My Little Rave Review of the Kumho Ecsta PA31

Let me sing the all weather praise of this sporty tire!

Put a set on the wife's 02 Volvo V70XC a few months ago. Mostly because she does drive hardish, and I wanted something that should have semi decent winter traction. The reviews of the tire indicated it did have some surprisingly good snow abilities.

Over the past few storms, and especially yesterday in the snow & ice, she came home from skiing singing the praises of this tire. She simply drove home, avoiding all the people spinning out everwhere. No fan fare, no troubles, just drove to and from the ski place in the snow/ice/sleet.

The tire also handles pretty well for a generic non-race sort of tire on regular driving. No, it is not a faux racing tire. It is a darn good daily driver tire though, that doesn't roll over easily and doesn't go squalling around the mildest of turns.

Highly recommend this tire as a generic sporty all season tire with very surprisingly good winter characteristics.

I had a set of those on my last VW Mk2 and my 855R and also found them to be some of the more competent all-seasons I've ever driven, especially at the price point. (The Continental DWS is also a great tire in the category, but at twice the price.)

YES! The PA31 are amazing. I bought a set last year for the Saturn. $80 a tire shipped to my door from Amazon! Then I drove straight through the massive blizzard that hit TN and KY, from Atlanta to Indiana. There was so much snow in KY you couldn't tell where the road ended and the grass began. Didn't matter. Getting on and off the freeway, going around stranded trucks, "off-roading" to get out of the gas stations, dodging cars ditched haphazardly on the interstate, desperately pleading for a McD's burger before the workers go home early, it was quite the memorable post-apocalyptic road trip.

I agree it's no racing tire, but they sure handle better than the Goodyear Eagle LS that they replaced. They auto-cross pretty decently too. I can't possibly imagine how much better the Conti DWS could be for $50+ more per tire.

I have Conti DWS as a winter tire on my Miata, but they are starting to harden with age. If I can get the same or better performance from Kumhos for half the cost, sign me up. Thanks.

I was wishing I had seen this a few weeks ago since I just bought a pair of DWS's for my protege but then I went to tirerack and they are only $8 cheaper in price vs the older DWS's that I bought.

I put a set on the DD Miata mainly cause I was in a pickle and that's the best tire they could get right then. But I also have been impressed at how well they've been.

Another satisfied PA31 user here. I put a pair on the E12 because I needed cheap name-brand rubber and have been impressed with their dry, wet, and light snow performance.

With my recent experience of "not gonna bother installing the snows because one's got a bead leak and I'm lazy" followed by "4/32 of tread on 6 year old Kumhos is apparently still better than everyone else on the road in a snowstorm", I was thinking of selling off the Blizzaks and picking up DWS's for the Subaru when the Kumhos are finally dead. These look like a great alternative. Thanks!

I have the PA31's on my non-winter wheels for my Mazda. Last winter, when I had to give my winters to my wife for the season, I ran these through the worst winter in New England history. Not once did I get stuck. I put them on at 60k miles, and took them off for the winter this year at 105k because they were smoked. They are getting replaced sooner than later, but I'm not sure I would buy them again. They had some dicey handling toward the end. For cheap tires, you can't really do better though!