more miles are put on.

Petie

now that you mention it, my first set of kumhos wore unevenly in the front, i thought it was just my car. I got my car re-aligned, thought this had fixed it. Tires wore heavy inside and outside, moreso inside. Inflation would be the obvious answer, but i was running 39 up from and 41 in the rear, overinflated if anything...any solutions or comments? thanks.

shtatc

I was running my Conti SC at 36psi rear and 32psi front. the fronts wore evenly. However, the rears looked like they were way over inflated - wore more in the middle. If anything, I thought they were underinflated and would wear more on the outer parts. Funny. I am going to check to see how much they inflated the Kumho's and adjust accordingly.

pocholin

anytime you change tire sizes you must re-align the car as soon as you get the tires, otherwise tires wear unevenly for the first 5k miles and then you re-align, in theory you fixed the problem, but the tire's wear is already uneven and will continue to be uneven for the rest of the life of the tire.

Petie

sorry i didnt clarify, i got the car aligned when the wheels where changed...still doesnt make sense, my just be my retarded car....

pocholin

That means they didn't get it done right. Did you tell them you had different tire size other than OEM? Sometines they do alignment with default settings instead of custom settings according to the tire size

Petie

we may have just found the problem...thanks Poch, my new rims are going on tomorrow, i will make sure to get a PROPER alignment done.

shtatc

I did not get an alignment after I got the new wheels/tires in January. The tire wear seems okay, other than the rears. Now that I have the Kumho's on - do you guys think I should get the car aligned?

pocholin

at least the rear, for chamber adjustment.

Luke@tirerack

here is a cut and paste from an e-mail I recieved today regarding the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712's


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"Luke....Pete here from the Viper Club in Arizona. I was just reading the posts about Kuhmo tires for the Vipers. I thought you might appreciate hearing my experience with Kuhmo tires on my BMW. When it came time to replace the tires on my 2000 328i, I went to the local tire shop here (Discount, you know it) and they recommended the Kuhmo for my car as a replacment for the Bridgestones that came on it. They're the 17" jobs you get with the "Sport Package". Nice tire. Anyway, I went for the Kuhmos. About 2,000 miles later, when washing my car, I noticed the tires starting to "cup". I went back to them and they checked the balance and it was good. Then I got a bit nervous and had the front end alignment checked, and it was good. Hmmm. Then, shortly after that, at about 3,000 miles, the tires wore like crazy and started making a horrible droning noise at low speeds. Luke, it was bad. REAL bad. It sounded like the tranny was bad or something. I had BMW check it by taking it for a ride, but the tech there said he knew what it was before he even drove it. I didn't believe him until he asked me "if I had Kuhmo tires on it". I couldn't believe he said that, but it turns out he says he sees about two or three cars a week with the same problem. Early tire wear, cupping, and noise like you can't believe. It was so bad, it actually gave me a headache to drive the car around town. "
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Just thought you would like to have another opinion

shtatc

I read the review section of the tire selection portion in Tirerack's website. I read both good and bad about the Kumho's. Emails like the one that Luke just posted above were not uncommon. It seems like people either have a good experience with them or a horrible experience with them - nothing in between. Love 'em or hate 'em. Good, bad , or indifferent - the Kumho's were the tires that they could get the quickest. Maybe I should have waited a couple more days for the Yoko AVS ES100's. But have read good and bad about them. Regardless, I think you will read good and bad about any tire you choose. I wonder if driving style has any factor on how the tire wears also. I am not too overly aggressive - so, would that make a difference? Who knows?
Thanks, Luke.

pocholin

Luke, you might be able to answer this question for me, it is my understanding that cuping comes from braking hard at higher speeds, is this correct?

I have experienced cuping on all the tires I've had, on the Vette, Impala, Suburban and Benz, goodyear, bridgestone, nitto, yokohama and kumho, but it is always after about 10-15k miles, I'm an aggresive driver and I just take is as something that happens with time.