Updated 8/14/2021
Kumho Tires was founded in 1960 in South Korea, and has been selling tires in the U.S. since 1988, when they received D.O.T. approval. They quickly became known as an affordable brand to use for grassroots motorsports competition such as autocross (auto-x) and sanctioned road racing. Consumers can benefit from the entire line-up of Kumho tires for passenger cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks. In 2008, Kumho broke ground in a $225 million dollar factory to manufacture tires in Macon, GA. It is expected to start shipping out U.S. made tires in 2016. The brand is sometimes misspelled as Kuhmo or Kumo.
Kumho markets different lines of tires, at price points from budget to premium, within the same categories. We'll try to make some sense of all the different models.
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Touring All-Season
This is a budget Touring All-Season tire, with a 6-year/75k mile warranty. It has good reviews primarily based on price, though the warranty helps with the confidence. For a little better performance in wet and winter conditions, we recommend the General Altimax RT43 which beat out the TA11 in a detailed test by Tire Rack.
Read all Solus TA11 Reviews at TireBuyerThe Solus KR21 is a popular tire, having logged nearly 25 million cumulative miles by reviewers at the Tire Rack. It cannot be considered a performance tire, having a low 5.5/10 Dry traction rating coming from Kumho themselves. Think of it as a long lasting passenger All-Season tire with a 85,000 mile warranty. It ranks around the middle of the category vs. other brands, but is a fine tire for All-Season use. If you need better winter performance, you will want to try one of these:
- Continental TrueContact
- Pirelli P4 Four Season Plus
- Firestone Precision Touring
- General Altimax RT43
Kumho's own ratings for the KR21:
- Dry traction: 5.5/10
- Wet traction: 8/10
- Noise: 8/10
- Wear: 9/10
- Comfort: 8/10
- Snow traction: 8/10
- Off-road: N/A
Kumho also considers the Sense KR26 both a Performance and Touring tire, but its 60k mile warranty and Dry traction rating of 7/10 makes it more a Touring tire. However that is nothing to scoff at, as Kumho rates its excellent Ecsta 4X II UHP tire with a Dry traction rating of 8/10. Therefore, if you want a longer lasting Performance tire, either the Sense KR26 or Solus TA31 are good choices.
Kumho's own ratings for the KR26:
- Dry traction: 7/10
- Wet traction: 7/10
- Noise: 8/10
- Wear: 7/10
- Comfort: 8/10
- Snow traction: 7/10
- Off-road: N/A
Kumho classifies the Solus KH16 as both High-Performance and Touring. We opted to group it with the Touring tires due to the fact that Kumho only gives it a 6/10 for Dry traction, which does not indicate a high performance tire! It does get decent ratings for wet traction, however. The warranty of 60,000 miles is more along the lines of a Touring tire. Most sizes are more expensive than the same sizes for the Sense KR26. The Sense KR26 seems to have slightly better reviews overall, based on its cumulative rating. Read more detailed Solus KH16 Reviews at TireBuyer
The Solus KH25 comes mounted as OEM tires for some manufacturers. We currently do NOT recommend it due to sub-par reviews. In the same price range, we would recommend the Solus TA11 which has much better reviews, above.
Below: The Solus KH25 OEM tire on a Ford Fiesta.
Grand Touring All-Season
The Solus TA71 is Kumho's offering in the GT category. It has decent reviews with many reporting that it is a quiet tire, with good all-season performance including wet traction and light snow capability and a 6 year/60k mile warranty. Prices are very good at just over $100 for most 17-inch sizes and under $100 for 15- and 16-inch tires. Read all Solus TA71 Reviews at TireBuyer
High Performance All-Season
Tire Rack's survey results rate the PA31 very highly (# 3 in the High Performance All-Season category). This is not the case at TireBuyer, where it gets an average rating. Most of the complaints were for faster-than-expected tire wear. Some drivers have also complained about poor steering response. You may also want to read reviews on the Solus TA31, or the higher performing Ecsta 4X II before you make a decision to buy these. Read detailed Ecsta PA31 Reviews Tire Rack's survey results for High Performance All-Season
Read Solus KH18 Reviews - New - may not have reviews yet
The Solus TA31 is one of Kumho's newer High Performance All-Season offerings.
It has a very good reviews at TireBuyer, but still only has an average rating at the Tire Rack,
though most of those reviewers noting their TA31s were the OEM tire on their new cars. Most
of the fair ratings were for winter / snow performance as well as average treadwear.
It is priced affordably, with some 17-inch sizes right around $100 per tire. You may want to give this tire
more time on the market before buying. A good alternative
to this would be the Sense KR26, which has the same 60k mile warranty as well as similar performance
characteristics.
Kumho self-rates the tire highly across multiple criteria:
- Dry traction: 8/10
- Wet traction: 8/10
- Noise: 9/10
- Wear: 9/10
- Comfort: 9/10
- Snow traction: 7/10
- Off-road: N/A
Ultra High Performance All-Season
Tire Rack rated the Ecsta 4X II the winner in a comparison with 3 other UHP A/S tires from Firestone, Sumitomo, and Fuzion. Kumho also provides a 6-year / 40k mile warranty. We think the Ecsta 4X II is the best bang-for-the-buck UHP A/S tire. We owned a set of the previous generation Kumho Ecsta ASX on a BMW M3 and found it to be a predictable, high performance street tire.
Read all Ecsta 4X II Reviews at TireBuyerUltra High Performance Summer
Max Performance Summer
This is Kumho's newest Max Performance Summer tire, introduced in 2016. Tire Rack ran a test in the summer of 2016 between the PS91, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, Michelin Pilot Super Sport, and Pirelli P Zero. Not surprisingly, the reigning king - the Pilot Super Sport - won out. They liked the PS91, but thought it needed a tad bit wet traction to compete with the Michelin (though the Michelin is very pricey). For the price, the PS91 cannot be beat.
Kumho's own ratings on the Ecsta PS91:
- Dry traction: 9/10
- Wet traction: 9/10
- Noise: 8/10
- Wear: 6.5/10
- Comfort: 7/10
- Snow traction: 0/10
- Off-road: N/A
