Kumho Ecsta KU39

I bought this tires because of the reviews I read comparing to the price. The previous were Continental Contact 5 which costed double price at the time.
Exceptional handling in dry and almost the same in wet. It will not wear visibly but I think it starts to show its age in 4 maybe 5 years!

I've had these KU39 tires on the rear of my BMW 520d touring for the last 14 months. Unfortunately 1 tire blew out through the side wall whilst towing a caravan, however I blame it on the pot holes and state of the roads. The other rear tire has just reached its end of life at 20,500 miles, and whilst I could drive another 2000-3000 miles the winter is approaching and its better to get some extra depth of tread.

This is the 3rd set of Kumho's I've had on my BMW and I do enjoy them. They are quite, comfortable and grippy both wet and dry. The last set I had lasted 23,000 miles, so these ones are a little less. Generally they wear similar to Hankook tires but are cheaper, although I've found I can get longer wear out of Contiental tires, but they are not as comfortable as the Kumho's.

Not bad in the dry do tend to understeer if fast cornering with higher and lower psi, I’ve read some reviews about these in the wet and I find them bad in the wet I wouldn’t have the same confidence in them as I would in the dry ( summer tires ) I only have the car a few months but I’ll try a different set when the time comes and then compare

Overall the tires are nice. They are good value for money, and feel safe, even if you are driving them a bit harsher, if you know how to control the slip angle of the tires, in spirited driving. Now, the sidewall is soft, so soft that I had to inflate the tire over the recommended pressure by 2 PSI. This was to get rid of understeer in the dry. Amazingly enough, the understeer is most noticable when doing slow corners if the tires are under inflated. On the motorways, the tires have never failed me or made me lose trust, not even once. On the country roads however... Acquaplaning can be an issue if it is a very wet day, and you are driving conservatively. It was for me at least. For me, this tire shines on the motorway. The noise is low, the comfort is high. Even in a low profile such as the one in my car. Overall, for the price of tires, they are not bad. I would get them again if they were on a promotion. I would recommend.

Excellent dry grip for the price. Wet grip is average, not dangerous but will spin up when you put your foot down. Sidewalls are very hard so they are a bit noisey and harsh.
Overall a good tire for the price

I have bought these tires to the rear wheels for my 2007 BMW X3 3.0sd (twin turbo 286 HP, 6 automatic gearbox, four wheel drive version) in May 2017. Now, the time is October 2019 and the tires have been used for 22000 miles since new in 3 summer seasons (mostly from April to November).
GRIP: Dry Grip: Very good overall, but it is not excellent like a Michelin Pilot Sport or Continental Sport Contact.
Wet Grip: Very good overall.
Offroad usage: Satisfactory. I have even used them on bushy, grassy and muddy offroads. Only once I had a risk of staying (bushy and muddy conditions with slight uphill were together), but my X3's electronic systems have helped to go inch by inch! Else they were very good in handling and traction.
BRAKING: Dry and wet : Very safe.
Offroad : Safe enough.
WEAR: Expected life of the tires are around 30000 miles according to current wear figures. Also, tires are very durable against unusual knocks created by potholes and bumps (ps: I have used 42-45 psi tire pressure, recommended tire pressure of the BMW is 42psi for maximum loaded car, once a month, I check the tire pressures, and approximately 3 psi loss per month could be faced)
DRIVING STYLE: 80% 50MPH average speed drive (60 mph in German and Austrian Highways!). 1% offroad usage. Around 6000 kms, Ukrainian roads and offroads have been used with extreme potholes, bumps. (My left front suspension has been broken because of Ukrainian roads!)
BUY AGAIN: Yes. They are very good in performance/price measure.

Tire wall too soft, will bend during heavy cornering
Wear is quite good actually
Tire started showing cracks early in his life. Will not buy again.

Premium tires at mid range prices. Pleasantly surprised how good these tires are, replacing a set of Continental EcoContacts. Handles very well in the dry, turn in is much sharper than the Contis, making the vehicle much more nimble, yet comfort and noise is outstanding, absorbs bumps very well considering these are 45 profile ultra performance tires, with very little road roar compared with the Contis, it transformed the whole character of the car. Wear rate should be good at 280. Sporty looking tread pattern, with squared off shoulders. Haven't had much chance to test them properly in the wet yet. I would definitely buy these again.

Seem to be really good tires- had gt radial sport active fitted previously which were absolutely awful in the wet and changed because these were so bad in the wet. The kuhmo are so much better and grip really well in the wet and dry grip is superb- the price is really competative about £110 a tire compared to £160 ish for premium tires. Wear seems fine so far to as some reviews say they wear really quickly. Only slight negative is they do seem a bit noisy on certain road surfaces. For the price they are a great all round tire and would have no hesitation about buying them again

The new KU39 sided versions are way better than the previous models.

Still running the old version on the front and will replace with the latest KU39s asap.

Decent all round tire which is fine for my MR2 Turbo as they are a bit lairy in the wet!

Fitted these to replace the ageing Cinturato P6 tires that were on my Lancer when I bought it. The old tires were lacking grip, starting to get noisy and had premature tire squeal when driving hard.
Fitted 4x KU39 from Tempe Tires in Sydney.
Upsized from 215/45/R18 to 225/45/R18 on the stock 7.5in.

Tires were fantastic. Loads more grip right off the bat. Drove the car home after the tires were fitted on the freeway for 2 hours in the pounding rain. No issues.
Nice stiff sidewall so no feeling of washiness or roll. Loads of grip wet and dry for what they are and low tire noise (at least for the 10 months I used them)

Unfortunately the car they were on was written of by a red light runner who T-boned me so only put 15,000kms on the tires, but they were still going strong after roughly a year.

Will definitely buy again.

I am better at speaking in English than writing it. sorry for my bad enlgish but i hope you understand!

Dry grip; 8. Well.... when it is summer the tires are great! Only when it is below under 7 degrees the tires want to do a step aside. But... If you drive sportive you never have a unsafe feeling in summer.

Wetgrip; 7. If you drive in the rain with a normal road you have 0% stress about the grip, even in roundabouts or in turns on a 60mile motorway the tire go's wherever you want to go there is no complains about. However. If there is aquaplanning (i dont know if this word is correct cause i'm dutch and here in the Netherlands you have aquaplanning alot), the Kumho's KU39 struggle's with the water... only option is to slow down the speed or doing two hands on your steering wheel! But if you know this and you seeing alot of water on the road you can lowing your speed for like 10km/h's and there are no problems.

Road Feedback; 9. The Kumho's give you always the feeling what's happening. And that's the reason why i love them.

Handling; 10. When you go with to much speed around the corner most tires you go in to a slip . These tires don't!!! In all the 37.5000 miles and my sportive drivenstile i have no unsafe feeling when i realy push hard. When you think; Oh shit mayby i'm late to take the corner. No problem... when you want to take a corner on your right... you go that way you want!

Wear; 10. AWESOME. I have an Alfa Romeo 147 JTD 140hp 340nm and i'm drive normal for like 90% of the time. Only i have my moments like everyone.... and then i realy pushed hard around the corners. Sometimes i leave with wheelspin by the trafficlights, or have slippy tires when i go hard in a sharp turn.

I driven 37.500 miles (60.000km) on 1 set Kumho's KU39 front tires!!! That's alot. Only they are now gone, and when they are born like now, you have not much grip but it is cold outside and i think that is normal when the tires have 1.6mm left.

Comfort; 10; No complains about the comfort the sidewall is not soft but bad roads are no problem for the tires (or your back)

Buy Again; 6. Well it is very hard to find tires who are 100% what you want IMO. But i tink if you looking for a cheap tire that makes you happy in all conditions buy the Kumho for sure. If you live in a country where it rains all day mayby you have to look at another tire like the Uniroyal rainsport 3 (only with aquaplanning you have to pay attention on the road), but if you live in Italy, Kroatië or another warm country the Kumho's ku39 are perfect for you!!!

I give this time the change to Michelin Pilot Sport 4. They are much expensiver then Kumho's..... but YOLO. You can spend out your money 1 time in you life!

Have not had these long, but weather in Ireland is wet and dry so in a short time it has had good experience on all sorts of roads and conditions. They perform as well as Goodyear Efficient Grip in all areas except one! Rolling resistance must very very high! Averaging 45MPG before i am lucky to break 40MPG now and i only fitted them on the front. Makes a big different over a lot of miles, and wont recover the reduced cost of the tires. Sorry Kumho, not again!

I have been running these tires for a couple of years now. Exceedingly good braking response in the wet, by trying REALLY hard I can just get the ABS to kick in on a soaking wet road. Not the quietist of tires but certainly not the noisiest either. Longevity has exceeded my expectations. 27000 miles out of pair fitted to the front (drive) axle of a 185 BHP Mazda 6. Just bought another two because they offer excellent value for money and I KNOW I can stop in the wet!! Amazing that tires costing nearly three times as much have a much worse wet braking rating. If it all goes wrong I want to know I can stop!!

I'm writing this via google translate as my english is not that good.

I ordered these tires as a friend recommended them. He even drove on the track and these tires, the Kumho Escta Le Sport (KU39) were great tires for street use and possibly a roundabout circuit.

The tires have almost no limit on dry asphalt if they are well-driven. Can bend very hard without losing my grip. Rather; Never lost grip. The tires are somewhat uncomfortable, but I knew that because the XL version was ordered. Also at high speeds, 200km / h the tire gives a lot of feedback and keeps handling, for example, to send left / right to pass a car without the tires getting sluggish, giving you a safe feeling.

Be very satisfied with these Kumho's on dry roads.

On wet roads, the Kumho's also have sufficient grip on bends. Only what I find so strange is that the tires have enough grip on a normal wet road. And lose their grip on aquaplaning and give you an unsafe feeling.

That's the only thing to complain about.

Have the tires now 20.000miles. And there is still a profile. So the wear is very good.