Kumho WinterCraft WP52+

I have to buy a new tyre because Hankook Winter i*recept rs3 had the quality issues.. Hankook generates vibration and radial runout.. After very positive reviews and test results I decide to buy Kumho Wintercraft WP52+ in the size 225 45 r17.

I made one season on this tyres and had opportunity to test this tyres in each conditions, because this year winter in Poland was very snowy and cold. The tyres are very quiet. Quieter than my Sommer Falken Fk520...

The grip on the dry and wet I great, the tyres are very comfortable. And the quaility of the tyre is great. Because of the bad experience with falken and Hankook. I decided to check the tyre on Hunter road force test. And the results were impressing. 25N,10N,5N!. One tyre was worse because have rubber rissees form production and has 85 N... But I got information that this rubber rissees will go out after the driving and it was true.

I am very satisfied with this tyres. I forgot to mention about snow and ice grip and it was very good. On the ice usually only the studs help, but during this winter I don't have any issues with grip and handling. Well done Kumho.

I didn't evaluate the grip because it is the first season and I didn't make as many km as usually.

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I had to buy new tyres because the Hankook Winter i*cept RS3 had quality issues. The Hankooks generated vibrations and had radial runout problems. After reading many positive reviews and test results, I decided to buy the Kumho WinterCraft WP52+ in size 225/45 R17.

I used these tyres for one season and had the opportunity to test them in all conditions, because this winter in Poland was very snowy and cold. The tyres are very quiet - even quieter than my summer Falken FK520 tyres.

The grip on dry and wet roads is great, and the tyres are very comfortable. The build quality is also excellent. Because of my bad experiences with Falken and Hankook, I decided to check the tyres using a Hunter Road Force test, and the results were impressive: 25 N, 10 N, and 5 N. One tyre performed worse because it had rubber residues from production and showed 85 N, but I was informed that the issue would disappear after some driving - and it did.

I am very satisfied with these tyres. I almost forgot to mention the snow and ice performance, which was also very good. On ice, usually only studded tyres provide perfect grip, but during this winter I had no issues with traction or handling. Well done, Kumho.

I didn’t evaluate tread wear yet because this was only the first season and I haven’t driven as many kilometres as usual.

Mounted these this season on my BMW 530i xDrive, and after a few hundred kilometers of mixed driving, including mountain roads with tight hairpins, wet tarmac, and temperatures between 3–5°C, I’m genuinely impressed. With all driver aids turned off, the grip was annoyingly good; no matter how much I tried to unsettle the car, it simply stuck to the road.

Coming from Continental run-flats, the comfort improvement is immediately noticeable. The ride feels more compliant, and surprisingly, the road noise is minimal barely distinguishable from my summer Michelin Primacy 3s. That was an unexpected bonus.

As for fuel consumption, I can’t make a direct comparison since my winter setup is 245/45 R18 all around, while summer is 245 front / 275 rear on 19-inch wheels. Still, the overall consumption seems similar.

So far, the WP52+ have been flawless in all conditions tested wet grip, handling, comfort, and noise are top-notch. I’ll post an update once I’ve had the chance to test them on snow and ice, but as it stands, Kumho really nailed it with this tire.