Looking for opinions here.

I recently bought a used Enthusiast Model 350Z (around 15K miles) and it has Kuhmo ECSTA KH11 tires on them. Stock 17" sizing for the front/rear.
Excellent tread life left.

I looked them up on tirerack and they are classified as "Grand Touring Summer"

I have been a bit disapointed in the handling of my car compared to one that a friend has with the Potenza's but to me those are death tires in bad weather.
I pumped these Kuhmo's up to 35 PSI today and hit my favorite 'proving ground' and they improved the handling quite a bit but I still feel like I am missing a alot.

So, I have been doing some research on really good tires but that are still practical, ie. not racing tires.
While I do have a second car which is my daily commuter car, I still want a more all season type performance tire so I don't have to freak when it rains or later on, when it snows.

The bottom line to my rambling are these questions:

1) Since I am thinking about getting these tires, before I pull the trigger, what are some of your opinions (I have checked tirerack) on the
Michelin Pilot Sport All Season (A/S) tires?

2) Will the dry road cornering be significantly better than the Kuhmo KH11's I have now?

3) When I see a 9 on tirerack for it's dry road handling, how does that number relate to a 9 for a tire that is truly a high performance summer only tire?

4) Anything else I did not think about.

Thanks for any responses.

Joe

 

Define what you're looking for, then find the tire to get that result based on the vehicle you're driving. The Z understeers a bit, esp in right turns. Do you want less understeer? Are you prepared for oversteer? Do you want to stop better? etc etc.

If you pumped up the tires to 35 psi, what was it before hand? Do you have an accurate gauge? have you tried lower and higher pressures? Try and get some baseline numbers/feel. i.e. "at 35 psi I can do this corner in this weather at this speed". or get a GTech Pro or similar and get some "real world" readings for G's, 0-60, 60-0, etc. Try different tire pressures and see what happens. Till you experiment and try things out, you won't know exactly what you're looking for.

coupla things:
1. remember that ratings are by the customer, not tire rack. so a really unhappy customer could put 1's across the board. and someone who's never had a performance tire might put 10's for performance on a tire designed for normal use. you'll have to use your own judgement using the ratings - read what sort of driving they do, if they have a AWD or FWD (makes a difference in wet/snow traction), etc.

2. Summer tires usually have a compound that doesn't stay soft when it gets cold. All Season tires stay supple in colder temps, but that usually means they're a bit greasy feeling when it's really hot.

3. for the Z, the only tires that will be acceptable in the snow are snow tires, so budget for snow tires (and wheels if you want to make it easy to swap tires). you can put snows on your stocks and buy some real summer wheels/tires.

4. water is different - excavation of water is key. there was a test by a tuner car magazine (sport compact or european car or something like that) where they tested tires at tire race in wet, dry, and did a bunch of stuff. the dry G's were pretty similar but the wet G's - I think that's where it counts because it's so much lower. I was actually happy with the stock RE040's - good till 80-90 mph in relatively heavy rain. and those are not considered "really good" tires. again, you'll have to use your own judgement when considering other people's opinions on tires.

good luck
aki

 

i bought a set of falken azenis ST115, size 235/45F and 245/45R (instead of the stock 225/50F 235/50R). Although the total wheel diameter is reduced slightly, they told me the speedo would be off by 1mph or so (no big deal).

i love the tires, i was on my second set already, and now i just purchased a third set.
Threadwear is 360 (stock treadwear was 180) so you "should" expect it to last twice as much, (if you don't drive it twice as hard!).

Road noise - minimal, these tires are made for reduced low noise specifically
Both Dry and Wet Handing are very good and feel much safer driving in the rain than th stock ones.