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I have had good luck with Yokohama replacements.

But if Michelin Pilots are less than $200 more for the set, I get the Michelins.

I also keep my cars for a long time.

I have bought and thrown away a bunch of tires in my 68 years. At this point if it doesn't say Michelin on the side I pass. The set on my '05 PT Cruiser has 78,000 miles on them and still excellent traction and decent tread. Same can be said of the OEM Michelins on my wife's 2012 Edge and it is up to 60,000 miles now.

I got a blow out on a SUNDAY in San Luis Obispo, and the only way I could get out of town (because ALL the tire shops were closed), was to go to Sears and buy what they had. So now I got a $153 tire sitting in my garage that I will never use. Grrrrrrrr .......

The 2015 Consumer Reports Buying Guide lists 3 tires in the Kumho Ecsta series, but not those specific ones. They are generally around middle to bottom third of the list. Biggest problems are winter driving (not an issue for you) and tread life (which is average or below average).

Not sure how much that helps, but that's what I can offer!

I've got Continental tires (still the ones from when I bought my car... I guess German cars get German tires!)

tbn.al wrote:I have bought and thrown away a bunch of tires in my 68 years. At this point if it doesn't say Michelin on the side I pass. The set on my '05 PT Cruiser has 78,000 miles on them and still excellent traction and decent tread. Same can be said of the OEM Michelins on my wife's 2012 Edge and it is up to 60,000 miles now.

This is one of the few things in life that are better now than they were 30 years ago.

MUCH better!!

Since many modern tires are very good, an area sometimes overlooked is the amount of road noise produced.

Also, some "fuel efficient" tires have poorer stopping ability.

If you drive responsibly, lateral traction can be compensated for.

But you have to stop, and stop well.

And I prefer to do so quietly!!

I assume you know that Kumho tires are made in either Korea or China (three plants in China). Consumer Affairs doesn't have much good to say about Kumho.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/tires/kumho.html

I've been buying Michelin's for years without a complaint. Yes, I know, they are expensive.

bloke wrote:Since Wade later made it very clear that he's only seeking information on a certain make/model of tires - and I know nothing about those tires - I feel that I should continue to post in this thread.

They've probably sold 20 sets of these tires in N. America over the last 2 years.

You think 1 of say, 20 guys on a tuba forum bought them too??

SHEESH!!

This thread should have been hijacked immediately!!

you have probably already seen these reviews but they look to be authentic, not manufacturer driven.

http://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/5342 ... tions.html" target="_blank

My brother in law put those on my sisters 2011 Accord in the beginning of last year. They have been okay so far. You have to be careful of tire reviews as tires are a lot like the frog in boiling water. Throw frog in boiling water it jumps out - slowly raise the temp and it gets cooked. People get use to the gradual degradation of their tires so that when they put a new set on (regardless of brand etc.) they review the tires as superior to the old ones. Reviews by folks with less than two years on the rubber aren't all that useful. I love the ones by folks who bought them like a week before the review. Then you have the idiot factor - you know the guy who drives over curbs, through glass, never checks the air pressure, thinks speed bumps are really fun to hit at 50 mph to get the rush of being airborne and then complains when the tires don't last. Then there is the whole bad installation (mount & balance) problem as a lot of places really are bad and so people blame the tire instead of the installer. Among other issues are modern tire compounds truly have an age factor and not just mileage. So sometimes people get sold tires that have been sitting around a long time even before they go on their car. That isn't a problem with Tire Rack and I've used them a lot. You probably already know all that.

Kumhos have been popular with SCCA racers - I've seen a lot of them out at the track. Racers don't care about noise and if they get a season out of a set they're happy. They're cheap, they grip well (long enough for their needs) and then they can be tossed. The knock against Kumhos in general as every day tires is after a couple of years the grip/handling/wet traction just falls off a cliff. If your expectation is to get a couple years out of them and then replace them you probably will be happy. I personally over the years have had great experience with Michelin and use Pilot Sports for all my sports cars.

Can we finally get back to the BS fishing session now??