Got my Kumho's Ecsta Supra 712s installed today. I realized when I got them that I hadn't seen this tread pattern before. Not that it's anything unusual. I just recall seeing pics of the Toyos and Bridgestones on here. Some probably has posted it and I missed it, but just in case you haven't seen it and you're shoppin' for tires here it is!

Only 50 miles on them, so no review yet.....

 

The tires are great...might want to Photoshop away the babyshit tan Civic color you've got going on there...

 

Those 235/45 ?

 

Check his sig

AW - guess the apple doesnt fall too far from the tree

 

looks great but they're a tad skinny?

 

My S-03s own those




j/k, nice tires

 

I think my cheap ass is gonna end up going with Kumhos. I want Toyos but they're just too expensive...

 

Hey, can you post a pic of the sidewall? Thanks :P

 

Bitch!!

My car is not Inca Gold. Inca Gold is nasty!!



Bioyuki... I'll get that sidewall pic for ya tomorrow....

 

Hey man good luck with em. I like that big Hyrdo Tread. I still love the Dunlop Sport 5000s, but those got a nice tread design. Let me know how you like em, and break those fockers in so we can go to the track already. If you need help you got my cell number, later man.
Also, I love the Gold it stands out so nicely and looks awesome in person, you need to chrome those wheels. Anthony

 

Hmm wonder whats the biggest size I can get for the TL-S...CL rims are 17x7 vs 17x6.5 right?

 

I like more this pattern......

 

What are those?

 

see my sig.

 

i know for the CL-S stock rims, the largest size u can do is either 235/45 17's or 235/40 17's...Kumho does both sizes (i just checked), and they are W rated...not sure tho what the impact may be if u go with the 40 versus the 45 height, but one thing's for sure...they are pretty mean looking

my only concern is winter performance...wet traction is apparently pretty darn good, and here on Long Island, we do get snow, so i worry bout what im sacrificing in winter traction, if any, b/c i want the performance of these babies.

 

Here's one of mine, post-autocross.

 

I'll be trying my new Kumho's out in the mountains this weekend. Should were them down pretty well and get a good feel of the performance.

I'll be taking pics and maybe a video of the drive, provided my wife doens't get sick trying to look through the camera while being tossed around her seat.

 

follow up question...with this tread design, what happens when it comes time for rotation??

 

Please post a detailed review when you get a chance...I just ordered the Ecsta 712s 225/40-18 on some new 18" wheels, and I'd like to hear more about them!

They get incredible reviews at tirerack.com...an 8.5 rating on "would buy again", higher than most Pilot Sports and P-Zeros.

 

Well, I'll let Goldie add more when he has a few hundred / or thousand miles on em, but I love mine. I haven't noticed a noise level above the stocks, they stick like fawkin glue in the dry, and work like a shop-vac is in front of them in the wet (look at the size of the middle sipe!!! ). Cornering due to the additional grip is wonderful. I'l felt an appreciable increase in the stiffness of the sidewall, as evidenced by my picture above. Note that this is after an autocross (EXTREME cornering - more than you would EVER do on a road). With the stocks, I would inflate the fronts to 42-43 psi, with the kumhos, to stop roll-over (where the sidewall flexes enough to hit the pavement) I only had to have them at 36-38 psi.

So, I can't see how the toyos could be $300 better of a tire.

 

I wouldn't say you wouldn't do this on a road, depends on the road. But biy did the stocks roll-over...

Over a year ago I was heading down the moutain on the Foothill Pkwy in Eastern TN. I was coming down about a 5% grade doing about 70. There was a right hand turn coming up posted at 35 MPH so I feel fine coming into at 60. Just into it I noticed the radius decreasing all while it is has negative bank. Needless to say I had to get on the brakes quickly but with a good bit of the weight already on the front drivers tire it didn't take long to start shifting further. Off the brake and into a little throttle kept it going through the turn while straddling the center line.

The wouldn't have been nice, a good 100' drop off the side with tree half way down. Anyway, it was certainly thrilling and I look forward to traying the same area this weekend with the new tires.

 

Forget about running them in the snow -- it would not be a good idea at all. The 712s are not made for winter. It is a 3-season tire ONLY!

 

I'll pay the extra $300.00 for the Toyos, just for the load rating alone.

Some people can't see how paying the extra $2000 is worth it for the Type-S version of the CL too...



http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/ecsta.html

The above link has a old Yokohama A520 beating the Kuhmos out in the TireRack's head-to-head test.

The inexpensive and older A520 gets 7s and 8s in the perforance ratings, but the Kumhos get 6s and 7s in those same ratings and is slower around the track.

 

Each manufacturer builds their tire to different tolerances. And within those tolerances are "fudge factors". Apparently, my korean tire friends built enough fudge into their numbers so that I could run 12 runs of 40-50 seconds each of HARD CORNERING (which, BTW, was what I meant you couldn't do on the street...) and not even roll-over with less PSI than the stocks.

Additionally, yokies are known for their less than stellar treadwear - so I would HOPE that a tire that wears shorter, and whose road noise (which is somewhat a factor of the grip) is higher would out-perform the Kumho.

So - in terms of its usable price/performance, the Kumho still wins.

Besides - those tests are so subjective. It's a TIRE STORE telling you that.

The owner ratings of the Kumho exceed just about every tire they sell. That is the proof in the pudding to me.

 

So - in terms of its usable price/performance, the Kumho still wins. – YES, IN YOUR OPINION, not in the tire test they performed…

Hmmm... I notice that the tread is worn all the way to the edge of the outside of the tread block.

So, I guess you're saying Tire Rack skews one set of numbers, but not the others AND the tire test is rigged

It is the very fact that this "old" tire (the A520) beats the Kumho for about the same $$$, that makes me wonder about it. (Heck, we are talking ancient technology here.)

Lets face it, the stock tires are so "weak" in the stick department, that even reviewers have mentioned that fact in more recent articles (I'm talking about cars with the MXM4s -- great for gas mileage, terrible for handling)

I will spare the name of some tires, but owners here have put them on and raved about the improvement over stock.

Lets, face it, we need a tire test on the CLS -- not just any car. The suspension, weight, and car dynamics have a great impact on the way a given tire will work on a car.

-Enjoy-

 

I had S-02's... those were the best... now I got S-03.. it's da'shiz

 

Yep, check this link out re, S03, T1S, and the Kumhos 712s:

http://www.miatapower.net/w3archive/.../msg00144.html

"People in the Impreza turbocrowd are not very enthusiastic (to say the least) about the new tyre. It's got really soft sidewalls. A friend rallydriver took an S03-equipped Impreza turbo around the Nordschleife. Het got scared. According to him they just felt like wintertires. Looks like TOYO have a winner in their hands as long as the don't change the TS-1 (and the S02 in stock runs out).

Maybe the the lower weight and more low profile tires on a miata are helping the performance on that car.

Nico


----- Original Message -----
From: Jeremy Schuster
To: Daniel Godelfer ; miatapower@milewski.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 2:52 AM
Subject: RE: Tire choice of Power Listers...



The Bridgestone S03 Pole Position is my new favorite rain tire, and from the reviews at tirerack it may just become my favorite dry tire. I just got them a few days ago (switched from the terrible Kumho 712) and haven't really driven them in the dry, but in the wet they are without a doubt the best rain tire I've experienced. FWIW, I've owned or driven just about every tire known to man at some point, including the beloved T1S, RE71 (can't get them anymore :-( , SP8k (another good one, and cheaper too), AVSi, the aforementioned Kumhos, AO32R, A520... "

 

Sure - in pure performance only, it wins. Is one point in handling worth $60 to myself and the budget-minded? no. If I had unlimited cash would I get the T1S or something better? of course!

Yeah - no offence, but unless you've been to an autocross (and I don't mean just one), you don't know jack about what is considered good wear.

Non-autocross tires (eventually on the way - FROM KUMHO ) will always have too much sidewall flex. There's a guy that is in the club I race with that has Yoko AVS Sports - and he has to inflate them to 38-40 to prevent roll-over. Incidentally, no one at any autocross I've been to has T1Ss - BUT I've seen the Victoracers (their competition tire) and 712s on several cars - and had people buy Kumhos because of the performance I got. Anyway - as long as the wear doesn't extend beyond the tread block (my tire is a perfect showing of how far it should extend, actually).

Besides - I could care less about convincing you - you already wasted $60 per tire in my opinion. However, others that bought them clearly did so for the right reasons.

So anyway - back to this absurd argument.

You see, I will sacrifice $200 for a slightly lesser tire. I doubt the T1S has better tread life, so I'll assume they are the same. That being the case, I still got a better deal.

So - EricL - buy me some T1S and I'll put 'em on at an autocross, change tires, and tell you the difference. And I'll keep your overpriced tires for my 2nd set.

And BTW - don't take this so seriously - it's all good.

 

I simply responded to your “value” comparison. I did actually look around at reviews on the tires, and my criteria was max load rating and max performance.

Well, if you want to get me some Kumho 700s -- I'll take 'em in a minute...

I've used to drive at Riverside (when it was open), and I have bought a ton of different makes of tires (some good, some bad, even some that were made completely of release compound.)

Now that you have clearly expressed your desire to “have” extended tread life – enjoy that. I’ve found numerous reviews on various forums that commend the Kumho 712 for “value”, but also hear the same comment over-and-over about it not measuring up to RE-730, Yokos, and other tires.

I simply responded to your $300.00 critique. You have finally made clear that $$$ is paramount, and I am willing to max $$$ for max performance. AS much as I like high G loads, the ability to stop in wet, dry, and in all “local” surfaces is what is important to me (considering how bad the drivers are around town).


No sense arguing “taste” in tires – less expensive (tastes great)…