I bought a 2007 G35 Sedan (non-sport) with 150,000km just over a month ago. The car came with four fairly new Kumho Ecsta 4X tires. I've been told by a tire shop and a government inspector that the tires aren't ideal for a performance sedan.

This is my first fast car and I know very little about tires. I've done research online, but that's not the same as having real knowledge. I do have the money to upgrade to very nice tires, but I don't want to waste that money if it's not going to make a lot of difference.

I live in Korea, which places high tariffs on imports to protect its own manufacturers, so Hankook and Kumho tires are going to be a lot cheaper. My research led me to believe that Michelin Pilot Sport 4s are pretty much the best tires available for my car, but I got a quote of $260/tire from a local tire shop, which seems very expensive. I didn't ask about the price for Korean tires, but they'd surely be a lot cheaper even if they aren't quite as good.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't have a wife or kids to worry about, so I can focus on performance without too much regard for comfort. I do have a stable financial situation and bought a car well below my budget so that I could spend money on it if necessary, but I also don't want to be stupid and waste lots of money for a 1% increase in performance.

 

TBH it'd be best to buy local Hankook tires. Hankook makes some of the best tires out there! Big background in racing.

That said, what kind of driving do you do?

What temperatures do you ride in?

Daily driver?

 

I'll be using the car as my sole means of transport, but I don't need to commute to work as I live within walking distance. I'll mostly be using it on weekends, for fishing trips, travelling around the country, visiting friends in other cities, and various short distance journies too.

It'll be a mix of highway and city driving. I drive fairly spirited on the highway when possible, but Korea is densely packed, so a lot of the time you can't really open up unless you get a good stretch of highway.

Temperatures get hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It rains maybe once a week on average. Snow and ice can occur in the winter, but they aren't frequent or severe problems.

Which Hankooks would you recommend?

 

I've got Goodyear Tripletred on my 2007 Sedan, supposed to be one of the best you can get and they work really well in all 4 seasons.

 

I'm kind of leaning away from all season tires given the climate here. I mean, we do get some rain and snow, but it's hardly Russia. Would that be a mistake?

 

I'd recommend researching over on tirerack.com. The 4X looks like a pretty solid high performance all-season (https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=204) , but the ultra high performance all season category will generally give you a higher level of performance. The Pilot A/S 3+ and Pirelli P-Zero A/S Plus are good choices there. I have the P-Zero A/S Plus on my RWD G35S, and I'm pretty happy. I had the A/S 3 on another car, and while they are a little sharper when it comes to response, the ride quality is relatively poor, they were loud, and they aren't supposed to last very long.

If you want a summer-only tire, I really liked the Michelin Pilot Super Sports that I had on my old Si. But as with any summer tire rubber compound, performance is compromised in cold temps (45f and under, usually), and are pretty awful in snow. So, I'd probably recommend a UHPAS.

 

Would I be looking at a significant performance increase with ultra high performance tires, or would it just be a slight increase? The link you posted suggests that the 4Xs are not all that bad. I believe the dealer changed the tires when he bought the car, before doing a few thousand KMs himself, so they're not far from new. Makes me wonder if I should continue using these tires.

 

Asking what are the best tires for my sedan is like asking what's the best gasoline or oil, everyone has an opinion! Background in racing has almost zero to do with a tire for your daily driver! Check out www.thetirerack.com for quality tires at wholesale, delivered to your door! I only use Michelin's but there are other great tires they can recommend. You'll want a set with a wear factor (UTQG) over 300 or higher so they'll last!
Gary

 

Is your car an automatic or 6MT? RWD or AWD?
I've had the Hankook Ventis evo12 for 2 years/10,000 miles now on my 6MT RWD.
As with any summer tire, you simply can't run these in any snow. Rain under 45F can feel like driving on ice. I stored my car the first 2 winters and ran snow tires this last winter.
In my case tho, I should have gotten all seasons instead of snow tires.
Look into the new Kumho PS91 for summer tires.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...170508010517:s

 

My car is AT / RWD.

I'm leaning towards just leaving the current tires on my car if they're really not that bad. Seems silly to throw away tires with so much tread if an upgrade wouldn't lead to much improvement.

 

Great plan there. Better plan is keep those for winter and then also get a new summer wheel/tire setup.

 

I'd just leave the Kumhos, assuming you like them. It sounds like the people who told you that they weren't good enough are either trying to sell you something or don't know very much about tires. Sometimes people see a "low end" brand like Kumho and assume it's not good, when that isn't necessarily the case. The same can be said of automatically assuming a tire from a brand like Michelin is good. That isn't always true. It's best to research, be it professional reviews or customer feedback. Tirerack offers both, which is nice.

If you do want something different or with higher grip levels/more response, I'd not just throw away or give the tires to the installation shop. I'm not sure how it is over there, but at least around me, selling used tires is common and an easy way to make a sometimes sizable dent in the cost of new tires.

 

Kumho makes some very good tires, in fact the Kumho Ecsta V720 ACR was recently rated as the best gripping street legal tire available (It's the tire that comes on the new Viper ACR).
Sounds like keeping your Kumhos and getting your use out of them seems like a good plan and going w/ Summer tires when you make the switch. Either the Hankook or Kumho Max performance Summer sets are good choices, especially since you have a big financial incentive to do so. I'm running Kumho Ecsta Le Sport Max summers right now and they've been performing very well in wet & dry.

 

I appreciate everyone's advice.

I'll leave the Kumho tires on for now and give some thought to summer tires in the future. The (brief) rainy season is coming soon anyway.