Kumho Ecsta Sport PS72

Bought them to replace Hankook ventus prime 4 (Touring type of tyres), did a bunch of research before buying, they were really cheap ! So i bought them, you notice the difference in handling and cornering immediately, yes they are UHP and they deliver on that, not that the hankook's were inferior but the Kumhos are a different experience during fast cornering. I drive mainly on mountain passes, they stick like glue on the tarmac they hold well on the wet, haven't drove hard yet on really heavy rain but they seem to do great, no aquaplaning as of now. Sidewalls are not hard as a rock but they aren't soft, they don't deform during cornering, riding on them is nice and comfortable. The only negative as a first impression is this, went from a 68db tyre to a 71db on the highway noise is significant worse with those Kumho, you can feel and hear every imperfection of the road, if you care about the noise buy the version with the foam inside I think they call it K version or something.

Being said I have driven these tyres for only 350km I can only give my impression about the starting life of these tyres, about 1000-1500km should be performing better, I have a Mini Cooper S R56, a very handling car, I have been using SemiSlick almost these 10 last years ( Federal RSR 595 and the new upgrade) the differences in this car bewteen both tyres are not huge, The semis in 1200kg front traction car are very difficult to warm up in the rear-end, even trying to adjust the pressure, but the Kumho as they work in a fewer temp range you feel the rear very stable, the handling input seems quite similar than Federal in terms of precision, my driving style has always been very pointly with input so changing the Federal for these Kumho has made to me change my driving style, the huge amount of grip makes the car very neutral, I didn't find any understeering situation, but it's true the rear never will want to overtake you, it's always sticked tl the ground, that combined with seems there is a short gap between the max grip snd the lack of grip makes me a little bit unconfident finding the max grip over lateral load. But for the price that these tyres cost it a must, you can go very fast without compromising safety, no snaps or understeers and you can go very comfortable going calm, the tyres dont sound a all ( to me, maybe for others they sound a lot, but Im comparing with a semi that over 30-40km you were hearing the tyre eating the ground)

I put these tires on my Fiesta ST to replace worn and old Pirelli P Zero Nero on the back, and viking pro tech newgen on the front. I bought the car with these mismatched tires.

The Kumhos offer excellent dry and wet grip, okay comfort for a 40 sidewall. Still too jiggly for my liking, but that is not the tire's fault. Progressiveness at the limit dry and wet is amazing, very easy to correct, if you get it to break loose at all. You really have to throw the car into a sharp corner to get the back to come around. When you do, you feel the sidewall flex quite a bit, and then the tire progressively lets go. On my Fiesta ST, the car will also lift the inside rear wheel quite easily like this.

At Autoslalom (AutoX), the tire shows its soft carcass even more. I experienced a lot of low speed understeer, and the tire showed clear marks of rolling onto the sidewall multiple centimeters. The outer tread blocks showed diagonal wear on the outer edges of the blocks.

While the tire is great for grip and progressiveness, and noise isn't too intrusive, I am disappointed in the soft sidewall on this 40 series tire. Steering feel isn't great due to this either. To me this tire feels like a very good daily driver with buckets of grip, but without a real sporty edge at the limit.

I put an initial review of these on a while back. At the time I stated full disclosure as it was only 2 fitted to the rear. That Initial experience hasn't really improved that much. On the rear they added a delayed response to the back of the car, similar to certain winter tyres that move around on the tread blocks. It did give an initial impression of rotation, but really put some steering input in the car, as in an emergency manoeuvre, and the back end comes round, ESP working overtime and corrective steering having to be applied.

This was so bad, I moved my 3mm goodyears to the rear and put these on the front. The washout on fast corners from the front was hilarious, full on 70's cop chase sound effects included. The turn in is pretty shocking, the amount of extra steering input is such a joy kill.

The one redeeming side to these is their wet grip. Not in corners so much, they're still not that great, but better than the dry for sure, it's the traction in a straight line. Much better than the Goodyear 6's (they ended up inducing massive axel tramp, obviously the cars suspension at fault there). Floor the throttle out of a corner and that inside wheel definitely finds more grip in the wet than the Goodyear's, a tyre a rate really high.

Wear rates have been pretty poor, just over 1.5mm gone in just under 3k miles. Not great considering their lack of grip.

Quite how these get the positive reviews they do, I don't know.
Goodyears will be going back on next time.

Hi guys! As promised, here is my update on using the tyres for more than 10 000km now on my Tesla Model 3 long range.

The first thing I noticed, which has spoiled me a lot, Is how quiet and comfortable they are. They change the whole feel of the car. The previous tyres, with the same size, were the old Continental all season contact 1, which is not that bad, comfort wise, as per the reviews I've read, but the Kumho's are like magic carpet in comparison. They absorb even hard potholes with significantly less cabin noise and vibration, noticably more.

Driving on smooth asphalt, there is almost no noise from the tyres. Not sure if the foam inserts have anything to do with this, or the tread design, but they are really quiet.

Dry grip is phenomenal. I occasionally have to get home really fast from far away, so I push the car a lot, but I have never ever felt the need to slow down in a curve, even with the bad road conditions we have here in Bulgaria. The handle even dusty roads very well.

The sidewall is soft, which doesn't help with a sporty feel, but the tyres feel secure nonetheless, and I don't mind them being a little squishy, it actually makes it a bit more fun. There is no locked-in-the-center feel of the steering wheel, the steering feels great in all conditions.

Wet grip is also good, and safe. I haven't noticed anything concerning when cornering even with little puddles on the roads. Straight aquaplaning is really safe and secure. I've done it quite so many times, unintentionally, with speeds above 100kph in deeper water, the car feels stable. But maybe the weight of the car assists here.
Durability wise, I unfortunately have to drive on gravel roads daily, and not for a short distance, but thankfully the tires hold up. There are no tiny cuts or pieces falling off due to the gravel, as I've had with other tyres, specifically PS4.

The starting tread depth was around 7mm. The model 3 is mainly rear wheel drive. Today I measured them, the rears have around 5.5mm and the fronts around 6mm left after exactly 10 700km. For the price I paid for them, which is 116 euro per tyre for 235/45/18, they are a steal. I, as everyone else, wanted to get the PS5, but they cost almost 250 per tyre, for the same size. That tells you a lot.

Efficiency wise, the continental averaged 14.9 kwh/ 100km, for approximately 25 000km with all weather conditions, including a lot of ice and deep snow, for at least 2 months (5000km). The Kumho average 15.4kwh/ 100km for the past 10 700km, where at least 95% of the mileage was done on dry roads with temperatures above 10° C.

Same conditions, same temperature, same road, same distance, same speed going both ways, with the continental I was using around 12.5 kwh/100km on average, and around 14.5kwh/100km with the Kumho.

These tyres are amazing. Best buy for the money, there's nothing that comes even close to the price range. Kumho really delivered with the PS72.

I drove a set of Sailun Atrezzo ZSR2 in 205/45/17 size, and I thought they were very decent. Then I've upgraded my car, and had a set of Abarth wheels with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 in 225/45/17. Dry grip was amazing, wet grip was quite bad as the tyres were 5 years old. I've decided to pull the trigger on a new set of Kumho Ecsta Sport in 225/45/17 as the tests and reviews looked very good. Dry grip is amazing, the car is just planted like it's on rails. Wet grip aswell, huge amounts of grip. Braking on dry/wet feels very good and safe.

What impressed me the most is that, somehow with this tyres, my FWD car somehow rotates around the corners better, no LSD, no rear ARB (yet). They made my car handle a lot better. Previously I usually struggled with understeer, but no more. I'm glad they used a stiffer sidewall, and didn't go with the modern softer UHP tyre sidewall. If I want a comfort biased tyre, I'm getting a touring tyre, not a UHP one.

I just can't find anything wrong with these tyres, they look great, sidewall is top notch, they drive amazing. Best tyre for the money, period. For now, I can't say anything about the mileage, however I expect them to last longer than my last set of Sailun's.

Funnily enough, I have some friends that all drive more powerful, sportier cars than mine, and are very pleased with these new Kumho's.