Kumho Ecsta ASX (Ultra High Performance All Season Tires)

[jomotopia]

Bang for Buck: 5/5 - These tires give great performance for the price. I got them for about $60 each.

Dry Grip (Warm Weather): N/A - I just put these tires on, getting rid of the rock-like summer tires, and so I haven't yet driven them in warm weather. I am sure they will not be as good as the MXs (which are summer tires), but they should be really good. I'll update when warmer weather comes around later this year.

Wet Grip (Warm Weather): N/A - Same as above.

Dry Grip (Cold Weather): 4/5 - I am able to push it now regardless of the temperature and the grip keeps on coming. I am sure there are better tires out there for driving aggressively in the cold, but I don't know how much better they could get, and for $60 a piece, how can you beat that?

Wet Grip (Cold Weather): 3/5 - No problems in the cold and the wet. Not spectacular, but quite good.

Wear: N/A - I can't say yet since they only have about 500 to 1000 miles on them so far. I'll update when I move on to my next set of tires.

Noise: 3/5 - They're not exactly quiet tires, but they're better than the MXs. Though they too have a tendency to flat spot while sitting in the garage over night. They seem to recover faster than the MXs though, so it's only the first 5 minutes or so of every drive in the morning that comes with vibrations and "whump whump" noises until they warm up and "re-round" themselves.

Ride Quality: 4/5 - Much more comfortable in the cold weather than the MXs.

Tramlining: 3/5 - These do not tramline too bad, but they do a little.

Overall Rating: 4/5 - Lack of wear and warm weather ratings aside, I can tell that these are great tires. If the temperature where you live drops below 40F for very much time at all, and you want high performance all season tires, you can't beat $60 each for the performance they give. Unless some major issue shows itself during the life of these tires, I expect they will be the standard tires on my STi unless I were to move to an area that is warm all year and could go back to summer tires. Another nice thing about these tires, to me at least, is that the tread pattern on these tires is not directional like most performance summer tires. This means I can rotate them left to right, not just front to back, so they should wear more evenly. I seem to take more hard right turns than left, and with the MXs the lefts wore out faster than the rights.

[Draklen]

I think I'm going to have to try these out when I get new tires. Living in SoCal I can probably go with the Summer tire you reviewed but I do drive out to Vegas twice a year and they have some harsh weather sometimes (Snow, heavy rain, etc.). Especially on the way there in the mountains.

[AHTOXA]

Jomo, just a quick note. You can rotate directional tires left to right, unlike you said. The outer side of the tire will become the inner side of the tire once you rotate.

It's a known fact that while driving most of us take more right turns than left. However, I bet the fact of you and I wearing out the left side faster, comes from having too much fun on the on/off ramps.

[jomotopia]

Jomo, just a quick note. You can rotate directional tires left to right, unlike you said. The outer side of the tire will become the inner side of the tire once you rotate.

It's a known fact that while driving most of us take more right turns than left. However, I bet the fact of you and I wearing out the left side faster, comes from having too much fun on the on/off ramps.

well... i assume you mean by remounting the tires on the wheels. i meant by just taking the wheels off, considering i don't have the tire mounting equipment myself, and it would get a little pricey to keep having the tires remounted every 5k miles or so (i rotate them every time i change the oil). if you just switch the wheels left to right the tires will be rotating in the wrong direction.

[AHTOXA]

You don't have to do this every 5k miles. I've done this every 15-20k or so before on various tires with regular rotations in between. Since that is once a year for you, $60 that you'll pay to do this will go a long way in having directional tires last.

The biggest benefit of directional tires is resistance to hydroplaning and $60 a year isn't a bad sacrifice. Based on my personal experience I prefer directional tread.

With asymmetrical directional tires you are only limited to rotation front to back on the same side.

Speaking of this, I need to get my winter set rotated.

[jomotopia]

meh, i just do it that often because i've already got the car in the air to change the oil, so why not, and i'd rather do it myself by just taking the wheels off b/c it's not just the money but having to go to the shop too. but to each his own.

[AHTOXA]

Well no. You need to rotate any tire every 5k miles. I do my own rotations as well, I was just speaking regarding dismounting every 15-20k.

[watkins]

The only time my tires get moved around at all is during the seasonal summer<->winter switch. Cheap tires means I dont care.

[jomotopia]

Well no. You need to rotate any tire every 5k miles. I do my own rotations as well, I was just speaking regarding dismounting every 15-20k.

oh ok, gotcha... all a moot point now that i don't have directional tread though lol

[gizmo]

jomo: did your car come stock with XL load rated tires?

I opted not to get these tires solely because my car came with SL load rated tires and XL load rated tires will allegedly increase the ride harsheness. So, in trying to preserve the life of rims I had to buy because the last harsh ride I had, or lack thereof, I bought the more expensive Sumitomo HR+ SL rated tire.

[jomotopia]

jomo: did your car come stock with XL load rated tires?

I opted not to get these tires solely because my car came with SL load rated tires and XL load rated tires will allegedly increase the ride harsheness. So, in trying to preserve the life of rims I had to buy because the last harsh ride I had, or lack thereof, I bought the more expensive Sumitomo HR+ SL rated tire.

the stock tires on the STi are Bridgestone Potenza RE070s, which are SL. but i never actually had those tires on my car. these Kumho's are actually "RF" in this size (225/45/17). but i'm not really sure what all that means.

[permabanned]

i never rotated the tires on any of my cars. too lazy

what gets put on the front in the spring stays on the front til the late fall. then the blizzaks get busted out for the snow rally action

[Bawked]

I never rotate mine for the simple fact i have directionals and my back wheels dont fit up front. my back would have to be like 235/35 or prolly less sidewall to fit up front.... then i'd have wide 245 tires up front with skinny 215s at the back

Getting t1rs for the back atm, looking at a turbo engine and my fronts are good so they wont follow for a while.

[CGMSTI]

Haven't posted in a while, but I surf around here pretty frequently.

Anyways, what a coincidence I actually just bought the same tires from tirerack for $76 a tire.

If you dont mind me asking what size did you get?

[jomotopia]

Haven't posted in a while, but I surf around here pretty frequently.

Anyways, what a coincidence I actually just bought the same tires from tirerack for $76 a tire.

If you dont mind me asking what size did you get?

i went with the stock size of 225/45/17. did you go wider and that's why yours were more expensive? what size did you get and how close in overall circumference is it to the stock size? i wanted to stay with the stock size in case i ever need to use the spare, i didn't want to have to worry about whether it was the same circumference or not and might mess up my diffs.