Kumho Ecsta 4X - First Impressions

[echo46]

Yesterday, Tire Rack sent my 4 new Kumho Ecsta 4X tires to Tire Traction here on the Island for install. Install including balancing went quick and easy. Got her out on the LIE and car was rolling smooth and quiet at about 65 to 70 mph. Got off the expressway onto some rolling curves and the tires gripped fine, not as sticky as the Bridgestones but more than adequate. As I break them in I will check back and give my impressions. Thus far they seem very good especially at the Tire Rack price.

[JupiterBMW]

Sounds good. I haven't heard of the 4X yet. But, also, keep in mind, tires do NOT grip well for the first few hundred miles. I used to work at Wheel Works and we used to advise people to take it easy when they had 'performance cars' because until you burn that coating of shine off the tires, they will be pretty slick. Report back with handling in about 3-500 miles!

What size did you go with? Price?

[Newjack]

Sounds good. I haven't heard of the 4X yet. But, also, keep in mind, tires do NOT grip well for the first few hundred miles. I used to work at Wheel Works and we used to advise people to take it easy when they had 'performance cars' because until you burn that coating of shine off the tires, they will be pretty slick. Report back with handling in about 3-500 miles!

What size did you go with? Price?

Came here to say this. Good eye Jupiter.

[Ryans323i]

Good to hear. Keep us updated on tread wear/miles. It's been my experience with the two sets of kuhmo tires I've run, they last only 5-10k miles, but perform great!

[echo46]

This is my order, oh and I sure hope they last a bit longer then 5 to 10 thousand miles. The 4X are supposed to be their top of the line all weather tire. We shall see. I will give them a few months to break in and report back:

Front: 225/40R-18 Kumho Ecsta 4X XL - $116 each
Rear: 255/35R-18 Kumho Ecsta 4X -$216 each
Shipping: $46
Installation: $115 (includes tax and disposal fee)

[danewilson77]

Tirerack?

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

[JupiterBMW]

Tirerack?

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA



Yesterday, Tire Rack sent my 4 new Kumho Ecsta 4X tires



Noob... :rofl

[JupiterBMW]

As for Kuhmos, my experience is that they will perform great for the first half of their life, and then all of a sudden they're garbage. And don't take that as a bad thing, all I'm saying is that they don't slowly lose performance. I always felt that they had great performance and then all of a sudden, there was ZERO life left. I definitely feel that 5-10k miles is nowhere near what sort of tread wear you'll actually get. You should see 20-30K depending on how you drive, possibly more.

Of course, the type of driving, type of roads, quality of the roads, etc etc all factor into treadwear. Around here, I get a lot of life out of tires. All the roads are flat, no real twisties to enjoy. The major roads are all straight and the only time you get into curvy roads is winding through neighborhoods... which is all 30mph or less.

[danewilson77]

Noob... :rofl

Ha...nice. Just wanted to make sure you used the affiliate link. That's a decent chunk of change for the site.

[echo46]

Thanks, Jupiter, great info. I'm hoping to get 30,000 out of them. I didn't think the price was that bad as I also got a $50 visa gift card. The Conti contacts were at least an additional $100. I was really torn between the Kumhos and the Contis and ultimately it came down to saving a bit of coin as we have some other expenses right now. However, I could regret that as I know the Contis are very good tires and I don't know much about the 4Xs. Thought I would take a chance.

[Ryans323i]

As for Kuhmos, my experience is that they will perform great for the first half of their life, and then all of a sudden they're garbage. And don't take that as a bad thing, all I'm saying is that they don't slowly lose performance. I always felt that they had great performance and then all of a sudden, there was ZERO life left. I definitely feel that 5-10k miles is nowhere near what sort of tread wear you'll actually get. You should see 20-30K depending on how you drive, possibly more.

Of course, the type of driving, type of roads, quality of the roads, etc etc all factor into treadwear. Around here, I get a lot of life out of tires. All the roads are flat, no real twisties to enjoy. The major roads are all straight and the only time you get into curvy roads is winding through neighborhoods... which is all 30mph or less.

It has been said I'm hard on tires. Living in twisty capital doesn't help.

[kayger12]

I'm about 7k into my Ecsta 4Xs and am still loving them.

Still zero complaints.

Sent from my kick-A Galaxy S3

[JupiterBMW]

Well, sounds like Keith has the perfect info for you! Good to hear... Many people used to ask me what I thought of Kumhos... My response was always that they're one of the best performing economy tires you can buy. I do feel that they're in the economy section of things as opposed to some other tires, but again, a really good performing tire.

Its all very subjective. Personally, I hate Falkens, but I know people that love them, especially the 512s. My economy tire is the Yoko S-Drive. I can't justiy Michelin or Pirellis for a street driven car, so I stick with the Yokohamas.

At the end of the day, you have to be happy with them, and that's all good. Enjoy the new rubber!

[rvariverguy]

It has been said I'm hard on tires. Living in twisty capital doesn't help.

Ryan, what holds up best under your typical use?

[billyjack]

I got the Ecsta 4x a few months ago but I wanted to put some miles on them before I gave any impression (ZHP is not quite a daily driver). Overall I'm very happy with them. You can tell you're not driving on Michelin PS2's but they do not feel like all-season tires to me. They really are somewhere in the middle of an A/S and a summer. Wet driving has been great, no surprises. Ride is quieter than a Michelin and they don't seem to tramline quite as hard.

The only fault I can find just made itself known several days ago. They seem to be prone to flat-spotting in cold weather. The car was sitting for a couple of days, and it was getting into the 20's at night. Has only happened once so far so I'm wondering if it only happens in sub-freezing temperatures. They warmed up and came back to life within a minute or two.

For the money I have no regrets. Time will tell how they wear. That will probably be my deciding factor on my next set - if they meet their mileage claims I'd have no problem buying them again.

p.s. If we get one of our rare snowfalls here this winter I will report back (if I'm brave enough to drive the ZHP in it).

[danewilson77]

Thanks for the review Billy. I have been eye calling these as well, after Keiths same positive comments.

Sent from Williamsburg, VA USA

[antcamp]

why are you putting kumhos on a bmw? fork out the money for a decent set that the car wont burn through. also another thing that bothers me way too much is the option to buy your tires online and ship them to a shop to put them on. You know shops make money on parts and youre cutting that out of their profit which is unfair. You dont take your steak to sullivans and ask them to cook it, do you?

[danewilson77]

Khumo's are fine.

Eff the shops that mark up their tires. It's unfair that they mark them up.

So you must also be bothered by the fact that we diy most of our maintenance to save money, correct?

[kayger12]

why are you putting kumhos on a bmw? fork out the money for a decent set that the car wont burn through. also another thing that bothers me way too much is the option to buy your tires online and ship them to a shop to put them on. You know shops make money on parts and youre cutting that out of their profit which is unfair. You dont take your steak to sullivans and ask them to cook it, do you?

Because I'm not hung up on premium tires and I don't track my car. Also because you "burn through" premium tires faster as they tend to have softer rubber/better grip.

I've got 12,000 on mine and couldn't be happier with them.

[BimmerWill]

Khumo's are fine.

Eff the shops that mark up their tires. It's unfair that they mark them up.

So you must also be bothered by the fact that we diy most of our maintenance to save money, correct?

+1

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[Mtnman]

I have them on the audi. Only 7k into them, but they seem fine. Tey do flat spot in cold, but so have other name brand tires ive owned.

[antcamp]

Khumo's are fine.

Eff the shops that mark up their tires. It's unfair that they mark them up.

So you must also be bothered by the fact that we diy most of our maintenance to save money, correct?
dane everything is marked up in this world. people mark up to make profit > to make money > so they can survive. so its not fucked up shops mark up any parts at all. I completely 100% understand the saving money part with DIY, i get it. Most of the time DIYers end up messing things up anyway so shops will just charge people to fix mistakes they did. You guys dont have tire machines, balancers, wheel weights any of that. You wont go up and spend the thousands of dollars for that equipment, why shouldnt a shop charge extra to make money on the tires? Do you guys buy cake batter, sprinkles, and icing at the dollar store and then take it some bakery with a nice oven and expect them to bake it for nothing? Shops that dont mark up, dont make it. bottom line.

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-biggest-price-markups.php

[antcamp]

and looking back its a little unfair to judge the 4x's on the zhp. never had them on mine, ive always run pilot sports. The pilot sports are great with handling and everything of course, and most of the tires made in this size are. I got 27k miles out of my rears the first time and approx 35k on my fronts.The 4x experience i had was on a 7 series v12. He had been used to pilot sports for the first 120k on the car and hated them. I drove it after and didnt like them either (right after install and 3000 miles later). so sorry for offending anyone with kumhos, alot of people have had good luck with them because they are a good bang-for-your-buck tire. not first on my list for performance and handling (which this car is set up for), sorry

[az3579]

I had this long drawn out response typed up, and decided to edit it here.

I will just leave it at this:
It's not how much money you spend on a tire that determines how good it is for a given purpose. If you like your Pilot Sport tires, great; just doesn't mean it's the right tire for everyone.

[kayger12]

Just a quick update while I was just out looking at the tread depth and wear.

I'm now at about 12,000 miles on these and am still loving them.

Tires are wearing evenly and well.

Still have just under 9/32 tread on the fronts and 8/32 on the rears.

Will definitely put on another pair of these when this set is done.

[ELCID86]

As I stated in my other post, I need new tires on the front. Was leaning towards the Conti DWS that I had on my other car. Now you have me thinking... The Kumho Ecstas are quite a bit cheaper too. Any update?

[danewilson77]

As I stated in my other post, I need new tires on the front. Was leaning towards the Conti DWS that I had on my other car. Now you have me thinking... The Kumho Ecstas are quite a bit cheaper too. Any update?

Post 7 is a small update. He's still loving them I take it.

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?p=252525

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

[ELCID86]

Wow that is a short endorsement! :-)

[kayger12]

I'm still loving these after 13K+ miles.

Excellent tread wear, still giving great traction, no increase in noise with wear.

I am 100% going with another set of these when they finally give up.

Sent from my kick-A Galaxy S3

[ELCID86]

Now that's an endorsement. They are $106/each at tirerack too. Thanks!

[kayger12]

Sure thing. You'll love them. They're great tires.

Sent from my kick-A Galaxy S3

[echo46]

I am still very happy with the Kumhos. They are very sticky and smooth. Worth the money. I feel you are getting much more of a tire per dollar. Will be interested in the wear and tread life moving forward.

By the way, my new incredibly cool awesome ridiculous new to me M3 has Nexus tires which I understand are super cheap but not a bad tire. One thing I noticed immediately is when I start driving when it's cold I feel a slight thumbing sound. After the car is on the road a few miles the slight bumping goes away. I think, because the nexus is a hard compound tire that when the car sits for a while in a colder environment a flat spot forms and goes away after a short drive period. I wouldn't buy these tires again but in an economical pinch probably ok.

[ELCID86]

Wow tires are on my doorstep now! Install tomorrow.


Shawn in VA.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

[echo46]

Good luck with them.

[Dave1027]

.. The Kumho Ecstas are quite a bit cheaper too.
I had a bad experience with the Kumho Ecstas. The shop couldn't get the dam things to balance. After multiple attempts they gave up and replaced them with Toyos. Evidently the Kumhos were out of round. Good luck with yours.

[kayger12]

I had a bad experience with the Kumho Ecstas. The shop couldn't get the dam things to balance. After multiple attempts they gave up and replaced them with Toyos. Evidently the Kumhos were out of round. Good luck with yours.

Shame. It's a great tire.

They couldn't get one top balance, out they couldn't get any to balance?

If they said that about all four I'd say something was fishy.

Sent from my kick-A Galaxy S3

[billyjack]

I had a bad experience with the Kumho Ecstas. The shop couldn't get the dam things to balance. After multiple attempts they gave up and replaced them with Toyos. Evidently the Kumhos were out of round. Good luck with yours.

That could happen with any tire, but usually just one out of a set.

[JupiterBMW]

Glad to hear you guys are all having great luck with the 4Xs... Well, except for Dave... Anyway, be sure to add your info to Dane's new tire poll...

And Keith you said it best... Each person will find a different tire to be best based on their personal needs. I can't justify the price for the PSS.... I'll stick with Yoko's, or possibly try the 4Xs next time!!

For those with flat spots. Go do a nitro fill... My car sits for 2-3 months when I'm out to sea, and I have ZERO flat spotting when I get home... To me, its worth the $70 at the local dealer... And it comes with 1 year of free top-up/purge service...

[Dave1027]

Shame. It's a great tire.

They couldn't get one top balance, out they couldn't get any to balance?

If they said that about all four I'd say something was fishy.


It was some years ago this happened so my memory is somewhat fuzzy how it all went down but I do remember the shop tried to replace one tire with an another new Kumho Ecsta and I had the same vibration. The shop assumed they had a bad production run and replace all four with Toyos and that was the end of it.

[kayger12]

It was some years ago this happened so my memory is somewhat fuzzy how it all went down but I do remember the shop tried to replace one tire with an another new Kumho Ecsta and I had the same vibration. The shop assumed they had a bad production run and replace all four with Toyos and that was the end of it.

Probably a different set of Khumos. The Ecsta 4X have only been out for about a year.

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[ranger]

I just bought four new mags and four Kuhmo Ecsta 4Xs for my daughter's 2006 BMW 325i sedan. I purposedly went down to the 16" rim to provide a cushion for daughter's penchant to strike things. Her 17" Sport Package factory rims are now problematic - one is bent and one will not hold air. TIRERACK was great and sent the four tires and rims with BMW centers shipped to GA for $935 (plus I get a $50 Kuhmo rebate). We have had great results with multiple Kuhmos on previous 325, previous ZHP, and currently on 2003 Audi A4 Quattro Avant. (Got Continentals on E350 and C55 though). Will give results when the 4xs are in use.