I need a new set of rear tires (fronts still have plenty of wear left on them at 16,500 miles). I see on tirerack.com that I can get the Kumho ECSTA MX (which has excellent reviews and a higher wear rating that OEM, 220 v. 140) for $129 for the rear and $111 for the front, while the OEM are $178 for the rear. So, should I replace all four tires with the Kumho for $480 or just replace the rears with OEM for $356? Seems to me that for just $124, I might as well replace all four tires with the Kumhos and get a higher wear rating in the process if they are just as good as OEM. Any thougts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

The car is always going to handle the best with the same tire on all four corners. The treadwear ratings are not transferrable from company to company. The MX is a very sticky dry handling tire but I am not sure I would mix them.
If I can help let me know.

 

Thanks, Jim. I'm not contemplating mixing the Kumho on the rear with the OEM on the front. Rather, I am trying to decide between replacing all four with the Kumho or replacing just the rear with the OEM (my front OEM appear to have a good amount of wear left on them). I wasn't aware that the treadwear ratings weren't transferable from one manufacturer to another. The difference between 140 and 220 seemed signficant to me, but since I will get at least 17,000 out of my rear OEM, I probably shouldn't expect the Kumho to be better, no? I guess I'm really just wondering if the Kumhos are as good a tire as the OEM, since I can buy all four Kumhos for just a bit more than what two rear OEMs cost. I have no complaints with the OEM, though.

 

17k miles out of the OEM rears is excellent with a max performance summer tire.

The MX's are good tires, but with such a wide change in the treadware, I wouldnt think they'd be as grippy overall but they should hopefully last longer (but 17k is a lot to match up to). Jim is right, you can't go from one manufacturer to another and compare treadware (but you can look at two Bridgestones and see how they stack up against each other).

Unless you need absolute maximum performance, I'd go ahead and replace all 4 tires since its not much more expensive and then you won't have to worry about what to do when your OEM front's wear out and you still have tread on the rear.

 

I switched to the Khumos MX and I am very happy. They do makes a tad bit more road noise on the highway. But Besides that I really lke them and you can't beat the price.

 

I am running Mx's on my Works and the rears didn't last but 10k miles but I drive very "spirited", I love the tires though, they are very nice for the price

 

i have the mx's and they are very nice. they provide plenty of grip.
the only thing that i dislike about this tire is that the sidewall is not as stiff as the re050's.