johnnywfg

all i can say is wow.., but not a good wow. I bought 225/45/18, fronts inflated to 44 psi., later brought down to 35 psi.

I actually fear for my safety with this tire... freeway lane changes are scary. the sidewall gives so easily the car rolls and sways all over the road during any kind of passing manuever.

If someone cut me off and i had to make evasive.. it would almost certainly end up in an accident. I am trying my hardest to make the shop swap out the tires.. or I have to pursue BF-goodrich for releasing a horrible product.. my car literally went from the handling of a porche.. to the handling of a corolla.

I understand tires have a break in period... but thats not gona make the sidewalls any stiffer.. throwing the car into a hard turn.. it almost feels like the rim is about to hit pavement.. . all that and its LOUD.. how can it be all the worst things.. the tire has grip for sure.. but that means nothing when your swaying about the road..

gona switch out for either Kumho SPT's (again), or try the Yokohama AVS E100

the kumho seems to be alot better tire than i gave it credit for. I have heard the yoko is a little louder but has a stiffer sidewall... noise means very little to me.

how can alllllllll those reviews of the KDW be soo wrong... for the few people here that had a negative review of the KDW... did you end up swapping out?,. did it break in and perform better?

I cant believe i did all that research and made a costly mistake..

dtorre

Ya those are some very noisy tires =(...sorry to hear...but other than that they should be great tires....maybe you got a bad set ?

jskup1

iTrader: (7)

I almost got those too.

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

I regret buying them for my car. The sidewalls are too soft and more importantly the feel has been disrupted. Too bad there is no trade in program with Discount Tire.

DaveCM203

I was considering the KD's as my next tire. Does anyone know if they are just like the KDW except for the tread?

johnnywfg

how do people feel about the Yoko AVS ES100?

those have been around for quite a few years, there should be a good amount of feedback..

"I was considering the KD's as my next tire. Does anyone know if they are just like the KDW except for the tread?"

-- You couldnt pay me to put a BFG tire on any car again... why take the risk.. its prolly got the same sidewall.

KAtC10

I have the KDWs and they are WONDERFUL. I tracked them 4 times last year (2 days each time), only had to have them rotated after the 3rd time to get the good tread left on the outside (all the wear was on the outside, none on the inside), and they were good to go for more track use... Yes, they are noisy, and they chunked off pretty bad the first time I used them, but haven't had problems since, and they have killer grip for a daily-use tire. You can't get a whole lot better without upgrading to a Falken Azenis or comprable, which isn't suitable for daily driving or wet conditions. I plan to track them once more (2 days) in March before retiring them to street use only and purchasing a set of track rims/tires. IMO the best bang for your buck if you are looking for all-purpose tires that you can still take to track.

Maybe the ones you had were mounted wrong? I had similar problems with a set of Pirelli PZero Nero M+S, which I had read rave reviews of, but I had nothing but problems with them, only to find out they had been mounted backwards or something.

XDEEDUBBX

toyo T1R's 4TW

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

I assume you mean KDW2's right? KDW's are the 1st generation and not the same thing, they are more like all season tires for a Buick. We have a set of KDW2s on DKNV's RX-8 and love them, they haven't proven to be noisey yet either

We're both SCCA national level autocrossers so you'd think we know a thing or two about when a tire performs or not ... if you're rolling at those pressures then I'd suspect the issue is more your shocks and the higher G loading causing the excess roll. We've even autocrossed on them using the street tire PAX and done well against Azenis, etc., and I race my RX-8 in the STU street tire class using Yokohama Advan Neova AD07's which are unquestionably the best current performance street tire, so I just can't agree that they're terrible performance tires

johnnywfg

Team, believe you me.. I have tried everything to like these tires....

KDW 2 or (NT), they dont make the KDW 1st gen anymore.

its definately nothing deeper than the tire... (suspension, shocks, alignment, etc)

before the car went to the shop i was riding on Kumho SPT's, crisp, excellent response, decent sidewall. Car came out with the KDW and all that was thrown out the window. Yes the car has grip, but thers so much body roll from the sidewall caving, that a simple agressive lane change results in fighting the wheel to keep it strait. If i open up the throttle and start bookin it in a strait line, .. the front end gets very squirmy..

this strait sucks...like 3 people have the same issues with this tire..

I called BFG and my shop at the same time, they are trying to work something out.
they mentioned swapping for Pilot Sport tires... dunno we'l see.

poo on KDW!

carbonRX8

iTrader: (1)

Can't agree less with the OP. While KDW2's may not be the best UHP street tire availible (imo these are the f1 eagles) they are the best performance for the money. (approx 20% cheaper than F1s)

Car sticks like glue after 200mile break-in.

Sounds like you have other issues.

Aipex8

iTrader: (1)

I wonder if there wasn't a bad run of these tires or something. I tried them and had the very same experience as you. They were downright scary to drive on. The shop swapped them out for me (I went with Fuzion ZRi's) and am extremely happy. Many people rave about these tires though, and I don't see how that is possible if they felt like they did on my car.

EDIT: Oh, pdxhak, how long ago did you get your KDW's from Discount Tire? That is where I got mine and they exchanged them.

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

The tires are broken in with my KDW2's and I have the same issue. The car has been lowered with Tein Flex coilovers as well so no higher G's to increase roll. Again the worst part for me is feel has been impacted. I just do not know when the tires are going to break loose. I did read a post from Team about increasing the PSI in the tires so I will try that as well.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

yep, front pressures low-mid 40s, the turn-in was so much sharper that we had to drop the rear pressures to the high 20s - low 30s to keep the rear planted, note also that KDW 1 or 2 tires are not suppose to be used at near freezing conditions or in ice/snow ...

I took it out on the street several weeks ago after it spending several months sitting out winter and came back amazed at the steering response and grip of the car given it's a 300 TWR tire. DKNV's RX-8 has an extensive SCCA Stock class setup; custom Koni DA's, custom adjustable/stiffer front swaybar, JIC Ti catback, etc. so these things help some. They're the 245/40-18 size on OE size SSR Comps that we purchased from another forum member, don't really have much more to offer on the subject

and yes, the KDW 1st gen tire is still offered in extensive size range from TireRack so you need to specify KDW2 if that's what you have ...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....orce+T%2FA+KDW

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....ce+T%2FA+KDW+2

csuttman

Can anyone tell me how stiff the sidewalls are on the KDW2's are compared to the OEM Potenza's?

The OEM Potenza sidewalls were very stiff, but the Avon's I bought online to replace them have incredibly (and I mean incredibly!) soft sidewalls.

I like the prices of buying online, but relying on the reviews and not seeing how soft the sidewalls were first hand was a mistake.

I for one will make every attempt to not buy tires with such soft sidewalls again. Handling leaves a lot to be desired.

Celronx

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=carbonRX8]While KDW2's may not be the best UHP street tire availible (imo these are the f1 eagles) they are the best performance for the money.QUOTE]

I'm on 245-40-18 Goodyear Eagle F1s right now, and I hate them. They are quiet, but they don't grip like I expected them too. This is going to sound crazy, but I just came from Cooper Zenon 2XS tires, and these don't grip as well as the Coopers did. As an example, I almost lost it the other day going around a corner that I've been around probably 500 times. It's the main way to get to my neighborhood from the highway. I started sliding at the same speed I've always taken that corner, dry pavement, 65-70 deg day, I don't know what it was. I'm kind of worried about it, but we'll see where they go from here.

Cel

rx8frank

I have KDW2 now....(I was on Fuzion ZRi before) they are new, like a month, and after that I store my car for the winter....but since I have them I can't complain....yet..... But for those Fuzion ZRi I had them for two years and all I can say they were wonderfull. On both tires I've always been on 245 40-18.

Feras

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=Celronx]going from stock to eagle f1s i noticed a gigantic improvement in all facets. The only thing i find thats a slight issue is turn in could be a bit crisper. The grip on F1s are amazing if you have the pressure right...too low and the design of the tire works against ya. Look for spaghetti strands on the ribs. If you see them raise the pressure.

shaunv74

I've had the KDW-2's for 2 years now and think they're great. I don't experience anything you're saying you have problems with. I don't track it but I do plenty of daily back road trips that involve hard corners and testing the cars limits and haven't experienced anything unpredictable about them. It sounds like you might have a defective pair or your alignment is messed up. did you get the car aligned at the same time? Did they show you their final aligment numbers?

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

The Z06 comes with the Eagle F1s and I was never all that impressed given their cost, but the suspension and power on that car pretty much overpowers even race tires so that may not have been the best case to judge them on

redcivic

Funny. I have tracked the stockers to near death and they are in need of replacement but they handled fine for me. It just gets me how so many people hate the stock tires. My next tire purchase will be well thought out.

Celronx

iTrader: (1)

I've noticed how tempermental they are concerning pressures. I used to run the stock Dunlops at about 32-36 psi, the Coopers ran best at about 38-40 psi, and I'm still working with these. They seem to be best right at about 30psi. Above 32 they lose traction progressivly quicker with higher pressure and below that they are mush. But, with all that being said, at 30 psi they are still worse than the Coopers as far as real grip is concerned. They are better as far as noise and comfort, plus I noticed some cupping on the Coopers that I haven't seen on these yet.

redcivic

So TeamRX8, From best to worst how would you rank current tires for dry and wet performance. I need a good tire that I can track and use on the street but I do need a little wet capability since it does rain every now and then and I do a lot of highway driving. I don't care about price or how long they last because my uncle owns a tire shop so I get them ay his cost. I cannot decide on damn tires for the life of me.

LionZoo

The Neova AD07s aren't available in the 245/40-18 size that seems to be so popular for people running stock width wheels. However, the Bridgestone Potenza RE-01Rs are available in that size and are in the same performance class. Though the Bridgestones are slightly inferior in performance, they are also a bit cheaper than the AD07s and the extra tread width might make up for the difference in grip.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

they're available in the OE size 225/45-18 and also in 235/40-18. They tend to be wide for their size designation, so the 235/40 size should be more than comparable to a 245/40 given their performance, the price of entry is high though. They are not to be used in freezing temperature conditions!!!!

for those on a budget I would recommend the Hankook Z212 (Ventus R-S2) also in a 235/40-18 size for OE wheel sizes. Not quite as good in the dry as the Advan, but almost equal in the wet. Big price difference.

Either is available in a 265/35-18 for wider wheels, the Advan Neova also has a 285/30-18 size for the serious driver.