Kumho Ecsta KU31 Reviews - Page 12

reviewing these again after 20k miles. in that time theyve been back on track again, regularly thrashed hard on b roads and driven on motorways for thousnds of miles.

its time to change again as theyre just above the markers and ive got to take the car to le mans and i dont think the french would be too impressed with 2mm of tire tread (even wear, but thatll be due to suspension geometry)

the tire performed consistently right through to the end of its life. the tires inspire so much confidence that i got a set for my gf's 05 fiesta when that was due.

in hard use you might be left wanting a little more grip in the dry, but thats only at 8/10 - 9/10 driving, you dont do that often.

in the wet they never feel phased. on the odd time ive had to lean on them a little bit harder than expected ive been impressed, most memorable would be the cat and fiddle pass when it was so wet there was water streaming across the road and you could still really push on.

road noise in my gf's fiesta was massively reduced compared to the contis it had before, but in my golf ive modified it too much to really appreciate reductions in road noise.

i highly recommend these, id have another set if i didnt like trying new things so much, but the fact i put some on my girlfriend's car ought to speak volumes.

definately a performance bargain

I bought the car 2nd hand it had Goodyear eagle nct 5's,
which I found to perform well for my type of driving(smoothness/stealthy speed) but when a bobble was found on a front, vw quoted ?88 but I decided to take the opportunity to try and replace all 4 with something better,so used this site amongst others,and 2 tire shops(quickfit/national)to make an informed choice.
I am delighted to report the kumho ku 31's are near silent,more comfortable over potholes and track staight on heavily grooved inside motorway lanes.
Of course, if I owned a Toyota MR2 instead of a mk 5 GT diesel golf, the tires wouldn't suit(the sidewalls are soft).
A quick visit to ebay motors yielded 4 ku 31's fitted total price ?152.00!
Will post again when the mileage racks up.

was due to take delivery of some new light weight wheels which were a different size and the current tires were long over due for been replaced, so as id only be useing the new tires foe around 3-4 weeks wanted a set of cheap tires. found the kumos for just under ?70 on the net and for the size i could not believe it. due to the price i was not expecting them to be very good but i must say i was impressed they have been used very hard and have coped very well i would say that they are on a par with the origanal conti sport contact 3's my car camw with and cost less than half the price of the contis. very good tire especially for the money deffanatly worth a try.

tires wear evenly and last just as long as the manufacturers originals Mitchellin pilot

Had a couple of instances on roundabouts where car drifted if cornering at slightly high speed but only during winter months with damp surfaces. seems fine in dry.

I had these on a Vauxhall Nova with a very stiff -40mm suspension kit. This became my only car and I did everything in it from shopping, to chinese food delivery every weekend over 2 years; the car was driven very very hard on almost every journey. These tires were very good to begin with but became dangerous in the wet when the tread got to about 3mm (after 8000 miles). Dry grip was good and when the car run out of grip, it would gently break into understeer, letting you know what was happening. Wet grip is fine to begin with, as is their aquaplaning resistance. I replaced the fronts with Falken ZE512, these were not as good. I would buy these again for a lightweight car like a Nova (or modern equvalent: Saxo, 106, C1, Aygo et al) but not for a heavier car as I think they would wear out even quicker.

definately a performance bargain. ive tried a lot of tires and was due a change again and didnt fancy going back to the predictable eagle f1, i like to try new things.

i read a few detailed/useful reviews of this tire (briskoda site, etc) so thought id give them a try.

their dry limits are comparable with F1s, Proxies, Paradas, they provide sufficent grip for "spirited" road use, you wont be left wanting unless you like to go berserk on the road.

in the dry, these really do seem to be on par with eagle F1s, particularly with wet braking and their ability to control standing water.

i did approximately 100 miles on these tires at the nurburgring a couple weekends ago, again more hard driving. i was very suprised that were no signs of excessive wear, only light feathering after hard use.

they are predictable at the limits (the limits were not exceeded massively though), the break away is very progressive (these tires are also very popular with E30 bmw drivers for pretty much this reason)

so far wear is all even, i think theyll last as long as my yokohama paradas did (20k miles), i am more than happy with this tire and for the price theyre an utter performance bargain.

Driving a mr2 turbo means the tire quality needs to be good!! I bought the kumho's after checking out falkens and toyo's. I have been really impressed with the quality and feel the tires give me they are supurb in the dry and for the money very good in the wet, you know when your on the limit and they will take some punishment.

Running these on the front of an E38 BMW - a big heavy car - I found the dry grip to be excellent - nice bite on turn in and nice progressive feel. Wet grip on damp roads is generally good. However, on VERY wet roads I've had a few scary aquaplaning moments, but this may be the sheer weight of the car pushing the nose on. The big problem I've had with the KU31's is keeping them balanced. They seem to go out of shape when the car is parked up for a couple of days. I've put about 10000 miles on these tires and hope to get about another 5000 before changing. Overall a decent tire for relatively little money but I will probably go upmarket for the next set.

Not a great tire IMO. It is good value to buy, and has good aquaplaning results, but dry grip and grip on wet surfaces is no better than average.

As a upmarket budget tire it is ok, but compared to upmarket brands it appears a poor performer. It is also not as good as similar priced Toyo proxes T1R or Falken FK-452. So my summary, ok but you can do better. :-)

I replaced Michelin Pilot Primacy with these, better than 5 year old Michelins for wet and dry grip. Not as good feeling as Michelins on damp surfaces, but truly excellent on storm flooded motorways. I am still experimenting on ideal pressures to optimise feel/comfort, but they do seem to be wearing more evenly than the Michelins with only 2-3psi over handbook to compensate for diesel engine weight.I think they are a good choice for the price, about 50% of Michelin.

In my eyes tire choice is extremely important as they are the only thing that connects your vehicle to the road so should not be overlooked. I've been running Ecsta KU-31's for about 17,000 miles now and they are reaching the end of their life, so I think its fair to say given a spirited driving style mostly country roads & roundabouts they really are a long lasting tire. Obviously this will fluctuating depending on the power of the vehicle fitted to.

These tires operate well in the dry, with very good behaviour feedback in regular conditions inspiring confidence in the driver, however on the extreme limit they can catch you out through oversteer/understeer with little warning, but even still they will not just let go as some other cheaper tires may. They always feel as if they want to hold on. Which is a reassuring feature.

They have a good level of comfort even though I have been using a low profile of 40. They are noticeably less competent in the wet/damp but not to the point of making the driver uneasy. I have used Eagle F1 gsd 2 & 3's in the past and I would not advise these as a direct comparison in performance as you WILL be dissapointed, but as a budget orientated "alternative" option that can be purchased up to nearly 50% les than some premium brands they are very desirable indeed! For sure they perform above their intended competitors bracket such as Falkens and other mid range tires. In fact compared to my previous Continental Sport Contact 2's, these are much better in every area.

One small criticism is they have fairly poor wheel protection with regard to kerbing your alloys, but many tires do not offer this. I would defnitely consider buying these again in the future, but I think I may change back to goodyear for that little extra performance even though a large price increase.

Overall Very good Performance vs Value tire.