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[and1bball919]

General Exclaim UHP (Ultra High Performance Summer) vs Kumho ECSTA SPT (Ultra High Performance Summer)

The general ones have higher ratings but im not familiar with this brand any suggestions?

[voltron1011]

I've heard good things about both of them. I know that the Kumho last a real long time. I had a set a long time ago that lasted almost 40,000 miles.

[ACZakka325i]

i thought General were close to a generic brand. mabey things have changed.

[voltron1011]

Originally Posted by ACZakka325i

i thought General were close to a generic brand. mabey things have changed.

General has been getting better (from what I've read) over the past few years. They make some good value tires.

[Hunter399]

I vote for Kumho

[spacedogg]

Reviving an old thread here...but TireRack has done up an excellent comparison between these two budget summer tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...lay.jsp?ttid=4
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...lay.jsp?ttid=4

Essentially, the Kumho Ecsta SPTs slightly edges out the General Exclaim UHPs in terms of performance and quietness. The Generals do promise a higher tread rating however.

[gthal]

I own the General's and LOVE them... very quiet and handles well. Especially for budget UHP tires.

[BigDog]

General UHP!

even can use it in very very light snow

[RANJHA]

kumho

[montreal_bimmer]

both are excellent tires..... ive tried both, and here is what i think....

the generals are good tires, grip well on dry and very good on wet... but since it is an all-season tire, the tread is a little softer than the kumhos...

the kumhos are great tires... grip very good on dry and grip well on wet... i find the side walls to be a little soft, but the perform well all together....

if i had to buy a set of tires and it came down to these 2 tires, i would go with the one i can get for a better price...

[spacedogg]

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

both are excellent tires..... ive tried both, and here is what i think....

the generals are good tires, grip well on dry and very good on wet... but since it is an all-season tire, the tread is a little softer than the kumhos...

the kumhos are great tires... grip very good on dry and grip well on wet... i find the side walls to be a little soft, but the perform well all together....

if i had to buy a set of tires and it came down to these 2 tires, i would go with the one i can get for a better price...

Montreal_bimmer, did you notice a difference in wet performance between the two?

[DrGP]

Originally Posted by montreal_bimmer

both are excellent tires..... ive tried both, and here is what i think....

the generals are good tires, grip well on dry and very good on wet... but since it is an all-season tire, the tread is a little softer than the kumhos...

the kumhos are great tires... grip very good on dry and grip well on wet... i find the side walls to be a little soft, but the perform well all together....

if i had to buy a set of tires and it came down to these 2 tires, i would go with the one i can get for a better price...

Wouln't a summer tire have a softer tread than an all season and thus the reason for lower treadwear?

[ScBlacksunshine]

Kumho SPT is a great value, very quiet too. Only downside for me personally is the damn rim guard, I have 265 and they look and behave more like 275, which can cause problem if your offset is near threshold. Compare to Toyo, which has more of a stretch look to them.

[Revlis]

I was doing a lot of reading about the General UHPs... Seems that the majority of folks simply love them, but I remain skeptical. There were quite a few folks commenting on the General's lack of feel, soft sidewalls and squirm...

So, Looks like I will be going with Continentals Contisport 3s this time around... I just cannot get past the old "you get what you pay for" Axiom, and the killer low price of the General tires.

Might be worth trying just based on their low cost though...

[radgator1]

Originally Posted by spacedogg

Reviving an old thread here...but TireRack has done up an excellent comparison between these two budget summer tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...lay.jsp?ttid=4
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...lay.jsp?ttid=4

Essentially, the Kumho Ecsta SPTs slightly edges out the General Exclaim UHPs in terms of performance and quietness. The Generals do promise a higher tread rating however.

Looks like the Kumhos won in every category plus have excellent tread wear so its to the Kumhos but they cost a little more I think.

[TheModCity]

Both great tires. Kuhmo is a little better but cost a little bit more too. Cant go wrong either way though

[BeeEmDubU]

Originally Posted by ScBlacksunshine

Kumho SPT is a great value, very quiet too. Only downside for me personally is the damn rim guard, I have 265 and they look and behave more like 275, which can cause problem if your offset is near threshold. Compare to Toyo, which has more of a stretch look to them.

Same here. I got the Kumho SPT and I like everything about it except for the rim protector, which bulges it out a little bit. I would lower my car more (I'm on coilovers) but dont want any rubbing. The rim protector saved me once though when I scratched a curb.

[DrGP]

Originally Posted by Revlis

I was doing a lot of reading about the General UHPs... Seems that the majority of folks simply love them, but I remain skeptical. There were quite a few folks commenting on the General's lack of feel, soft sidewalls and squirm...

So, Looks like I will be going with Continentals Contisport 3s this time around... I just cannot get past the old "you get what you pay for" Axiom, and the killer low price of the General tires.

Might be worth trying just based on their low cost though...

Are you aware that Continental owns General tires? Sometimes you don't get what you pay for. Just look at ALL the Tire Rack ratings for all types of tires. The most expensive tire(usally Michelins) are not ususally rated the best. I hope the Contisport 3s are a big improvement over the original ContiSports. I had them as OEM tires on my 04 S4. EVERYONE, (myself included)hated them. They had the traction of a hockey puck.

[spacedogg]

Originally Posted by DrGP

Are you aware that Continental owns General tires?

That may be true, but they are not the same. They are not even in the same performance category. TireRack puts the Continental ContiSportContact 2 and 3 tires in the Max Performance summer tire category. The General Exclaims are ranked in the lower tier, Ultra High Performance summer tire category.

Now having said that...here's the interesting thing. Take a look at the test results of the General Exclaim UHPs, Kumho Ecsta SPTs.

Now look at the test results of Continental ContisportContact 2, Dunlop SP2 9000 and Pirelli PZero Rosso. (In my quick comparison DrGP...you may be right...there isn't much between the General Exclaims and the Contisport Contact 2's...)

Now look at the test results of the the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A, Goodyear Eagle F1 G3-D3 and Michelin PS2.

Granted this is not the most scientific comparison since not all the tires were tested on the same day, but they seem to have been all tested on the same car (a 2003 BMW 330Ci) and there is a baseline comparison of the Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires in all three tests to compare. All tires were tested with 225/45/R17 sizing and the baseline Goodyear RS-A tire was on 205/50/R17.

Again...I don't think this should be considered gospel...but it's very interesting, wouldn't you say?

The General and Kumhos do seem to hold there own for most of the results...but look at the difference between the lateral-G's achieved in the wet between a General Exclaim UHP (0.78g) and the Goodyear Eagle F1 G3-D3 (0.92g)...although if you compare the baseline Goodyear Eagle RS-A...it seems that the day they tested the Goodyear G3-D3, the tarmac was particularly stickier because one day the baseline tire it only achieves 0.75g but on the other day it achieves 0.83g.

Intrepret the data as you guys see fit...discuss!


SLALOM & LAP TIMES









BRAKING AND GRIP

[milehigh5000]

so basically those tests show that kumho spts are better than the generals as far as track/racing performance

[spacedogg]

Originally Posted by milehigh5000

so basically those tests show that kumho spts are better than the generals as far as track/racing performance

Yes...TireRack essentially says that the Kumho's are slightly better than the Generals in terms of handling...but...the Generals are cheaper (by approximately $100...assuming you need 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 fitment) and they are also rated to last longer.

[Revlis]

Originally Posted by DrGP

Are you aware that Continental owns General tires? Sometimes you don't get what you pay for. Just look at ALL the Tire Rack ratings for all types of tires. The most expensive tire(usally Michelins) are not ususally rated the best. I hope the Contisport 3s are a big improvement over the original ContiSports. I had them as OEM tires on my 04 S4. EVERYONE, (myself included)hated them. They had the traction of a hockey puck.

Yeah, But BMW also makes Mini's but they aren't the same are they? I was told by someone here that Conti's and Generals are made on the same production lines. But then I do some research and find out that they are not, and in fact share very little technology or construction...

So, Ratings at tire Rack for the Generals are off the chart, I saw that. But that makes me even MORE skeptical. Frequently the Majority is simply dead wrong, and as I read through the reviews I get the distinct impression that folks are rating the tires as EXCELLENT based on the money spent. NOT compared to other performance tires.

Like I said though I am not ruling them out, but I am not going to bolt them on and then blindly blow sunshine out my ass because they are cheap. What I am saying is that from what I read on tire rack there are a good number of people who rave about the tires that sound like they have little or no idea about weight transfer, turn in, over/under steer, or feel. Just my .02 I drive my car hard and the feel, the ride and the handling is something I'd hate to screw up.

FWIW I hear good things about the ContiSport 3's, much improved over the 2. Though I am also considering the Goodyear F1's mostly because we are wet a lot up here in the NW.

Not an expert, but just wary and from my experience European tires tend to have a superior feel to them over American and Japanese tires. It's something I learned riding on Metzlers and driving on Fuldas over the years.

It's been my experience that although a tire may have less absolute grip, if it communicates it's limits well, it increases confidence and make it easier to hang it out on the edge without crossing over it. FWIW