[s-cars] Kumho 712's vs. Bridgestone RE 730?

[John Karasaki]

This is a good question for us.  We have both set of tires in the 235/45/17
size.  The Kumho 712 are on our V8 automatic.  The RE730 are on our V8
5-speed.

The RE730s are stickier and have a higher ultimate grip.  They are a good
rain tire, but I did spin going onto the front straight at Portland
International Raceway last November.  I DON'T think it was the tires!  The
RE730s are the fastest wearing tires (non-R, street tires anyway) I have
ever owned.  We got about 12k-15k miles out of them and they are at the
wear bars.  This is with frequent rotations and alignments (.5 deg neg on
all four corners, 0 toe rear and slight toe out front).  Check out the fast
wear complaints on Tirerack.com.

The Kumho tires get my vote.  For the price, which is around $100 each I
believe, they are an excellent buy.  Since I want to keep my wife out of
the weeds, her car sports a fairly aggressive alignment (1.5 deg neg camber
up front, 0.5 deg neg out back).  Regardless, I think we have around 20k on
our set.  They are getting down, but still have a bit more life left.

Our driving is fast and aggressive with fairly high speeds daily.  Both my
wife and I have spent a bit of time on the racetrack, so we view our daily
country road commutes a little differently than most.  If you do mostly
highway, you might get more life out of the RE730s.  However, if you do
alot of freeway driving, save the added $$ you would spend on the REs and
put it toward a set of dedicated track wheels and tires for your S6.  You
can get a set of used 16" or 17" wheels fairly cheaply, and good track
rubber (Kumho) is around $130 a corner.

HTH.



At 09:26 AM 3/9/03 -0500, ELLIEOLSEN at aol.com wrote:
>Hi List,
>
>I'm trying to decide which tires to put on my S6 (stock wheels).. I track the
>car 2 or 3 times a year and do a lot of freeway driving. Any comments on the
>above two tires is appreciated and if you feel strongly that I should look
>elsewhere please tell me about it.
>
>Regards,
>
>Shawn Olsen
>Clarkston MI
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