I got my Kumho 712 street tires about a week ago and I am very
pleased with them. I was able to do several freeway entrance ramps
(including a full coverleaf just because it was there) and they were
definitely grippy enough, any more grip and you probably shouldn't be
driving that fast on the street! My previous street tires were
Bridgestone RE92 and Yokohama 509's. The Kumho's are better than
both of them. When I got home there was a small amount of tearing of
the tread visible at the inside edge of the outermost treadblocks. I
did a total of 6 hard left entrance ramps with them.
Last night we had some torrential rains here in the Boston area.
These were bad, the wipers on full fast weren't enough to keep up at
times. So of course I went out and did some high speed highway
driving. Initially I was disappointed, which surprised me since all
the reviews I read raved about the wet weather performance and the
tread pattern looks like it would be very good at water shedding.
Then I got the thinking that the rain I was in was really, really bad
and I was going about 20mph than anything else on the road and that
my lack of confidence at those speeds was visibility related, not
traction, the front end never felt light.
I got off the highway and did a high speed panic stop (with ABS) on a
downhill ramp. The car stopped quickly and with control. I like
that. I reentered the highway on a very nice decreasing radius turn
and found something very nice. These tires have excellent wet grip.
I was pulling some serious (for wet weather) gees on that ramp. Very
impressive.
Then to top it all off, on the side roads home I encountered a 3 to 4
inch deep puddle that completely covered my lane in the middle of a
curve. I instinctively slowed for it and it felt great, so I turned
around to do it again. I went through this about 20-30 mph (I wasn't
looking at my speedometer) and the car did NOT understeer which to me
meant it was NOT hydroplanning. I tracked around the curve through
3-4 inches of water. This really impressed me.
Given the tire's performance and price ($74 for a 205/55ZR16) and
Kumho and TireRack's commitment to our sport, I heartily recommend
these as a decent street tire.
(Note: I had one minor problem with the TireRack order, I ordered W
rated and they shipped Z rated, which I complained about via the
website but they have not responded yet. But still, given my past
ordering experience with TireRack (dating back at least 10 years) I
am not at all dissatisfied.)
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pZ
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Paul Cezanne (formerly Czarnecki)
Help the UN feed the world for free @ http://www.thehungersite.com
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