New Tires / Repainted Wheels

[mholhut]

Finally burned through the Kumho ECSTA 712's I'd been running for the past 3 years. I went to my local tire shop who's earned my business by fixing flats and doing various tire tasks for me for free over the past year.

I had them put on a set of Riken Raptor's, 245/45/17's. Never heard of them, but they are made by Michelin. Cost was $462 installed. They balanced out perfect with no weights on the outside of the wheels. Real smooth and quiet and they stick to the road very well. They also handle well in the never ending rain we've been having here. Tread rating is 300 so I'm expecting a few more miles out of them than the Kumho's. I'm fairly impressed, so far.

The unfortunate pitfall was that the process scraped up my graphite painted wheels pretty bad. So, I scuffed them and threw on a few more coats of wheel paint and clear coat and they look better than the first time I painted them. On to the next project...

 

[GrayGhost1]

Mike,

I'm needing a new set of tires and didn't want to spend $1100 for the Michelin's this time. I'm interested to see how the Riken's do for you.

 

[mholhut]

Ken,

I'll let you know. I haven't pushed them too much yet... but the SHO club I also run with has two Solo II time trials in September... on the 10th and on the 23rd. By then I'll have some decent mileage on them and have put them through the paces. I don't think the sidewall is as stiff on the Riken's as opposed to the Kumho's, but then again, the Kumhos were 255/45's and these are 245/45's. I'll keep you abreast of the situation

 

[nick1906]

I just put some Kumho Ecsta SPT 255/45/17 on my 00 LS...hope they last me a few years....so far so good..really nice ride thus far...anyone ever had these on their car?

 

[mholhut]

TireRack has the SPT's listed cheaper than the 712's. Kuhmo's are hit or miss depending on the tire size. Some have no problems with them... mine had a bad shake from the RR that could never balance out. I switched it to the front and it was no longer there. My buddy had the same problems with his 712's on his G35 Sedan. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em.

Then again, I've yet to buy the same kind of tire twice.