Anyone using Kumho or Hankook tires? (1 Viewer)

[Alf S]

Well KIA Sorento 4 x 4 SUV Michelin tires are about to give up the ghost due to previous owners neglect and a recent bad alignment.

I've been shopping around talk about sticker shock! Some places were as high as $680 for a complete installed set...most others were around $525 a set...average stuff too..like Bridgestone, Cooper, Sears etc...(note we use this car for city driving only)

I found that Tirerack.com has a set of Kumho 798 tires with road hazard shipped for $333.00...My local KIA service manager offered to install for $12 per tire vs. almost $30 everywhere else).then align for $45.....I'm about to jump on the deal but curious if anyone has used these tires?

I've heard and read nothing but good reviews of them.

My second choice were the Hankook RH03 or RH08...Hankook has also had good reviews.

So does anyone own or heard good/bad things about these brands? Consumer Reports rates them as pretty good tires for their price.

They are both 1/3 the cost of the usual Goodyear/Michelin/Firestoner/ etc...

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[DougR]

I run Kumho Tires on my '74 "Project Bug" and like them !!
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...36091417uFdSFm

Tire Rack Reviews for the Tire your looking at:http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....&tireModel=798

 

[Jassen M. West]

I had Kumho's on my 02 Beetle. They handled much better than the stock goodyears.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Charge per tire is dubious. Does that "$12" include the recycling fee for your old tire? New valve stem? You want the all inclusive price - shops add stuff like this which you absolutely must have as additional line items to swindle you into thinking you're going to pay less. Additionally, do you trust the shop to properly torque the tire lugnuts? If the lugnuts aren't torqued to spec, you're looking at probably warped brake rotors in a couple thousand miles. Some places just airgun the lugnuts on and there you go.

I use Kumho tires on my car, I can't remember the model name/number. My local shop (A tire-rack partner) says they're great, I've had them on there for about 3K miles and so far so good. Total cost was about $600 installed + alignment.

 

[Zen Butler]

Hankook and Kumho's are the same basically. (Nexen Tire Corp)
Either brand come stock on 3 of our Suzuki lines. So, I keep plenty stocked. If rotated properly they are fine. Mostly though, this isn't the case. If you rotate religiously (every other oil change) give them a try.

I swear Kumho were stock at one time on Kia's.

 

[Bob Graz]

Lately I've been buying BF Goodrich tires from Sams. I find them to be an excellent value. Nice riding, good traction, etc. They tend to run $55 to $65 depending on size. I have done research on Kumho in the past and they seemed to be pretty well regarded.

 

[Chu Gai]

NP with the Kumho's but I don't recall which model I had. I also found them at Tirerack but I also found a local dealer who could get them for the same price so that's the way I went. I got at least the advertised and then some mileage off them but towards the end, they didn't corner as well as new. To be expected though.

 

[Alf S]

$12 per tire was quoted by my KIA dealer...it is all inclusive, recycle fees, stems, rotate...I think I can trust the actual dealer of my car to tighen things up correctly and have the tools to do so vs. some random tire shop in town who deals in all kinds of brands.

 

[CapnSharpe]

Count me in as another happy Kumho customer. A local place price matched the Tire Rack price for the Kumho Ecsta ASX tires I put on my Focus last year. I'm very pleased with the ride and performance of these tires. A huge improvement over the stock Firestone Firehawks.

 

[NickSo]

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...a-rio5-sx.html

 

[Philip Hamm]

I personally wouldn't trust either the dealer or "some random tire shop in town ", but it's your car, and finding a good mechanic that you really can trust isn't easy.

 

[dany]

Kumho ASX on my Altima,love them. They spec close to the Mich's at half the price.

 

[Steve Ridges]

I just put 275/45/20 Hankook Ventus ST RH06 on my Honda Ridgeline and so far they're great. They provide lots of grip and the performance in rain is awesome.

 

[Ken Chui]

I'm using Kumho Ecsta HP4 tires at the moment (35000 miles+). I bought these to replace my OEM tires (Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S). IMHO, the Kumhos offered better treadwear, traction and handling than the Dunlops, which were absolutely horrendous in light snow. They also cost half the price of the Dunlops. With that said, when the time comes, I'll probably go with Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S or Goodyear Assurance TripleTred as replacements for my Kumhos for even better handling in the rain and snow (I'm not shelling out for dedicated summer and winter tires).

 

[Alf S]

Well I visited Sears last night and they said they can order the Kumho 798's AND price match both the TireRack price and the local coupon I had for a wheel alignment. Oh and I get 10% off the difference too.

Not a bad deal and I feel a bit better staying local with a national company should we end up traveling etc...plus my wife is the primary driver so I feel better having a tire protection plan locally instead of having to pay first then wait on a check from TireRAck.

Thanks for all the feedback

Alf

 

[Shane Roach]

Alf, it sounds like you made a good choice with the Kumhos, but I can only wish you luck at Sears. Repeated gross incompetence on their part was a major factor in my decision to do as much of my own automotive work as possible, and it continued to haunt me years down the road.

On two separate occasions, Sears broke studs while removing the wheels and the first time attempted to pad their wallets to the tune of $38 by billing me for the time and parts they used fixing their own mistake. The second episode was the day I had them install new shocks and struts. A few years later, when I was installing adjustable dampers and shorter springs, I discovered that they had cross-threaded the upper lock nuts on both front struts and overtightened the bottom bolts on the rear shocks to the extent that they could only be removed with an impact wrench.

 

[dany]

Cost me about $500 for the 235-50-17 ASX's with all the goodies that go along with it.