In response to Brian's tire question.
Just thought I start adding more data points to the stew. I love my 195/55
14 Kumhos. I run a 1994 Miata R with Konis. I run 37psi in the front and
33psi in the back. Tires don't seem as stiff as the R1s or G-Farces. I'm
getting about 100 autocross runs per set of tires. Our courses average
about 50 seconds.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian M Kennedy <kennedy@i2.com>
To: Autox <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 1999 4:17 AM
Subject: Kumho Variance (Was: kumho crack)
> Wow! What a diverse set of answers I've gotten in this thread!
>
> I asked about the crack I have in my sidewall and was told answers
> from "its common, ignore it" to "you're gonna die!" (well, almost ;^).
> I talked to Kumho, and they said it was due to the tread cap rubber
> separating from the sidewall rubber -- a cosmetic problem, but not
> a performance or safety issue.
>
> And then others chimed in with circumferential cracks in their tread,
> and others with perpendicular cracks in their tread (ye ol' mold seam).
>
> Some have blamed under-inflation (definitely NOT the cause in my case),
> while others disagree. And that led to an amazing diversity in what
> people set pressures at. Some are running in the 40's (mine get quite
> slippery above 35), while others run around 30 (definitely my choice).
>
> Some have asserted that Kumhos deform a lot; others consider them quite
> stiff. Once I had a slow leak in my valve stem which resulted in my
> pressure dropping to 15#. Visually, it didn't deflect at all -- but I
> went ahead and checked the pressures anyway because the steering response
> didn't feel right, and to my surprise it was way low. I thought then --
> man, those are stiff tires!
>
> In contrast, the answers on the M3 list to such Kumho questions seem to be
> very uniform -- everybody has independently come up with roughly the same
> answers for tire pressures, etc.
>
> So, my QUESTION: Do different size Kumhos vary a lot in behavior?
> Is it the use of oversized tires causing the diversity?
> Or is it the different weight distributions? FWD vs. RWD?
> Differences in suspension geometry? All of the above?
>
> Just curious, an interesting revelation; comments?
>
> Brian
> 98 M3/4 CSP Kumho 245/45/17's on 8" and 9" rims
>
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