You don’t like Kumho, that is absolutely fine, many others do.
To just say
Had Kumho tyres in the past and found them borderline budget trash. <
To say that without any context as Martin has said, is helping no one. Which actual product? How long ago and on what car? What were your expectations? What had you had before that made you feel these were so poor? This is the sort of stuff that is useful to people. If you thought you had borderline budget trash, maybe that is what you bought?
I am finding Tesco’s Finest Tomato’s and Strawberry’s really nice at the moment, their normal range is bland. Context and Product.
And as an example of how opinions differ, here are reviews of another product you don’t like. As you can see, the opinions are all over the place and contradictory even from the “official” reviews.
Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance here.
They have never ‘let go’ on me, I chose them for good reviews regarding wet handling and wet braking and have not been disappointed., so far.
First time on the rainsports & so far so good. First most noticeable thing is that they don’t wiggle about crossing white lines like the turanzas did. Seem a lot quieter too.
It is a common thing on car forums, the MX-5 OC being no different, for people to ask what the best tyre is for their car. It gets repeated and repeated, often as if the question asker expects the order to be shuffled each year. So, I thought it was worthwhile explaining why I often recommend a Kumho product and more specifically the PS71 and HS51.
To start this, I thought I would just check how many tyres a prospective purchaser must choose from. From just a quick look, the number of different tyres available to cover the standard MX-5 sizes is 941 differing tyres with a price range from £36 to over £200. As I say in all of these posts, fit whatever tyre you like. If you are happy with the tyres you are taking off the car, why not put the same ones back on? But for those that find the choice of 941 bewildering then they frequently ask for recommendations.
For many people, they do not have the opportunity to drive lots of cars and so they naturally look to the internet for reviews. The problem, in my view, with these reviews is they bare very little relation to the car they are driving. Comments from the driver of a 20-year-old VW Passat taxi in Poland do not translate to how a different size tyre on a different car will perform which might only be used in the summer. Or, the other common way to determine “best,” is a rather talented driver thrashing round a test track comparing the lap times of the latest premium tyres which gives a rather narrow outlook and again, not particularly relevant to normal or even spirited road driving.
So why do I recommend Kumho out of all of those 941 different options? Afterall, there will undoubtably be equally suitable or “better” tyres on that list. The very first reason is that list. If I split it down, the least popular size is 205 45 16, but even at that there are 85 different options. In the more popular sizes there are 200. That is a lot of tyres to go through to find that very nonspecific “best”.
In my experience the Kumho tyre does everything that the overwhelming majority of MX-5 drivers need from a “tyre.” It has decent dry grip and precision, points the car where you want it to go without drama. Will take track abuse if that is your thing, but more importantly for many drivers has good wet manners. In fact, I have found it quite a confident tyre in the wet, more so than a number of brands that would claim to be higher on the pecking order of tyre greatness. However, what is the most important thing, and particularly for many MX-5 drivers, is that it is predictable when it gives up it’s grip and does so in a progressive way. So basically, it talks to you and tells you what it is going to do next. This is a good thing. Now I could be talking a total load of cobblers, but I am not the only one that thinks the same. Many, many drivers on here have reported that they are more than happy with the performance of the tyre. There are a number of performance driver coaches who use these tyres for exactly the reasons above, decent performance and predictability at the limit and beyond. For those familiar with Scott Mansell and his Driver 61 videos, he uses a MX-5 with HS51 for driver coaching, taking the tyre to and well beyond the limit.
So that brings me full circle, fit what ever tyre you want from that very big list. Chose the premium one that wins the “best” from the tyre reviews, you won’t go wrong. However, if you can’t afford or don’t want to afford the near double price of the fastest lap “best” then you are actually unlikely to be disappointed or even disadvantaged by the Kumho.
) I will be getting some tyres soon and let you know what I chose 