Any chance of seeing a test of the new 200TW from Nexen, the N'Fera SUR 4? Curious to see how that one performs.
Although we’ve tested many of the current 200-treadwear extreme-performance tires this season, one contender has been conspicuously absent: the Kumho Ecsta V720. It was introduced last year, but it was on backorder when we put together our recent tests. Now that the supply chain has finally been refilled, it’s time to see how the Kumho stacks up against the benchmark.
THE CAR: Our test mule should look familiar to longtime GRM readers. It’s the Mazda Miata we developed for Street Touring competition over the course of several issues in 2006. After winning a couple of championships for Andy Hollis, the Miata spent time with Neal Bellamy.
Reigning Street Touring FWD champ David Whitener recently became its latest owner, and he’s already applied some of his innovative suspension ideas to the Miata. Oh, and he drove it to an SCCA Tour win the same weekend as this test session.
THE BENCHMARK: Automotive Specialists mounted our 225/45R15 Kumhos on 15×9-inch 6UL wheels built by 949 Racing. We compared the Kumhos against the winner from our earlier test, the revised BFGoodrich g-Force Rival S. Though not a legal combination for the STS class, this setup made the car more comparable to the STR-class 1999 Mazda Miata we used for our previous test.
THE COURSE: Our test course featured an open figure eight composed of a four-cone slalom, a crossover, a 270-degree sweeper, another crossover and a pair of offset gates. The layout allowed each tire to demonstrate its skills in transitioning, steady-state cornering and off-corner acceleration.
A tight deadline and fully booked autocross sites led us to our friends at the Evolution Performance Driving School. They let us share their date in College Station, Texas. The surface there is fairly clean and flat WWII-era concrete made with round-stone river rock.
THE INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: We scrubbed in the Kumhos with a few runs and then switched on the timers. Andy quickly settled into runs between 26.5 and 26.6 seconds, commenting that the V720 delivered really good grip and progressive breakaway at the limit. He placed the transitional response somewhere between the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R and the BFG Rival S.
David then took the wheel and cranked off very similar times. He noted that the V720 didn’t like to be driven over the limit for a sustained amount of time, thus requiring his constant attention.
THE COMPETITION: Next we mounted the revised BFGoodrich Rival S tires. Andy dropped a couple of tenths into the 26.3-second range, while David cranked off a series of high-25-second runs. David typically prefers tires that he can overdrive a bit, and the Rival S really delivered on that. Andy’s style is to creep up on the limit, so he prefers a livelier tire without regard to breakaway downsides.
THE CONFIRMATION: Did changing conditions throughout our session favor one tire over the other? To find out, we retested the V720. Times for both drivers only improved a tenth of a second, confirming the veracity of our data.
The BFGoodrich Rival S posted faster times, but it’s also a more expensive tire. In our 225/45R15 test size, the BFG retails for about $145 each–about 20 percent more than the $115 Kumho.
With its attractive price point and very generous contingency program, the Kumho V720 deserves serious consideration in the Street and Street Touring autocross ranks.
949 Racing: wheels, 949racing.com, (949) 716-3111
Automotive Specialists: tire mounting, automotive-specialist.com
BFGoodrich Tires: tires, bfgoodrichtires.com, (877) 788-8899
Evolution Performance Driving School: site help, evoschool.com, (804) 380-0091
Kumho Tire: tires, kumhousa.com, (800) HI-KUMHO
Texas Track Works: tire mounting, texastrackworks.com, (817) 926-8863
Any chance of seeing a test of the new 200TW from Nexen, the N'Fera SUR 4? Curious to see how that one performs.
N'Fera SUR 4s are UHPS tires, a couple classes below EPS tires (and then you could consider "cheater EPS" to be another class...)
Very good stuff, thanks for the info! Nice to see this tire compare favorably at a lower price point. Anyone have an idea how it does in the rain or in daily driving in terms of noise?
GameboyRMH wrote: N'Fera SUR 4s are UHPS tires, a couple classes below EPS tires (and then you could consider "cheater EPS" to be another class...)
That's not how I've seen them marketed. Tire Rack has them in the same category as all the other tires in this thread and 200TW would indicate that's their target market:
I'd love to know how they do in the wet. I drive to events on tires in this class and in Houston that means water sometimes.
BTD wrote:GameboyRMH wrote: N'Fera SUR 4s are UHPS tires, a couple classes below EPS tires (and then you could consider "cheater EPS" to be another class...)That's not how I've seen them marketed. Tire Rack has them in the same category as all the other tires in this thread and 200TW would indicate that's their target market: Tire Rack Link
Have you watched Tire Rack's video on the Nexen?
They basically said that it's a good first try, but considering it's not much cheaper than the Kumho, it's slightly inferior to it and has far worse road manners than any other 200TW tire (including the RE-71R and Rival S).
The only reason I can see it making sense to order it is if you didn't want to spend the money on the RE-71R and the Kumho wasn't made in the size you want.
It seems like they simply didn't do a lot of R&D on it (which makes sense considering it's Nexen). They just threw together a very stiff construction with a very soft compound with a very standard EPS tread pattern without actually testing it. The result is a tire that provides decent grip but poor feel and feedback and has poor road manners and transitions poorly.
Am I the only one that wants to see a sh!tty tire test??? I mean come on, some of us commute here!
In reply to Trackmouse:
The issue then is how shirty are you willing to go. Say I recommend the BFG Sport Comp-2. Is that shirty enough for you? Do you really want an autocross test for no-name Chinese all-season tires? That would be like deciding which bike from Walmart is the best for the Tour de France.
drdisque wrote: In reply to Trackmouse: The issue then is how shirty are you willing to go. Say I recommend the BFG Sport Comp-2. Is that shirty enough for you? Do you really want an autocross test for no-name Chinese all-season tires? That would be like deciding which bike from Walmart is the best for the Tour de France.
Hey now, I run the Sport Comp-2 as a dual-purpose tire. It's my DD tire that does great on the street and sticks very well in the wet. I drive it to the autocross, add some air, and take beat out a lot of the cheater 200-treadwear tires. Then drop pressures and drive home. They have outlasted the OEM Bridgestones by a fair margin already, and were easy on the wallet...I just stopped at Costco and bought a set. IMHO, a great tire.
If we test E36 M3ty tires we need to do a 'skid pad until it's bald' test.
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