05thumper

I’ve been running Sumitomo HTRX III tires for the last 23k miles. Great tires but I’m looking at options now that I need a new set. I don’t auto-x my car but might get involved with some road course stuff over the next several months.

Question for my NW friends.

Since the S is my daily driver I need it to be safe in the rain. I’ve read the Kuhmo XS tires are poor in wet conditions. I’m not talking about racing in the wet…just daily driving and 65+ on the highway in rain. How are these tires for daily driving in the NW?

Thanks

s2000Junky

You should ask your neighbor. I think he has experience with these tires. Though not too many miles put on them this year

The only other tire that comes to mind that gets comparable high marks for a good value extreme summer tire ...but also does better in the rain is the Z1 Direzza starspec from Dunlop. I don't know if this is from a tread compound or design difference. There is more people on this forum that have run this tire then the XS I believe since they have been on the market longer, so expect to get more feedback on these.

Twanny425

I DD my car and do PGP days from time to time. My suggestion which would be the same for most people would be the the Dunlop Star Specs DZ1s

himike

FOO ZEE ONS!

05thumper

Do the Star Specs DZ1s last a decent life (say 15k miles)? I've read the reviews on Tire Rack and they seem to get complaints about becoming really noisy...

05thumper

I don't want to distrub my neighbor from fixing up his garage queen!

s2000Junky

Hey to mention what you touched on already, you wont be racing in the wet, and Tire Rack rates and reviews with racing performance in mind, not commuting to work, so keep that in mind when reading that a tire may not "perform" as well in wet conditions. This does not mean it isn't safe or worthy of driving in wet conditions.

ALFYonso

I got about 30+k miles out of my Star Specs, including 3-4 PGP Lapping Days and 5-7 Auto-X events. I did however collect a lot of miles doing highway driving. Either way, I don't think you'll have any problems getting 15k+ miles out of them. Not that it's an exact science, but they do have a treadwear rating of 200 while the OEM RE050's have a rating of 140. As for the noise, if you want quiet, don't get a performance tire. Really though, they aren't any worse than other tires. The only tire I've found to have a road noise issue are the RE070's on a buddy's STi (OEM on a S2000 CR as well)

Edit - forgot to mention the rain stuff. I did an auto-x in the rain with them and was really impressed. They also do a good job of shedding water in typical seattle weather. They were absolute crap over ice, though. Just drive with some sense and you can rock Start Specs or a comparable tire all year.

turbo_slug

i had a set of kumho XS on my car. they were fine in the rain as long as you don't drive like a tard...honestly, they did fine in the rain. IMO, they did just as well as the crappy potenza RE92 tires on my civic.

as mentioned by another member, the XS does produce a lot of road noise. i didn't mind too much bit it's very noticeably louder than the pilot sports that i had prior to the XS.

alSpeed2k

my cousin has this on his ITR and said it's great in the dry, not as good in the rain.