A few weeks ago, one of the crappy Michelins blew out while I was doing 80+ on CA I-15. Thank goodness VSA stopped me from losing control.

I decided to replace them with Kumho Ecsta SPT's:
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...d=17&ar=50&ct=


I had them put the Kumhos in the front.

While road noise was better and traction under WOT was much better than the Michelins, I noticed that my car understeers heavily. At first, I thought it was simply my alignment. After getting my alignment adjusted yesterday (toe on 3 wheels was out of spec), the car still understeers heavily compared to the stocks.

Anyone have feedback on what can be causing this? Is it a result of running different tires on the rear vs. front? Or did the Michelins actually have another stongpoint outside of high treadlife?

 

Wow, glad you're alright man. Glad you had VSA on too.

Maybe you have to break the tire in a bit or something? I can't seem to reconcile the fact that the Michelins might be better with lateral grip than the Kuhmos. But that's what seems to be the case though.

 

i'm going to go with the fact your running mis-matched tires

my SPT's are working just fine on the new 18's I bought

 

Mismatching tires...

 

Are you saying that you shouldn't mis-match on different axels?

I've done this tons of times with my Integra and Eclipse that were both FWD. In some cases, the different grips actually handled BETTER. However, to say that it was all done by design would be stretching the truth. I'm not saying its 100% right, but I don't recall it being a bad thing or a safety risk by having different tires on different axels. If you're talking about mismatched tires on the same axle, that's a different story.

I ran
1. Dunlop SP W-10's (R) w/ Nitto Extremes (F)
2. Dunlop SP W-10's (R) w/ Yokohama AVS ES-100's (F)

Both combos felt better than running all (4) of the Dunlops or Yokos.

However, this is the first time that I've mismatched a very poor-handling tire (Michelins) with a Z-rated performance tire. I guess there's a reason they tell you not to do it.

 

i think you just answered your own question

 

DUDE...You should have asked before putting those things on. I have them and I hate them. I liked my 712's so much better...

 

What don't you like about the Kumhos?

 

Are you experiencing extremely soft steering as well?

I gunned the TSX on the on ramp yesterday and it felt like the car was out of control -- almost slammed into a car.

 

I like my Kumho SPT's, hmmmmm.

What tire pressure you using.
Too much air pressure up front will cause understeer, as well as too little, also if it's cold out the Kumhos turn into rocks which will cause understeer.

Lastly, you have to wear off the release agent Kumho used in the molding process and scrub all of it off....as well as the oxidation which occurred while the tires sat on the shelf. Some people say to drive it 200 miles or so to scrub it off, but if that 200 miles were grandma driving then you didn't scrub off the shoulders at all, therefore you should be sliding around on slippery tires.

FWIW
Bad tires front=understeer
Bad tires rear=oversteer
Good tires front=oversteer
Good tires rear=understeer

 

Well Im glad to see at least one guy is happy with the SPTs. I already pre-paid for a set of these and my new wheels and I was beginning to second guess my decision after reading the last two comments.

 

All I can say is that the grip is NOT the same as the 712's I used to have. And under stress, these things squeal a lot sooner then the 712's did.

I'm just not as confident with them as I was with the 712's.

 

Im assuming the 712's were on your TSX?

How long have you been driving with the SPTs and what size are they?

I used to have a set of 712's on my old DA and honestly I thought they were OKAY if that. I decided on the SPT's based upon reviews I found on honda-tech but now Im reconsidering, if I do change my mind Ill probably go with the same tires I always get... Yokohama ES100's.

 

Yes.

About 6 months now, 225/40/18

Well, if you thought the 712's were just OK, then your really going to be dissapointed with the SPT's.

 

Ya see, I have had the Kumho SPT's for 2 summers and find them great, especially for the price. I have even autocrossed twice with them (running 1/2 of an actual race track) and they performed on par with my old Falken Azenis's I have run there before... BTW been autocrossing for 13 years, instructed @ various race tracks, and organized lapping events for 5 years straight.

SPT's are great daily spirited driving tires, and are worth the $, that's my opinion, but not all people drive alike and expect different things from different tires. Some people can have an awesome tire under them, but drive it into the ground and not make good use of the tire, while others can have an okay tire and outperform (use it's full potential) someone with a much lesser set-up. I would list the SPT's up there with:
Kumho MX
Falken RT-615
Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212
Yokohama ES 100

All of which are excellent tires and in the hands of a skilled driver can out perform much better and much, much more expensive tires in the hands of a novice.

Not sure on other brands as I haven't used them.

 

While I'm not a "trained" driver like you might be, with all other things being equal, there is a significant difference in traction between the 712's and the SPT's. Period. I dont need to have autocrossed for 13 years to figure that one out.

 

I never said the 712's had more or less traction than the SPT's, I'm just giving my personal experience with the SPT's compared to other tires in the class. A close friend of mine and a 2 time SCCA National Solo Champion ran the 712's in STS years ago and both liked the tires. 712's were good tires

For some reliable data refer to Tire Racks tests (Slalom, Braking, Skidpad)...not there opinion poll which gets muddled up by people.
Although they didn't compare the 712 vs. SPT, they did compare them both in separate tests to the ES100 so you can see how the SPT performs better than the 712, especially in the wet.
SPT vs. ES100
712's vs. ES100

Inkedub you bought a great tire for the $.... Hope this helps you feel better about your purchase.

 

I feel ALOT better after taking a look at the test results. Im going to stick with the SPT's.

thanks for posting those links

 

i had 712's on my previous ride but i hated them. way too slippery when wet, so i ended up siping them. SPT shoud be a improved model but i'm not hearing good feedback from people either.

 

Could be a combination of things. First, you mismatched tires.

And second, are you ready for this...odd as it sounds, the tires with more tread go on the rear axle. I read this before in a Road & Track magazine tire guide. I was recently reminded by instructions on the back of my Sears Auto Center receipt too.

Besides, it's a $30k car! Be nice to your car, go get another pair.

 

Thanks for sharing that. I'm personally shocked to see how the SPT actually beats out one of my all-time, all-around favorites in the ES-100:



Obviously, I'm hoping the numbers are accurate. It could be a case of the release agent you mentioned earlier. However, I've almost driven 200 miles already and it still feel scary when driving aggressively.

 

True -- but that also translates into:

Blow one tire = replace all 4 every time

 

After a month on the new Kuhmo's, I have an update.

The understeering never went away. It was so bad, there were instances on the freeway where I had to exaggerate my steering in a mild turn.


I decided to rotate the tires with the new ones on the rear axle like you mentioned. The car feels MUCH better now. Steering is more precise and overall handling is improved.

The downside is the Michelins screaming like a whore under light throttle from a complete stop.

 

I think you should try to sell your used one and bought 2 new one for the front. It's hard to judge if your setup is screwing you up or the new Kumho itself screwing you up.

I'm looking for new performance summer tires as well, most likely the Bridgestones RE750.

 

no big deal..

 

Big bump...

Inkedup, I am thinking of getting these tires (Kumho Ecsta SPT) and wanted to know what your impressions were if you did eventually get them?

 

I'm running the SPT (225/45 R18) on my 06 Accord and for the price, I can't be happier. They're relatively quiet (granted I only have 4000 miles on them), stick to the road very well, handle turns decently, and sail through downpour effortlessly. And I paid less than $100 a pop for them.

My Accord came standard with Michelin Energy and there's no comparison between these and the SPT.

I had ES100 before and the SPT are very close in performance but with less noise and less $$$. I have Dunlop Direzza on my TL and the SPT kills them in the traction department.

 

Thanks!!


Getting tired of the stocks squealing through every corner, even when I am <20mph...