From what I hear from friends, the Kumhos are a great tire. The price is low, and the performance in wet weather is greatly enhanced. The only thing is all Kumhos wear quickly. I've seen the AVSs, but haven't heard too many good things about them.

 

Well I have 9k on my 712's and for 1/2 the price I am getting 1/2 the performance and twice the mileage. Seriously, you can tell at that high speed turn after you have worn off the newness that they are not the S02's. Put about 34 -36 pounds in them and they get better. but they will never stay with an S02 car.

 

Your information is incomplete or taken out of context. Victoracers are cheap and grip well, but there is practically no tread, and this is not really a streetable tire (usually used for autocrossing). These wear very quickly if used on the street. 712's are cheap, but they offer significantly less dry grip, wet grip (compared to S-02), and they "prolong" your "agony" by lasting forever.

 

Avoid AVS-Intermediate, it doesn't have anywhere the grip of stock SO-2 and it will throw the ABS into frenzy, long before SO-2 let go. I think it's because of the tread pattern, since it certainly doesn't have much better wear rating than SO-2, 140 vs. 160.

 

What about the S0-3? any good comments about them? I was thinking about the Kumho's on my S for the rear only cause my fronts are still good, but after reading this thread..i am having second thoughts....

 

Honestly it depends on how hard you drive your car. If you don't track your car and don't take super high speed turns during day-to-day driving, the Kumhos are excellent choices. I've logged over 10K miles with them and found them to my liking, even though I drive aggressively sometimes.

 

Interesting how experience and impression varies.

I have run the 712's for 7K miles so far. Rear wear projects to 20K at 2/32. Fronts further. And they are half the price. On this we probably all agree. I got about 8K on s02 rears.

If you run the S02's on the track (dry), they are probably better. I use competition grade tires for competition, so I only care about street use. For this they 712s win over s02's in every other category. They are the best value by far for street tires.

Wet traction vastly superior.
Much quieter. S02's got louder as they wore down, to the point I thought I had a wheel or diff bearing going.
Smoother ride. S02's became harsh as they wore down.
Better turn-in response
Great on high speed highway turns.
More warning at traction breakaway.
Dry traction is high on the total tire spectrum. I took a couple autocross runs compared on them to compare to comp tires and they are not that bad. They seemed as good as s02's were for autocross.

I live in the country with hills and curves. I do run pretty hard. The county sheriff doesn't even have radar in the cars.

Note that since I have autocross setup - big front bar, max camber - I run 225/50 front and 245/45 rear, the same as my comp tires. Without the big bar I think the 205 front 245 rear combination is the way to go on 712's.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JASON410
[B]Looking for a tire on a seriously low budget.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gregg Lee
[B]Interesting how experience and impression varies.

Note that since I have autocross setup - big front bar, max camber - I run 225/50 front and 245/45 rear, the same as my comp tires.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by erik
[B]

Sorry for the ignorance, but what do you mean by big front bar?

 

Colin, I also have to say the wet grip of the 712's is a fully 100% better that the S02's. I had to loan my truck to my Dad for an extended period. Therefore I drove my s through much more water and rain that I had ever planned. The tires (712's) worked out well, whereas with the S02's I would have limited my speed to much less than any speed limit or rented a car.

They are not close to the S02's in the dry though. Having taken Big Bend at 90+ (MotorSport Ranch), with S02's ... I would not go more that 8/10's that with the 712's(even with 38-40 #'s).To me it boils down to what your needs are. lower tire costs with reduced but acceptable performance or equivalent tire costs with extended mileage and near equivalent performance (S03's ) or the factory tire with the performance Honda designed. My plan is still to get another set of wheels with autox tires so as to start auto_x'ing. Budget considerations have caused me to delay, but hopefully things will improve sooner than later and I can get back on the track.