Went autocrossing with my new Kumhos

[Early93Viper]

Went autocrossing with my new Kumhos

Had a blast! Talk about a difference from pilots. The kumhos stuck like glue. With the pilots I found myself babying the throttle and constantly telling myself (out loud) to slow down. Hell I couldn’t get past a 1/4 throttle input. With kumhos I had to make myself hit the loud pedal. At times wide open throttle. The difference is truly amazing. And my times really showed it.


Special thanks to Frank for a great deal on the Kumhos and 1Tony1 for great tire presure advice.

 

[Cudaman]

That is all I run....on the street too.


Cudaman

 

[Viper X]

Hey Early,

I've got a few questions.

What sizes are you running? Where did you get them? How much should I pay for a set of fronts / rears ? My rears (pilots) are about gone at 11,000 miles. Anyone running Kumhos know how long they'll last with spirited use?

 

[Viper X]

By the way, I just checked Tire Rack and couldn't get a matching size of a GTS. What model or type / size tires did you get?

 

[Early93Viper]

Hey Early,

I've got a few questions.

What sizes are you running? Where did you get them? How much should I pay for a set of fronts / rears ? My rears (pilots) are about gone at 11,000 miles. Anyone running Kumhos know how long they'll last with spirited use?

275/40WR17 (front) and 335/35WR17 (rear) Kumhos v700s. I got them new from Frank (a guy on this site.) for $500 plus shipping. My understanding is that Kumhos only last around 6,000 miles. But if you went thru Pilots in 11,000 miles you must do some spirited driving. Driving that would lessen the life of kumhos as well.

My suggestion if you want to get tires is to start a thread asking for the tires you want and see if anyone has them lying around.

 

[FrankBarba]

Early....Glad you liked them. I have been busy have not been able to take the pictues of the slicks with rims yet.

viperx- i have a set of 17's Gen 1 rims with new STICKY Hoosiers on them. are you interested?

 

[FrankBarba]

Early....Glad you liked them. I have been busy have not been able to take the pictues of the slicks with rims yet.

viperx- i have a set of 17's Gen 1 rims with new STICKY Hoosiers on them. are you interested?

 

[cgmaster]

I being that they don't make 275/35-18 what is everyone using on the front. I wanted Kuhmos but I could not find fronts. I thought about going to 305/30-18 for the fronts. Does anyone have any recomendations?

 

[PhoenixGTS]

I being that they don't make 275/35-18 what is everyone using on the front. I wanted Kuhmos but I could not find fronts. I thought about going to 305/30-18 for the fronts. Does anyone have any recomendations?

I went with the newish Kumho Ectsa MX street tire up front in 275-35-18. The tread looks more similar to the V700 than the other Kumho street tires, plus it is their most agressive street tire so the grip match should be better. The marking on the sidewall also look very close so the tires do not look mismatched. Sorry I haven't put them on yet so I can't comment on performance, but I can say the 275-35-18 MX is exactly the same height as the 335-30-18 V700.

 

[Rocket65C]

I just talked to a tech guy at Kumho who basically tried to talk me out of using the Kumhos for the street. He said they were track only. They lose air frequently and air pressure should be checked before every ride i.e., everyday. Instead of the 275/35/R18s on the front like I now have, he recommended the 305/30/R18s if my rims were 10.5 inches wide, or 285/30/R18 if narrower. He also said I should get the shaved and heat cycled tires, unless I run them only at the strip. It seems many people on this site are enthusiastic about running the Kumhos as street tires as well as the track-does it sound like the tech support at Kumho was just practicing "defensive medicine"? I don't mind having a rough street ride, or only getting 6,000 miles per tire, but I've got to get some good traction during dry track, strip, and highway runs. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[SNKEBIT]

I ran mine to Texas, ran the school at TWS, and then drove home. (Wisc.) didn't experience an air loss.
The only problem I had was getting used to "regular" tires

 

[RobHook]

I've been running nothing but Kumhos on my Viper for years now and have never had any excessive air loss. I've probably added air once in the summer and once in the winter. I check it about every week. I also did NOT have them shaved or heat cycled. You don't need this on tires used for the street. They tried to talk me into doing the same things.

I've also gotten considerably more than 6,000 miles out of them. I ended up replacing my first set because they began looking dry, not due to wear.

I will caution you though, be VERY careful when running them in the wet when they're cold. It's very easy to spin otherwise. Don't ask me how I know.