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So I finally got around to replacing my rear Pilot Sports (which, btw, were basically bald for all intents and purposes; yet they were still pullin strong!). I was waiting for Tirerack to get the 245/40/17 in stock in the Kumho Ecsta MX and as soon as they did, I had 2 on the way.
So right now I've got pilot sports up front, ecsta mx's in the back. I'm running 35/38psi front/rear, which seems to be a very stable setup and could probably use 1-2psi more to be honest.
It's worth noting that the tires I got were Z-rated, not Y, so if that concerns you contact Tirerack to make sure you get Y. Personally I couldn't care less... oh and for the record I'm comparing the MX to my pre-bald Pilot Sports, when they still had some life in em. =)
Size: 245/45/ZR17
Quantity: 2
Price: $134 each ($260 shipped fedex 2-day)
Dry traction
These things are grippy as hell. I've been buzzing around town now for about 2 weeks with them on and I've got about 1000 miles down on them now. Let's put it this way: with the Pilot Sports, a 3500rpm clutch dump resulted in a moderate amount of wheel spin (enough to make me lift off the throttle to regain traction). With the MX's, the car just bogs! Too much traction for 3500rpm, you need to dump at around 4000 or so. The car feels extremely planted on turns and really doesn't understeer that much. I was expecting some additional understeer and it's just not there. I think the MX's break loose a bit later than the Pilot Sports, but they do so a little quicker and with less warning, so you have to be a little more careful. It's real easy to get overconfident. That may be the only minus for these tires and like the G35, they make up for it in price.
Wet traction
Now this was one thing I always was fond of with regards to the Pilot Sports... extreme wet traction. Traction like "Hi it's raining but it feels like I'm driving/swerving/cornering on dry pavement." I've always been impressed, but I must say the MX does at least as good of a job at keeping the car stable (if not better) as the Pilot Sports could ever hope to do. Hydroplaning? What's that? I hit about a 4"-deep puddle and while I could feel the front tires momentarily loose composure, the rears never lost it. No DSC, no squiggly rear end, nothing. Very cool though! :thumbup:
Wet cornering traction is also excellent... from what I could tell they definitely hold longer on water than the Pilot Sports (which tend to seem like they're rolling away from you when you get on it hard on wet pavement). I found that doing a wet pavement doughnut was also quite difficult as the tires just didn't want to break loose. I had to keep it all the way up at about 6k to keep em spinning. There was no extreme throttle-off oversteer snap either. Once off the throttle the car seemed to just hunch down and settle into a straight-line direction... this of course is probably due to the suspension and not necessarily impacted by the tires. Just an interesting side note though.
Here are some photos of the tire itself. Note the interesting (weird, almost) tread pattern and how the sides of the tread blocks down the center are "scalloped" out from the water grooves... very interesting!
http://www.rit.edu/~cmb9808/330/8-29-02/
So right now I've got pilot sports up front, ecsta mx's in the back. I'm running 35/38psi front/rear, which seems to be a very stable setup and could probably use 1-2psi more to be honest.
It's worth noting that the tires I got were Z-rated, not Y, so if that concerns you contact Tirerack to make sure you get Y. Personally I couldn't care less... oh and for the record I'm comparing the MX to my pre-bald Pilot Sports, when they still had some life in em. =)
Size: 245/45/ZR17
Quantity: 2
Price: $134 each ($260 shipped fedex 2-day)
Dry traction
These things are grippy as hell. I've been buzzing around town now for about 2 weeks with them on and I've got about 1000 miles down on them now. Let's put it this way: with the Pilot Sports, a 3500rpm clutch dump resulted in a moderate amount of wheel spin (enough to make me lift off the throttle to regain traction). With the MX's, the car just bogs! Too much traction for 3500rpm, you need to dump at around 4000 or so. The car feels extremely planted on turns and really doesn't understeer that much. I was expecting some additional understeer and it's just not there. I think the MX's break loose a bit later than the Pilot Sports, but they do so a little quicker and with less warning, so you have to be a little more careful. It's real easy to get overconfident. That may be the only minus for these tires and like the G35, they make up for it in price.
Wet traction
Now this was one thing I always was fond of with regards to the Pilot Sports... extreme wet traction. Traction like "Hi it's raining but it feels like I'm driving/swerving/cornering on dry pavement." I've always been impressed, but I must say the MX does at least as good of a job at keeping the car stable (if not better) as the Pilot Sports could ever hope to do. Hydroplaning? What's that? I hit about a 4"-deep puddle and while I could feel the front tires momentarily loose composure, the rears never lost it. No DSC, no squiggly rear end, nothing. Very cool though! :thumbup:
Wet cornering traction is also excellent... from what I could tell they definitely hold longer on water than the Pilot Sports (which tend to seem like they're rolling away from you when you get on it hard on wet pavement). I found that doing a wet pavement doughnut was also quite difficult as the tires just didn't want to break loose. I had to keep it all the way up at about 6k to keep em spinning. There was no extreme throttle-off oversteer snap either. Once off the throttle the car seemed to just hunch down and settle into a straight-line direction... this of course is probably due to the suspension and not necessarily impacted by the tires. Just an interesting side note though.
Here are some photos of the tire itself. Note the interesting (weird, almost) tread pattern and how the sides of the tread blocks down the center are "scalloped" out from the water grooves... very interesting!
http://www.rit.edu/~cmb9808/330/8-29-02/
