Kumho Ecsta KU31

Some of the published results and comparisons on this tyre are a bit harsh, in my experience of 3x sets and 15k miles.

These KU31's can be bought for c£65 a tyre for 225/45/R17 and to say they would challenge a ContiSport or PilotSport toe-to-toe is unfair - they are half the price after all!

Pros: Cheap, quiet, last forever (my rears have done 12k miles, w/5+mm tread still left!), comfortable, excellent dry grip...
Cons: Grip can be a bit random when 'cold', wet grip not up there with the big boys*,

* again, these are half price, align your expectations accordingly, or spend twice the money! And a Porsche 911 [996] C4S couldn't shake me on a wet March run, so wet grip isn't 'bad', per se.

I'd buy them again and as long as you aren't pretending to be Colin McRae in the wet, you'll be fine.

The tyres have great dry grip and wet grip is fine. They have lasted 25000 miles so far (now on 3mm marker) which I see as great for fairly powerful FWD car.
They are as good if not better that the Conti Sport Contact OE tyres the car came with.
Road noise is low, but as with all tyres it gets a little louder as they wear, however even at 3mm it is good.
I am now looking to replace the fronts for the same tyre again.
A very sound choice if your budget cannot reach premium tyres prices.

Excellent handling in both the wet and dry and are very quite. Can't comment on the wear and have been using them for about 2000 miles, im expecting to get around 15000 miles. Replaced Pirelli P Zero Rosso's (lasting around 18000 miles) with these at half the price and im very impressed. I would buy them again.

Buy agiain? I just did! I've tried many different brands on my Merc SLK and have just fitted another set of Ecsta KU31's as I have been that impressed with them. I drive over 25000 miles a year, with a mix of London town, ordinary roads and motorways. The grip is impressive and the car stops quicker in the wet and dry than with other brands including the big names (Pirelli, Michelin). The Kumhos are quieter and better in the wet as well as being at least as long lasting as Mich Pilots. Excellent performance overall and certainly nothing touches them at this price. Typical mileage 45-50000 on the front and 25000 on the rear!! Impressive!

A massively under rated tyre in my humble opinion!

I've used many tyres over the years from Michelin, Continental, Bridgestone, Dunlop, Goodyear, Toyo, Falken etc. and these are amongst the very best. I find that they're let down slightly by lack of progressiveness but this is likely due to the fact that they have a very soft sidewall in comparison with others.

Wear is slightly higher than some harder tyres I've used but that's to be expected from a soft compound. Even so, I've done around 3000 miles on these at the moment and the word "Ecsta" is just starting to fade off the centre of the tread, so I'm probably looking at 14-15k on this set.

The grip in both dry and wet conditions is surprisingly good given the budget price of this tyre (I only paid £58 per corner!). The tyres only lose grip in wet conditions when pulling out of a side street in a hurry. Otherwise, they're really well planted and won't ever catch you out. A very predictable, safe tyre in my view.

I should probably mention just how quiet and comfortable these tyres are too. The car more or less glides on the motorway with much less noise than I was expecting and certainly less noise than the Bridgestone's they replace. Bumps also appear to be soaked up slightly better than the Bridgestone's, again most likely due to the soft nature of the tyre/sidewall.

All in all, I wouldn't look at any other tyres in this price range and slightly above. I believe that KU31's can hold their own against the best in terms of grip in all conditions. However, if you want a really hard wearing tyre or progressiveness, then I'd recommend forking out for Michelin PS3's or similar.

Was disappointed with wear rate,(down to 1mm @ 15K), however I have since had Fulda's that lasted half that! so I may go back to these again better ride than the fulda's and grip in the dry/ wet, poor in the snow but they are summer tyres after all

Yep I just came back from wet spirited driving on the very little backroads and have to write only praise about Kumho KU31. I m driving Skyline R34 and was trying hard to get tail happy but wasnt easy at all since grip is fenomenal! The faster you the better progress; in city driving I noticed some tramlining but nothing bad really. Motorway -also great road feedback and not noisy. I just had them for 2000km but I m convinced they are worth evey 90eur spent per wheel and will buy another set already for next year because availibility is not good at dealers.

what more can i say apart from praise for these tyres.

outstanding wet grip, outstanding dry grip and regardless of the wear they still perform at the same level.

driving mostly a combination of both motorway and town driving in a 280bhp focus ST, I was extreemely impressed with the tyres. the original continental contact sport 3 tyres wore out in 6000 miles, and i would say were as good as the KU31 in every respect.

I woudl definately buy again if only I could find a stockist as I am finding very difficult to find these tyres.

Amazing tyres. They replaced Bridgestone RE040s on the front and it has transformed the handling of the car. The Bridgestones had a number of nasty habits including being noisy, tramlining and having terrible grip until they warmed up (which took a while).

The Kuhmos by comparison have shown just how bad the Bridgestone tyres were. Tyre noise is considerably better, no tramlining and cold grip is now much improved.

It would be unfair to say they are good for the price....these are good tyres for any price! Highly recommended.