ODDDOOD

iTrader: (3)

So I ordered some Kumho Ecsta SPT 245/40/18 from my local tire store, JUST TIRES. They actually ordered the tires from TireRack, and I got a $2 break on the price and didn't have to pay for shipping, everything was looking good. I was excited about getting a new set of tires, as my KDW2s are on the way out.

The tires arrived today, Friday December 7, 2007 and I checked them out before they were installed. The tires looked okay, nothing jumped out at me. Later, I looked into the garage and I saw the tire tech looking puzzled at the balancing machine. He called me over to the tires and said that I "got a bad batch." Looking at the tire spinning on the machine, you could definitely see a "wobble" in the tire. He told me that each of the tires had the same sort of wobble.

I've never had any incident where the rim could have even been damaged and the tech verified that the rim is straight. Also there were a ridiculous amount of balancing weights on the wheels that he had "finished." They were mounted and balanced but still looked to be horribly not round. Is this just a case of bad installation or are Kumho's known for being not round. I've read a lot of reviews and tests performed by TireRack and these tires looked miles above the rest for a great price. There were only a few reviews that we not stellar for this tire.

So after waiting around ~45 minutes, they put the old KDW2s on and ordered a new set (no charge to me, of course) and they should be in a couple days. I would like these tires to work but if I get another "bad batch" I will definitely have a bad taste in my mouth.

Any advice or knowledge in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
ODDDOOD

P.S. I'm in the Raleigh/Durham NC area if anyone has any experience with the JUST TIRES on Capital Blvd across from Triangle Town Center Mall.

Z1NONLY

I have gone through three sets of Kumho MX's with no such problem. One of the Z drivers at my local track got a set of SPT's for DD and didn't have any problems either.

mysql101

I have SPT's and I would not buy them again.

They need to warm up to take a round shape. Once I park my car in the garage, they cool down and develop a flat spot in the area where the tire touches the ground. So the next day the car is wobbling around till the tire warms up again (usually within 5 minutes).

It might just be that your "defective" tires just needed to be driven on for a bit.

dntx5b9

So far so good with my new set of SPTs. No flat spots, no issues. They handle great in dry and wet. And even do pretty good in snow and icy conditions. Very quiet as well. So far, well worth the money even if I spent twice what I paid for. However, it's only been a month.

ODDDOOD

iTrader: (3)

UPDATE:
So a new set of tires were ordered and installed on my car yesterday. They look great and after a few miles, I think I'll be satisfied. I did notice a "thumping" this morning, must be the flat spots from sitting over night. That may get a little annoying...we'll see. That settled out after a few minutes.

I think the original problem was a bad mounting job. The first technician did not match mount the tires to the wheels. Of course the manager said it wasn't necessary, however, I requested that the next tech do it. Seems to be good now.

Mendossa

I have SPTs and no problems... although now that I read about it, there is sometimes a very very slightly perceptible "wobble" when the car rolls for the first minute or so... but I never thought much of it it's almost unperceptible. Is it the tires? dunno. On scale of 1 to 10 of "perceptibility" it would be 0.5.

aliveoutofhabit

Just to clarify, you put the 245/40's on your stock wheels?

I've heard so many bad things about SPT's... I had a co-workers that ran them and he hated them. Noisy, poor-ish handling, and he did have the same vibration problem. Not only that but they wore out in about 5,xxx miles. Horrible wear considering how crappy the tires are. I wouldn't recommend them.

ODDDOOD

iTrader: (3)

Yes...245/40/18 tires all the way around on stock wheels. I did the same with the BFG KDW2s. Worked great...however, I don't have to worry about driving on snow and/or ice so the increased surface area helps with wet and dry traction...imo.


I decided on the Kumho SPTs almost solely from the TireRack reviews from fellow RX8 and other rear-wheeled car owners (MX-5, 350, etc). You can also view the tests that TireRack themselves performed with the Ecsta versus numerous other tires all tested with the same car (BMW 325i/330ci). Check them out for yourself...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=97
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...lay.jsp?ttid=4

I can save you some time...the Ecsta wins them both.

Also, are you aware if your co-workers had the tires balanced correctly with appropriate air pressure and were they aligned properly? Sounds like they were running a poor setup to me.

These tires (Ecsta SPTs) are significantly quieter than the Bridgestone RE 040's (stock) and the BFG KDW2s. The BFGs looked awesome but sounded like I was driving a monster truck around...great handling but I couldn't hear myself think. I want my car to be quiet AND fast. Now it is.

aliveoutofhabit

I've read both of those reviews. I'm a sales manager for a Goodyear Retail Store so I'm very very familiar with all sorts of tires. I just know know from the one experience my co-worker had and from a few bad reviews I've read that I wouldn't use them. They perform well for the money, I will admit that. But you can spend just a little more and get a much much better tire.

My co-worker had a fully aligned '00 Accord Coupe. The wheels were completely zeroed out on the balancer (with roundoff turned off) and they still vibrated. We just chalked it up to cheap tires and, sure enough, when he switched to a set of Dunlop SP8000's all of his problems vanished.

Anyway... this thread was about if anyone had experience vibration/quality issues. I consider a tire in the SPT's class wearing out in 5k miles a quality issue.

mysql101

It's not HORRIBLE, but it does feel like the tires need to be balanced, or the road is rough, when in fact it's neither of the two.

The tire is OK. It's similar to the General UHP Exclaim tires I had on prior. Both are low cost and have fairly decent tire wear ratings. My Goodyear F1 tires were superior to both, however they weren't close to 3x better, so I choose to stray from the F1's.

As I said, the SPT's have a flat spot when they cool, which is something I've never had on a set of tires before. This is reason enough for me to not buy them again. They were a good bargain for the money though. It'll likely be 2 years before they need replacing.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

did you read the answer to what was wrong.. tire dealer mismounted the tires..

as to the kumho, i am on my second set. first set went 38k miles. they are great in the rain and very good in the dry... compared to other tires of the type...

my second set will go further, a better alignment should make that happen.. i would love to hear the real story behind your brothers friends mothers buddys sister did to the tire to wear them out in 5k miles..


beers

aliveoutofhabit

I can't answer as to why they wore out so quickly. They wore out perfectly evenly, just very quickly.

I also missed the answer to the problem. That is interesting because I've never indexed (what I believe we're calling match mounting) tires on my car and I've never had vibration problems. However I know we didn't index the tires on the Accord so maybe that was part of the problem. I've used all sorts of different tires on my last three cars, none of which were indexed, and I've had no problems. Maybe the SPTs are more sensitive to it. Good to know!

Flashwing

I've got about 10-12,000 miles on my SPT's and have been very happy with the performance per $ that I've gotten. I drive about 25,000 miles a year and need a high performance tire that isn't going to bankrupt me each year.

I will be upgrading to the MX series since I'm going to start tracking the car but otherwise I have been very happy with them. The OP sounds like they got some bad ones. I'm sure it could happen with any tire brand.

Cody Red

ditto. life is low.