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
Great Tires when new, but boy, do they change when you have miles on them, done about 10,000 miles on them still about 2.1mm of tread left but scare the living daylights out of me in the wet, cannot get any decent traction.
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MG ZT-T Cdti 2003 Great Tires tried many over the years including the £200+ BRAND tires and the £70 budgets, personally i would never ever buy cheat japanese budgets, Kumhos hold the road very well and pretty good quality rubber on then that really stick to the road in wet and dry, normally get 15k-20K out of them but i drive quiet hard, when balanced up performance price ETC these are a brillaint mid range tire
Bought these for my 2005 Audi A8 (D3) to replace the very noisy Bridgestone RE30's that were on the car. My main concern with a replacement tire was road noise (since the A8 is such a quiet car, road noise from the tires is more noticeable). The Kumho's were indeed much better for road noise (quieter), and with the softer side walls compared to the Bridgestones, bumps were less intrusive.
I had two on the front of the car fitted in Sept 2011, then two fitted on the rear in May 2012. The rears are still pretty much new, but the fronts (understandably) are now around 3mm after approx 12k miles. The only issue I have, is that both front tires have worn out completely on the outer edge (more noticeable on the passenger side than drivers), to the point that it's now smooth. The tires are still legal, due to the tread pattern being complete and above the legal limit. I've had the tracking checked, and is okay. The tires are always inflated correctly too.
I find it odd that other people on here have written the same in their reviews too.
I have an Audi A4 Avant 1.9TDI, I replaced all four tires from Pirelli p6000 to these after doing research on the best budget tires I could afford, I paid £223 for all 4 to be fitted through blackcircles.
These tires were fitted at 171231 miles and the two front have just gone under the legal limit and the two back are on 1.8mm, the car has now done 190107 miles so just short of 19k in 2.5 years since being fitted, mostly motorway and country roads.
Handling in the wet they were good never gave me any worries turning at speed, in the dry excellent and even in the snow they seemed to handle okay much better than the P6000's and the road noise was very quiet you did not need to turn up the stereo if you were doing 70+.
the only down side is the tires on the front have both worn out on the inside shoulders, were as the rest of the tread is still road worthy, now I had the tracking done on my car the same day the tires were fitted as was advised by the garage it needed to be done so would have hoped for an even wear to the tread.
I was looking to replace for the same tires again but they have gone up and now £265 for 4 to be fitted, so have found the following Vredestein Sportrac 5 £275 fitted they have better reviews on here so getting fitted in a few days
I really like these. They provide good levels of adhesion and
feedback and yet remain quiet and very comfortable. My car has slightly modified suspension and these tires really seem to suit the set-up.
I don't do track, but do occasionally drive spiritedly when it's safe to do so and I've always felt perfectly in control. Tire wear after 7K miles seems minimal so all in all a very acceptable tire
Fantastic Tire, I bought a complete set of these tires for my saab 9-3 tid.i previously had event tires and they were good in the dry but dangerous in the wet. after reading some reviews of the kumhos i decided to buy a set of them 225/40/18 (£320)the best thing i have ever bought, my saab is more stable at high speeds and cornering expescially in wet conditions. my saab has been remapped twice producing 204bhp and 450 lb torque so it likes to wheelspin all the time all-though it does still wheelspin it is easier to control.
I have purchase quite a few Kumhos for my two Mercedes cars. But after having the wall de-laminating on one and a wall blow out on another, and now a third tire showing early signs its going the same way I am getting concerned. I see other buyers have experience wall blow out. This is a real shame because up to this point I loved the Kumhos. Usually the walls blow out after increased road noise and a darkened rubber line starts to appear around the middle of the circumference of the whole wall. The outer part of the wall splits open revealing the inner soft wall still in tact. But the soft wall blows through suddenly. All this can happen on one long journey or over a month or so depending on how you drive. All my tires had coeect pressures and no puncture repairs. Two of the tires were only a year old. Kumho refunded for the first tire. The second exploded on the M25 in lane 3. The third tire is on its way back to Kumho for an inspection. Gone back to Pirelli now and its like the cornflake taste. I forgot how good it feels to drive on good tires.
I have had two tire wall failures and a third tire is going back for a safety inspection. Already received one refund from Kumho because of outer wall de-laminating from inner wall. Second tire had blow out to wall on M25 while in lane 3. My wife managed to keep control of our car and get to the emergency lane. Breakdown service attended and said the wall had failed on the tire which was less than a year old. Third tire showing early signs of wall failure impending. I hope I am wrong because I like these tires but not if the walls are going to keep failing. These wall failure have occured or two different vehicle, alltires were correctly inflated and had no puncture repairs. Other brands of tires on the same cars have not had wall failures. Steve
81%
Member
Ford
195/50 R15 V
13,000 miles
Mostly Country Roads
Spirited
Overall a very good tire in my view, Good road feedback and good on the limit, lets you know when your on the limits. Not bad in the wet either, although i did find was prone to loosing grip if pushed without giving much notice.
I did find they didnt last as long as other tires however, sold the car after driving 13000 miles on them and wasnt alot of tread left
