I see the discussions about this tire and can only add a few items.
I chose this tire to race on in STS for a couple of reasons. Initially, the
price. Then, the contingency money. Then I got some and tested them back to
back with the only other street tires I had, the Proxes T1-S and was very
impressed with the Kumho product. They Toyo was much better than the RE92
crap that came on my car. Others have tried my car, with the Toyo, and said
they felt almost as good as the AVS-I, but made alot of noise. The Kumho in
my opinion was *much* better than the Toyo. Granted, neither *should* be a
good autocross tire, as both have treadwear ratings of 280 and the
*aggressive* water evacuation pattern, but, do results count? I took second
in STS in Peru and first in Petersburg. I won the Honda Street Challenge in
VA, against some sort of pricey Pilot tire (Im not sure if they were SX or
MXX3). And there were very different surfaces between the two sites. The
differences in time from first to second were .085 in Peru and .094 in
Petersburg. Thats too close to say its the tire. Personally, Id like to
think it was my driving, not my tire. The 225 bucks in contingency money
from Kumho after both events is a big plus too, that almost buys three more
tires!
And for those keeping track, they are 205/50/16, full tread, well not full
now, but they were never shaved. And Im currently using them as my street
tire too (is that true STS or what) since I absolutely trashed the Toyo's at
McKamey. Water use seems on par with the T1-S. Which BTW, I only disliked
one thing about them, braking in snow was impossible. Its like the deep
grooves packed with snow and then just slid. Much worse than the crappy
RE92's for braking in snow. Makes sense when you think about it.
I used the Pilot at the Panoz/Subaru school last year on their cars, and was
very impressed. They were alot better than the RE92's, then I about fell
outta my chair when I found out how much they cost. And people shave these
to race just a couple of events on them? Thats insane. In STS, all the tires
are slippery, there is no way around that. Why not go with what is cheap and
pays? Besides, the Gforce KD doesnt come in 16's, just the KDW, which I
heard is a horrible tire. And really, I just wanted the name of my tire to
rhyme with the name of my car. The 1999 Silver Subaru Impreza on Kumho Ecsta
(hehe). And whats up with those gawdy gold wheels? Gotta get them
powder-coated dark gray.
Eric Kriemelmeyer
which is said like this, since everyone gets it wrong, [crim-l-meyer]
STS #94
Silver 99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Whats power without traction?
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