Dry grip and value are the clearest strengths of the Kumho Ecsta KU31 in generally positive owner feedback. Wet grip also attracts substantially more praise than criticism, though some drivers find it less reassuring in rain. Tread life and noise are usually viewed favorably, with later-use accounts including good mileage, but both also draw a sizeable minority of complaints. A smaller group reports increasing noise as the tread wears, sometimes alongside uneven wear. Most returning owners remain positive, while two are less satisfied in later accounts, so there is no uniform ageing pattern. Several replacement-mileage accounts support useful life without establishing one dependable lifespan.
What owners mention most counted across 141 reviews
These SPT KU31 tires (non run flat) are utterly outstanding value for money. There is no excuse for anybody to opt for unknown and budget tires with products like this on the market. I have had 3 sets of these tires so far. The initial appeal was the wet weather grip as it is constantly raining here in the UK but an added benefit was the aesthetics of the tread design. So many more outstanding properties prevailed from the Dunlop SP Sport 01 tires they replaced. Great feedback, dynamic stability, directionality, high speed predictability, fuel efficiency and road noise insulation.
In summary, these tires are perfectly suited for small to mid sized performance hatches. The polymer compound is not suited to heavier saloons etc as the wear rate will drastically increase.
I will buy again and again.
63%
Member
Citroën
215/55 R16 V
15,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Easy Going
Please read this before you choose this tire.
I did my homework and looked at all the reviews but ignored the comments about these tires as they wear down..
The reviews were 100% correct great tire when new but after 5,000 miles it's like somebody has changed your tires over night. Poor grip - noise but worst of all it sounds like your wheel bearings have gone...
Even looked at changing the car but decided to buy some new tires (Cheaper than buying a new car) gone for Hankook Optimo 4S ....just want to say I'm keeping my car go to the Hankook review to find out why...
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Don't expect award winning levels of grip, this is a run flat tire after all. In Australia this tire is about $100 cheaper per tire than equivalent run flat Continental, Dunlop, Bridgestone and Pirelli products. I have tried all the before mentioned brands and noise exempt Kuhmo leaves the rest of the competition behind. Rotation of tires every 5000km's is essential to achieve life out of these tires. Inadequate rotation will also result in a dramatic increase in tire noise. These tires are cheap in price not in build quality and excellent all round performer where run flats are required.
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Bought these to replace the Continentals that previously came with the wheels I purchased. Bought it mainly for the price and also based on the recommendation of friends. I must say that these tires didn't dissapoint me one bit. I feel it grips the road better than my old Contis. Outstanding value for the money. Will definitely buy again.
Great grip and quiet tires. But after just 4,000 miles they are about half worn. I also had continentals put on the rear of my Mazda 6 at the same time, and they are down by about 1mm in the same time/miles.
Good tires but wear far to quickly. Next time would pay a few quid more for something longer lasting.
I was running Pirelli P6 in 205/60r15 and got the Kumhos second hand with a set of AMG rims I bought. They're undersize for the rims and my speedo and are about half worn, so I've been deciding on replacement brands in a 215/45r17 sports tire, so was being particularly attuned to what these Kumhos were like as opposed to others at similar prices, and whether it was worth quite a bit extra to go top shelf instead.
As far as purchasing goes, in these smaller sizes the KU31 is about the same price as budget mid-performance tires. Straight up that's a big plus in its favor, although at a larger 235/40r17 size they're a similar price to the top shelf brands and would have to compare to those on merits alone.
Compared to the Pirelli P6 the KU31 is definitely a softer compound, it responds better to warming but has slightly less initial resistance to dry wheelspin during hard upshifts when cold, but with better progression as they quickly heat. They don't seem to fully let go and so offer more confidence than the shopping trolley Pirellis, although I've no doubt they'll wear at several times the rate.
In the wet the grip is miles ahead of the P6 and the Kumhos feel much safer operating at speed.
In highway driving steering is very direct and the car is noticably more stable than with the P6, even being subject less to crosswinds. These are tires which will definitely be complemented by stiffer aftermarket suspension tuning to give a good race kind of feel.
They're extremely noisy tires at low speeds, when rolling they almost sound like worn brake pads from the cabin. Their highway and wet performance is easily worth the hit, given the budget price range in my desired sizes.
If you were going to go for large tires in 18" diameters and 235+ tread sizes I'd say it might be worth considering other high performance brands in the price range these jump to. But in 215x17 and other smaller sizes they're dirt cheap and perform like something that costs hundreds more to fit your car with.
Used them on a 1.6, 105 bhp Dacia fitted with Eibach suspension.
Very good when new and kept getting better up until about 2-3 mm to the wear mark.
First they start grinding at the road :). Then they start to give away under heavy breaking and when pulling away.
And in the end, after about 30.000 km of abuse and only 1 mm of thread left until the wear sign, the front ones start to give up and float on water. The rear ones still have about 4 mm down to the wear mark.
Time to be replaced.
Going for the Kumho Solus KH17 as the ECSTA SPT KU31 are very hard to find at the tire dealers as they only sell either Conti's, Bridgestone, Michelins or china made crap.
Only tire in stock but very good looking tire. Snow okay. Wet performance and braking excellent. Dry pretty good. Definitely a good sports tire for on track use. Unfortunately very loud for road use. Doesn't bother me unless I'm doing motorway journeys
On fitting absolutely fine. No issues with them other than wear. Less than 4 months (c10k miles) and they are down to the wear markers. Meanwhile the conti's I had fitted a year ago have done 8 months on the front (including a lot of towing the caravan over summer) and switched to the rear 4 months ago still have a couple of mm left as legal. The Khumo's have not done any towing and mostly motorway miles for work. Shocking. Will be spending £20-30 extra per corner next time for a premium brand - these are budget tires with mid range cost.
The dry grip is OK, the wet grip so-so. These are very hard tires (probably helped by load index 97), so feedback and driving precision are not the best. My main complaint is that they are quite noisy, which was confirmed when the efficiency/noise labels were published. I also have had quite a lot of problems balancing one of them, and it's not the rim or suspension because it balances OK with another tire on. The wear is average verging on good, 10000 miles and they've just been swapped to the rear (and a diesel vectra is really front-heavy). Even though the price was good, I won't buy them again for noise and balancing problems.
I bought these as replacements for the Michelin Primacy tires originally fitted to my Citroen C5 2.7HDi. I have been extremely pleased with them - they provide similar levels of grip (wet/dry), are quieter and have a more comfortable ride. Most of the driving I do is motorway and the Kumho's have done over 30,000 miles and still have another 5-10,000 miles of wear left in them (the Michelins were down to the legal limit in 29,000 miles). I would definitely buy them again (they cost just over half the equivalent Michelins and there is no noticable difference in fuel consumption).
