Since I was quoted about what I thought of the Kumhos, I will qualify that for the money ($620 the set, installed, for the 225/50R16 size), I am not completely displeased. But I am disappointed as they are a step down from what I had before and I was hoping they'd be about equivalent. They are *not* awesome in the rain. They schriek cornering at over 50-60 kph. The compound seems a bit hard, so I anticipate I will at least get 1.5 summers out of them... They do have a sexy unidirectional tread, and they are at least competent tires. You want better, you spend more... You want inferior, you spend the same.
That said, I bought the Eclipse wearing 215/50R16 BFG G-Force KDW's, and but unfortunately I only got to use them for the 1200 mile drive home, and then another 600 miles before they were total slicks. That added up a total of 19K miles (with what the prev. owner put on them), or about 31K kms before they were to the wear bars. But they handled and gripped absolutely incredibly, right to the end. Then again, that car's suspension is upgraded, so my opinion might not be able to differenciate which handling characteristics are thanks to the tires and which are thanks to the suspension.
I loved the Firestone Firehawk SZ50's I had on the Talon before the Kumhos, but I only got 19K kms out of them. I understand they made a new version of the SZ50 that's supposed to have a longer treadlife. They might be slightly pricey, but after the big scandal at Firestone, their tires might have to dip in price to lure back customers and rebuild confidence... They really were awesome tires.
I understand that Toyo also came out with a new T1-S version of the T1, supposedly with better treadlife too. I bought used Toyo T1's for the Eclipse, so I won't really know how fast they wear. I can't find anything at all to complain about with them, since I got them for a great price.
I don't know if that helped any, but I will say that all of the above are light years better than the no-name H-rated tires that both my Talons came wearing.
------------------
Marta
90 Eclipse GSX (dreaming of summer)
92 Talon TSi AWD (doing winter duty)
http://i.am/dsmgrrrl
