Any long term tests for Kumho tires??

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jumpjet65
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Over the past year several posts have addressed putting Kumho tires on the Q. Anyone able to give an evaluation on the these tires fare over a year or so of the daily grind?????? Regards...Jumpjet.....and perhaps what sizes also


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autostick
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I have Kuhmo Supra 235/45 ZR17's on my 91 q45 for two years. They handle great, I would buy them again. Don't even think of using them in Winter. You can see them on my sitehttp://home.columbus.rr.com/q4....html[/url]

This is my first post here so I don't know how to give a hot link. Please pardon any redundancy.

Q45tech
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Autostick !!! you alluded to the fact that either you don't use the car in winter or you change tires in winter?How many total mile on the 235/17 Kumho? What is the sound level pressure [SPL] reading now vs new?.The 235/45/17 is a 94W rated at a max of 1477 pounds vs the oem minimum requirement of 1521 pounds.......3% under the legal minimum.

If you ever have an investigated accident the researcher will prove you were grossly negligent because you chose to run tires of lower capacity than the minimum required by the factory for the Q...........the burden of proof requires you to hire experts that the tire was a safe choice..........the sidewall numbers are against you!

245/45/17 meets oem minimal spec for this tire

maxnix
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Oh, Dennis! My thoughts exactly.

These would have to be run at 65 psi to carry that weight load.

I wonder when these mega SUV clowns running 22" and 24" with super thin aspect tires will get their heads handed to them on a platter by an attorney, perhaps from their own insurance company.

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Q451990
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Gotta give Autostick credit on a great web site though!

Heath

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PalmerWMD
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A beautiful car tho.

Fred...:)

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autostick
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q45tech, thanks for the weight lesson. I run Bridgestone Blizzaks in Wintertime on the stock wheels. A good snow job. At 670kg or 3% under spec, is my Q a hazard to highway humanity or do I just wait for treadwear lines to show? Am I going to disintegrate into a cloud of micro particles at highway speed? Pardon my ignorance but what is SPL? I find 35 pounds feels good. Thanks for the web cites.

VimyJ
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autostick wrote:q45tech, thanks for the weight lesson. I run Bridgestone Blizzaks in Wintertime on the stock wheels. A good snow job. At 670kg or 3% under spec, is my Q a hazard to highway humanity or do I just wait for treadwear lines to show? Am I going to disintegrate into a cloud of micro particles at highway speed? Pardon my ignorance but what is SPL? I find 35 pounds feels good. Thanks for the web cites.
Your tires are old and underrated for your vehicle. Your summer set up is an accident waiting to happen. Tire failure can be catastrophic. Here's a scenario: Hot summer day and emergency braking on the expressway. Bang! you lose a front tire. Here's another one: Beautiful, warm summer day taking that 25 mph rated off ramp at 50. Bang! you loose a tire! Another one: Hot day and you take your Q to a measely 100 mph and hit a nasty pot hole (or old muffler, etc.). Bang! you lose a tire.

In the aviation world, the majority of light plane accidents occur when the aircraft was only a little overweight. They call that "pilot error" and it is.

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Mayhem_J30
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good thing it's not the summer!

Q45tech
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Actually we see all kinds of low cost tires on Q, mixed sizes, mixed speed ratings , and mixed tread patterns. I have seen a few with 4 different tires and different sizes left and right!

Remember my comments are ideal [try to set a high standard].

There are so many Q [cars in general] with bad camber and poor alignment on the road..........all I can does is report the failures we see. Invite owners to look at the junk tire pile to see the sidewall failures and the effects.

Luckily even a lower rated load index has some reserve and drivers may not drive aggressively or carry a full load of passengers...............most are just plan lucky and don't seem to mind fixing blowouts on the road.

At least the Q center of gravity is so low that you really have to try to flip one.

A bad Q can turn the finest most expensive tire to mush quickly!

landtodd
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Heaven knows what I would have ended up with had I not read Dennis on wheels & tires for the past year or so -- like many, I had mostly assumed that if the tire fit the car, it must be okay for the car. Whee! Ignorance is not bliss -- it's ignorance.

Now that I'm putting highway miles on the Q, suddenly the tire question has gained importance. Tires are shot and coming apart internally. (First step down the vibration-reduction road so many of you have travelled.)

Had Toyo front, Bridgestone -- owners of Firestone -- rear. My opinion is that the Toyo was a better tire. Going to 255-50-16 Kuhmhos all around within the next month. Can't wait!

Q45tech
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The stress levels on the front of a Q are significantly different than those on the rear and the right front is worse than the left front [side of road is rougher than center].

To get full quiet life out of tires you must be able to x-cross rotate them.......non directional.

If a tire is just used on the rear and side to side rotated you can expect a lot more brands to survive well without feathering or internal damage...........note the rear camber is more negative than the front but no turning stress with added camber so the tires internal structure last longer but the engine torque [spinning slipping ] wears them a little faster in the tread.

This is good because you can use a softer compound wider rear tire to gain protection against oversteer/side slide in wet.

The fronts are the challange due to the need for extra internal strength and toe squirm feathering.

In theory the each front is subjected up to 150 more pounds of turning stress sequentially...15% more than the rear and close to 500 pounds EACH more load in braking!

I try to use a front tire that is 100-150 pounds stronger in load rating than the 1521 on the rear.

This mismatching different tire types brands should only be tried by a knowlegable owner who understands the trade offs and is prepared to do some wet slalom testing to know what will happen in a WET EMERGENCY Turning Stop.

Having different tires front and rear can do some strange things in Emergencies or snow or ice.

If you have to always place the harder tread compound on the front as this will tend to understeer!

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autostick
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VimyJ: Thanks for the air analogy. Since I'm keeping the Q45 off the runway I feel quite safe. Your old muffler analogy rings quite true, as that actually happened to one of my Kuhmo tires. At about 60 mph I hit what I thought was a stick, it was a real solid piece of exhaust system. It put a two cm diameter hole in the sidewall and took a bite out of the wheel too. What was remarkable is the Q remained steady. Although the Kuhmo's are NOT run-flat, the sidewall is short and stout enough that it ran with zero air pressure. I was able to drive several miles home at 35 mph, a feat I never was able to accomplish on any other flat tire on any vehicle. I think this hypothesis that the tires will disintegrate is a bit over blown. Q45tech: thanks for the good info. I realign all four corners every year. My last set of Pirelli P7000'S wore evenly. By the way, BMW recommends no rotation on any wheel, as they claim the developed tread bias gives maximum traction. It makes sense to me since I really don't care about wearing out a pair, and really like the directional tread advantages....


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