Tyre Poll: Kuhmo vs. Falken

[Trevor]

Okay, so the Kuhmo's are less expensive and may be the way to go.
I've check a few reviews and some people have not been so complimentary on the tyre wear and the noise level.

If anyone has firm views on Kuhmo in general visa vis wear and noise, please speak up.

[winfred]

i had some kumho 711s but sold the wheels/tires before getting too much wear on them but they seemed ok, i have 712s now and like them, good wet traction varly quiet ok wear, they do flat spot overnight when it's cold and take a couple miles to smooth out, that's my only bitch. the two fronts i replaced due to dammage have a good 6k on them and have yet to find a need to balence them (i like to run a couple days on new rubber then ballence and having a tire machine helps to do that) i've had them to 130mph with no shake so that's kinda odd but cool

[spddmn713]

I had kumho 712s on my old car and they were the loudest tires that I have ever had. They also wore very quickly. I put Dunlop SP sports on after the kumhos and they were much better. The Dunlops were about $10 more per tire, they are still on the car and have already out lasted the kumhos by 10,000 miles. The Dunlops are much more sticky and not near as loud. I have Falken Azenis on my 535 and they are great. I think after these Falkens I am going to try Pirelli P Zero M&S.

[Qsilver7]

and I thought they were great "summer" tires for the money. I only had them mounted for use in spring/summer/fall. In my opinion they handled well, had good wet & dry traction, and weren't all that noisy as some have experienced. I got a chance to run the 712s on the e32 and on the Touring before I switched over to the Kumho ASX tires...and again the noise level, wet/dry traction, and handling were all acceptable. I would say that the 712s still had enough tread left for at least anouther 10k-15k. I was so impressed with the Kumhos that I went with the brand again...this time buying the Ecsta ASX all seasons. My 525iT can't produce enough power to warrant high performance tires...so that's why I went with the Kumho Ecsta ASX all-season tires...plus it gives me a bit of lee-way if I get caught in an early or late snowfall before I've had a chance to do my tire change-over.

I only had the ASX tires on for about two months before I put the Arctic Alpins on. I was holding out for some snow before I took them off so that I could see how they would handle...and I got my wish just before this past Thanksgiving. Once again, I was not disappointed and the Kumho ASX tires handled great in the 2 inches of snow and slush we got.

I think you'd be happy with the Kumhos...if you did get them and didn't like them...most vendors give you a grace period to return them.

Good luck with whatever you chose. :)

Here's a pic of my old e32 with the 17" Kumho Ecsta 712 tires:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/1/web/433000-433999/433594_16_full.jpg