199.00 a tire and a free Palm Zire! Get organized and blow 800 on rubber simultaneously. Or... do what I did, get Kumhos, save 400 bucks and spend it elsewhere :-) This is in the 235/50 size for those of us looking to reduce wheel gap without lowering.

 

Which model Kumhos did you get?

 

Ecstas, 235/50. Look on tirerack for the entire model they are the only ones listed @ that size.

 

How much would your speedo be?

 

Ask Dave B, I don't know. I'd like to keep mine, I use it to keep from getting pulled over too often. I think you have to order it as a set with the other three dials but I'm not quite sure.

 

Hi,

Do you have a picture of your car with 235/50 series tires. I want to see how much of a difference it makes on stock rims. I'm thinking about doing that myself. Does it ride different than stock?

Thanks.

 

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

Yeah I guess my sarcasm went over his head or something.

 

you can check out my homepage for what the 235/50 looks like on stock rims. the tires ride about the same with a little more noise but a world of difference in the handling department espically when its wet.

 

kumhos are not even in the same league as michelins. There is only one other company that can compete. Pirelli. Bridgestone is just flat out lame (yes even the s03). I ve had all of them, and the PS a/s was the best.

 

Pirellis wear out too quick.

 

How much does Tirerack normally sell them for?

 

Of course Kumho are not the same tire quality as the pilots, but for 100 bucks less a tire who really cares? I do live in Southern CA so snow traction is a non issue, but these perform so much better than stock and for the price can't be beat. I will not spend 800 bucks on rubber, that's ridiculous.

 

normally like 220. i got mine from sears for 189 a piece with a nice piece of luggage from samsonite.

 

I've tried them all too (Kumhos, SO3's ect) and the A/S's are the best - especially in rain. But you may want to look at Sumitomo HTR+ since these are probably the best value: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ot+Sport+A%2FS

 

is it a whole lot of difference in handling with the 235/50 specificlly? or just wiht the A/S, because i have the 225s and if you are saying they are a lot better in handling against the 225 maybe i'll get them next time

 

It dont snow in FL either, but it does rain. Michelins were the best by a huge margin.

 

You obviously know nothing about tires to make a statement like that. Kuhmo makes good tires, in fact the MX's are one of the best performance tires made. If I can find the article of how Grassroots Motorsports tested them against the KDs, S03's, and Pilots I will. You would be suprised how well they did.

 

good being the key word. If kumhos are so good, then why dont manufacturers like porsche, ferrari, bmw, and mercedes put them on as OEM tires?? Simple, kumhos are good (maybe even great), but michelins and pirellis are amazing. Grassroots Motorsports team's results are nice, but my own experience with them shows that they were clearly inferior. Especially in the area that really counts, Blowout control. Ever lose a tire at over 100? Probably not. I lost an MX at 105mph and nearly stuffed the car into the scenery (this was on a dry straight road). The same thing has happened in long sweeping corners with my michelins. The only thing that happened was the car shook a little bit.

 

I will tend to believe Grassroot's Motorsports tests, rather than your opinion. Kuhmo's arent standard equipment because they arent well known with the motoring public and they dont have a big "pull" in the auto industry. A lot of road racers use the Kuhmo Victoracers for track use because they are amazing.

 

I dont know of any road racers that use them. I test with the #66 racers group porsche. The one that runs in the ALMS and Grand Am series. I didnt notice any of the cars there on kumho. The team is sponsored by Dunlop, so that is what we use. Now, im not saying the kumhos are god awful or anything like that, but they are no michelin or pirelli

 

Hey i understand what your saying, but what we all are saying is that for a hundred dollars we cant do wrong with the kumhos tires. I sure as hell cant spend 800 dollars for pilot sports.

 

This is true, an excellent $100 tire

 

i would say the considerable difference was just the tire itself. the 235 fit safely and was only 5 dollars more. i think it looks nicer from the back and helps fill the stock fender gap.

 

If you dont know of any road racers that use them....I am calling BS that you test with so and so. If you were into road racing, you would know about the VictoRacers.

 

Okay all I wanted to do was say they were on sale, sheesh. As to the discussion Kumho vs. Michelin... Here's my take...

I am not a professional tire reviewer, but I like my Kumho tires just fine, and at the price they can't be beat. I would rather have Kumhos at 400 a set, buy a Y Pipe, a muffler, and drinks for a month than the Michelins. Kumhos did perform well in the test mentioned above, they get good reviews from users at Tirerack. If you want to blow 800 bucks on tires go ahead! But if 400 bucks is nothing to you, shouldn't you have blown the money on a G35, or something in a higher price range? I look for bang for the buck, not bucks out the yingyang for the best out there. That's my 2 cents, give or take inflation factored in.

Feel free to argue about it, but don't say the Michelins are better, we all know they are the best out there. We are arguing that they aren't 400 bucks better especially for those of us that don't live in rainy areas (go SoCA!)

Neal

 

sorry Neal - but they are worth $400 more. Whether you want to pay $400 more or not is another matter, especially if you live in an area that doesn't rain too much. Just consider the materials and technology that went into these tires. By the way this has been discussed many many times - here's a good thread to look over: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....5&pagenumber=1

 

I know about the victoracers, they use them alot in SCCA racing. But not ALMS and Grand Am. Now as for your BS call, I DO in fact test in the OFF SEASON. Let me make it perfectly clear that I dont race with them though. Go to Bob Bondurant racing school and get your competition license, and you too can test with racing teams.

 

 

yeah - I definitely agree with you. It's all about opinion and whether they are worth it to you or not.

 

Are Sumitomo HTR+ tires any good? They are pretty cheap you can get them for like $350 from tirerack.

 

I have Pilot Sports on my GTI 337 (See homepage) and I love them. Purely the BEST tire I have ever used. I have had BF Goods, Nitto, Falken, Dunlop, and now the Pilots.

All the performance tires I have used have been waaay better than stock, but, when you match all those up, the Pilot Sports are the best. Rain is not an issue, cornering is almost not effected, and even wheel slip off the line is not there unless I want it to be.

Yes they are very $$$, but it is about how you drive, if you are hard in the corners and like to have the best traction in your car then you have to decide what it is worth to you. I only keep them on the GTI because it can outhandle the max ANY day ANY time.

NOTE: The Pilot A/S is ASSSSSS in the Snow. They were hurting this winter with the big eastern storms we had, but the stock max tires were good to hook.

 

come again?...the A/S suck in snow? HAHAHA...yeah right, they are one of the best all season tire out there for snow

the potenzas are the crappy ones, they are scary to drive in the snow.

 

I had the Pilot A/S, and thought they were damn near as bad as the Potenzas in the snow. They were much better in the dry and rain, but only for about 20,000 miles, at which point the Pilots got hard as a rock. I never felt safe in the rain on the Pilot A/S. The Pilot Sports might be a different story, but I've never used them, so I can't say.

I put Yoko AVS ES100's on the car in April, and I can tell you it's by FAR the best rain tire I've ever used. I used to AutoX, and my rain tires then were A509's (Hoosier slicks in the dry). I've been through downpours, showers, roads half-flooded with standing water, and I have never needed to slow down. Tire Rack sells them for about $135, still a LOT less than Pilot Sports.

 

What other tire besides the A/S is good for snow?

Sumitomo's HTR+?

 

If you want tires that are GOOD in the snow, you need real snow tires. A lot of people like Blizzaks, but they wear pretty quick. I use Pirelli Winter 210's on my stock 17" wheels, and had no problems with NJ's worst winter in decades.

No all-season tire will be good in the snow. Many are passable in up to a couple of inches, but anything more than that and they're useless.

To answer your question, I have no idea about the HTR+, but TireRack's comparisons and reviews are pretty good for comparing tires.

 

How is the dry traction / handling on the Yoks? I'm a Yoko fan, I used to run the AVS Intermediates on my old max. Those wore out fast, but were awesome tires, too bad they discontinued them.

 

The treadwear rating on the ES100's is higher than the Intermediates, so you would expect to get a little less stick, but more mileage than from the Intermediates. When I ordered the tires, I was told they were W-rated, but actually were delivered with a Z-rating. Handling is awesome, but they do tend to hug imperfections some (which is probably more a matter of tire size than brand or model).

I've had no issues with the tires - I love them. The only thing I have noticed is that traction is reduced if the outside temps are below 50 - this tire likes the heat, and seems to hold better as the temps go up. I drive the car hard, but figure I'll get at least 20K out of them before I need to start thinking about replacements.

 

I live in Wisconsin and never had snow tires. If I can use Craptenzas I can use an all-season for snow. I just wanted to know what tire was better than others for snow in an all-season.