Spoiler alert: Kumho has another worthy contender. The Korean tire manufacturer has long had a strong presence in the performance tire market, especially in amateur motorsports products. Its original Victoracer, introduced back in 1993, became the gold standard for pace, drivability, consistency and longevity.
Those characteristics held true through follow-up R-comp models like the Ecsta V700 and V710. And when …
Awesome! Great to read a review on the new Kumho. I used 720s on a Mustang project and thought they were a performance bargain.
I know you only have a handful of sessions on it, but any observations on wear vs. RS4?
Huh, on tirerack, for 225s they're higher than RT660s, and 205s same price.
Thought I might try them on my 8s if they were cheap enough.
i have dry, wet, autocross, and time attack videos along with a detailed review on my youtube channel for those who are interested. They are a good budget tire.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mchuffman
I ran a set of 205/50/15 V730 on a 99 Miata for one event on the other side of the state. This involved a ~500 mile round trip, plenty of autocross laps, on a camber challenged car, with a bit of fairly heavy rain in the mix on the highway. Car kept reasonable speeds on the highway in the rain, with no signs of hydroplaning.
Stuck this wheel / tire package on the Exocet (Project Princess Kart, I call it), and I have to say, I'm impressed. Even with a worn out Miata suspension underneath it, complete with blown rear shocks and original bushings from 2002, the car is dominant in local competition (big fish, small pond situation here, for sure), when we took it to Utah to shake it down with some faster folks, it did not disappoint. Managed something like 11th and 19th best raw times at their Octoberfast event.
The thing that impresses me the most about this tire is that it just doesn't seem to care about heat. Where the RE71R would eventually start to fade off on big sweepers, this tire just keeps on holding its line. That, and it seems to be wearing like stones. Easily over 300 runs between myself and a co-driver, plus that road trip to Cheyenne and back, and we finally wore off the outer groove on all four tires... barely. I can easily see this tire getting 500 runs on a light car.
In reply to te72 :
"...doesn't care about heat."
That's a major factor in my decision when I consider what choice of tires for my ES Miata. It's mostly had the Rival 1.5, and I like not needing to spray them between runs, and having them still maintain grip throughout the entire session.
In the 225/45-15 size, the Rivals are about $14 per tire more, or $56 a set, a nice savings if they're comparable in performance. The 205/50-15 is only about $149 per tire.
Just getting back into autocross after many years away, and will be introducing my 17yr old this year to it! He is sooo excited. We will be running a GS 2002 BMW 325i 5 speed with most of the limited upgrades and setup (shocks/struts @ B6s, larger front bar) we can do, and I think @ street we are limited to 16 or 17x7" wheels and tires. I have been trying to research tire options, and seems like this might be good choice for this first season, or RT660s? Just want him to learn and maybe competitive by end of season locally, and will be doing dual drivers, so want them to last the season and not overheat. Thoughts?
In reply to Matt Huffman :
I appreciated your V730 coverage and track review. Those contributed to my decision to purchase these for my 2022 autocross season with my new BRZ. Thanks!
Just bought a set of these for the Rabbit to use for streets as well as lower temp autox when the purple crack isn't optimal. Looking forward to them!
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