I bought these tires to replace an old set of Dunlops that were mounted when I bought the wheels these Ultracontacts are now mounted to. As my car only has 14 inch wheels, it's not easy to find tires that aren't budget offerings (I live in Europe), but these were one of the few premium tires I could get in the correct size. I drove on the (albeit old and lightly worn) Dunlops for about 2 months before replacing and the difference was immediately noticeable!
These tires are definitely way more than my almost 40 year old Mazda can handle, there are no issues with traction loss on the front wheels when powering out of tight corners in the dry (not a low bar to clear when the car has less than 75hp). They're a comfortable tire for long distances, not very noisy and they absorb bumps fairly well, although I would subjectively rate the Hankook Kinergy's on my other car higher in comfort. Only in the wet do you start to notice the tire struggle somewhat, but they always stay linear and predictable. I didn't have much issues when dealing with puddles at lower speeds as they are very predictable, but can struggle with aquaplaning when exceeding rural speeds.
After a little over 5000 miles in the past year I still haven't noticed any differences compared to when the tires were brand-new and they have only lost a bit of tread depth. I'm pretty sure I'll get at least a good 25k miles or another few years out of them before having to replace them, but I'd be happy to buy them again when the time comes!
These tires are definitely way more than my almost 40 year old Mazda can handle, there are no issues with traction loss on the front wheels when powering out of tight corners in the dry (not a low bar to clear when the car has less than 75hp). They're a comfortable tire for long distances, not very noisy and they absorb bumps fairly well, although I would subjectively rate the Hankook Kinergy's on my other car higher in comfort. Only in the wet do you start to notice the tire struggle somewhat, but they always stay linear and predictable. I didn't have much issues when dealing with puddles at lower speeds as they are very predictable, but can struggle with aquaplaning when exceeding rural speeds.
After a little over 5000 miles in the past year I still haven't noticed any differences compared to when the tires were brand-new and they have only lost a bit of tread depth. I'm pretty sure I'll get at least a good 25k miles or another few years out of them before having to replace them, but I'd be happy to buy them again when the time comes!