jim morehouse

Just a heads up for anyone considering Kumho 712's. I have a little over 1000 miles on a set I put on the rear of my 88 S4 (stock 245 size). They are so noisy I can barely hear the motor at 60 mph and I have an RMB! The noise is really intolerable...just deciding now if I just upgrade the current set to SO3's or bite the bullet and go to 17" C2's w SO3's (going w SO3's because I had a set on the back and they were great...too cheap at replacement time so I bought the Kumho's....duhhhh!).

I know others have had good experiences with these tires but I've talked to two other owners who also found them so noisy they changed them out at less than 1000 miles. One of those said it was so bad he thought he had a bad wheel bearing. They are very inexpensive so maybe you get the quality control you pay for and we just got 'bad' sets.

I'll never buy them again ....back to SO3's. Big $$ but at least I know I'll get a good tire.


Jim

Kaz

Yes they are but they last a long time. Kind of an indestructable tire. I threw them on for cheapies since I don't know how long I'll stay with the 17" cup rims my car is currently on.

Champagne

I found them very noisy also but again, the level of noise is directly related to the type of road surface.

On cement, they are almost unbearable.
On the other hand, traction is excellent in both wet and dry and they do have a long life. I have about 10K on mine and it barely shows.

Paul

wds928

Jim:

I really like my Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's for my '94 GTS. 255 rears, 240 fronts. Really quiet, superb grip. I can't light the rear tires from a standing start (automatic trans). Expensive, but great tires.

Rob Roy

Can't speak for the Porsche yet, but I have SO3s on my daily driver and love them. I am planning on putting a set on the 928 when its time to get it on the road

macreel

How are these related to:

Kumho ECST A V710 tires ??
Which have been recalled by the mfr.
and have been proscribed at PCA events
here in PNWR.

Dennis Wilson

Jim,

New tires can bring out the worst in marginal wheel bearings. Four years ago I bought a new set of Dunlaps and the road noise got progressively worse. It took about two months for the noise to start changing on left and right hand turns. That's when I discovered a bad right side wheel bearing. BTW don't tell JFK but he drove it from Tulsa to Wichita and back with the bad wheel bearing.

Try raising and spinning your wheels to see if it still rumbles.

Dennis

Jim_H

I can't figure out why more people don't run the Toyo T1s. A great tire, quiet, long wear, great traction. The one drawback is their tire sizes are limited.

John Struthers

I had a similar noise jump with these critters, but...
1. They were new tires deeper tread , etc.
2. At approximately the same time I was having battery wear down problems -turned out to be the regulator- and to save time during the evening charge and morning removal of the charger, I simply removed the tire cover and left it in the garage. So, even with the rear carpet over the tire/batt. compartment there was a significant jump in tire howl/whine.
3. At roughly 118 mph on up even with my modified exhaust there is virtually zero noise of any kind , engine, exhaust, or, tires.
4. From 0-75 mph I -mostly- hear exhaust.
5. From 80 - 110+ mph the tire whine has a metallic whine that sounds like a : Zzziingg sound similar to a circular saw blade sound.
Different strokes I guess. They don't bother me and they certainly are grippy buggers.
I always wear earplugs and or protectors and though I'm mid 50ish both my hearing and sense of smell are sharp/acute.
JMO

Donald

Interesting, re: noise. I did not notice a noise difference when I switched from the Porsche approved Dunlops. Much better grip w/ Kumhos, as Struthers pointed out.
Hey John, where did you get your or protectors? Mine has developed a rash, probably picked it up in the shower. (where is the smart-*** smiley?)

P.S. have you had the tires re-checked for balance, and for roundness?

tuk_928

Jim,
Thanks for reminding me why I sent the set of W-rated Kumho Supra Ecsta 712s (225/50/16) back to Tire Rack after only 2 weeks. I had mounted them on my old 87 BMW e28 535is and between the road noise and breaking traction in rain and dry at low-speed stoplight take-offs I couldn't stand them I went back with the Dunlop SP8000s I had used for the previous two sets of tires. I haven't heard of anyone running the Dunlops on 928s...great tire and not expensive either.

I'm running Bridgestone Potenza RE730 (rear) / RE750 (front) on my S4 now....love 'em for my style of driving Seems BS stopped producing the RE730s and they went super fast on clearance sales. Had to buy RE750s so I'm running a mismatched set of sorts...but all seems OK. Will try to wear out the rears at SITM

A friend of mine at work runs the S-03s on his e36 ///M3...he swears by them.

Best,
Tim

Weissach

I have SO2's. My car is Lexus smooth over most roads. The type of tires you have can totally change the character of the car.

I used to have Yokohama AVS. At 60mph, it sounded like my wheel bearings were bad. I even took it to the mechanic because I could not figure out the noise. It was that loud. When I changed tires, the noise vanished and the nightmare was over. No one could believe it.

My next set will be SO3's. SO3's are the best tires for our cars, because 928s are very picky.

Jerry 87 928S4

I have had the S03s for about 18 months. Coming from Dunlops and Pirellis, they are much quieter and I think perform better all around. Jim, remember, I am the one who filled my 928 with "brown bread" to make it quieter so you know my priorities.

It also seems that I will get less miles on them but that could be for many reasons

Big Dave

I just got rid of my Kumho 712's. I didn't realize how noisy they were until I put new rubber on. The Kumho's were loud (depending on road surface...concrete was the worts) and wore out fast.

I now have Falken ZE512s....I like 'em so far!

heinrich

I ran Kumho Ecsta 712 for 2 years and they were whisper quiet. They were sticky and very predictable, and there was no nois, road or otherwise.

The funny thing is, one of Kumho's selling points is that the tyre is quiet, and I believe it. The only noisy Kumho I've had was the A032R club racing tyre. I also had Ecsta 711's but returned them soon since they were nowhere as sticky as the 711's. No noise there either.