So I love Kumho because of their support for Auto-x. Also, I'm and avid auto-xer and I have my car set up to be just about neutral with a touch of oversteer with 225 Kumho 710's on all four corners. I'm in the market for a new set of street tires and I've always had the Bridgestone S02's on the car.

Since my car is not set up for optimal performance while using the EXPENSIVE S02's on the street, I'm thinking of getting a set of Kumho 712's with a 225-50 up front and a 245-45 in the rear to more closely match my auto-x stagger.

I'm thinking I'll gain a host of things: More nuetral balance on the street which would make for more fun low speed corner taking. More front tire contact for slightly better braking (S02's may still perform better here becuase of their softer compound). Better rain stability. Much better tire wear. Last but not least, I can buy a set for less than replacing just the rear S02s.

Here's the drawbacks: Possibly more road noise. Definatley less dry grip.

The thing about the dry grip is not really an issue though. Since the car is set up for different size tires anyway, I'm not getting everything out of the S02s except a ton of understeer. Also, lower traction means more fun at lower speeds.

Thoughts?... Thanks.

 

You will definately notice the lower dry traction. In a straight line they are actually quite admirable due to the long thing tread blocks going from the denter rib to the outer shoulder. However this very design also is what makes it handle so atrociously around corners. The tread blocks are only what, 1/2" wide at the shoulders with lots of void inbetween when you should have big meaty tread blocks facing the outer edge to provide maximum rubber on the road at that point when cornering. If you want to kick the end out all the time without effort I say go for it....just be careful if you actually want to push it somewhat hard on the street, they let go a little too easy for my taste. This is all based on my experience on a supercharged MR2 (less weight than S2K, more torque and it was instant) and an M3 (obviously more torque than S2K).

 

712's aren't high performance summer tires comparable with S-02's and MX's....they are more seen on RSX's

 

I had them on my RSX.......I can't imagine putting them on my s2k

 

I had 712's on my Miata, and while decent, they are no way good. MX's would be a much better choice. I've tried MX's and really liked them for dry and wet.

If you have understeer on a stock 2000, maybe you should get an alignment -- maybe gear it toward agressive street/auto-x. I have SO-3's on my 2002, and I can kick the back end out almost at will, I hardly ever experience understeer, which is what I really love about my car.

 

I agree. If you are looking for better performance and a better price take a look at the Fuzion or the Yoko ES100. They will both handle better than the 712.
If I can help let me know.

 

If you're running 225's all around for autocross, you could run the 225 Kumho MX's all the way around as well.

 

I went through 3 sets of 712's, and these were my sentiments exactly. Very fun tires for goofing around in, and much more progressive than the S02's once you break traction.

 

Bryan, why didn't I think of that? Now, how well do they wear? Will I only get 12,000 miles out of my rears? I guess I can remount tires front to back after the rears start showing their age.

I knew an auto-xer would understand. Thanks for the input guys. Oh, when I said I was getting tons of understeer with the stock tires, it's because I've got a comptech front sway bar on a super stiff setting.

 

12-15k is pretty typical of what I got out of rear MX's. I have an aggressive alignment, made multiple Dragon trips, etc. I usually had the rears unmounted and flipped around 8k miles.