WOW, that was fast...........New rear tire needed soon!!

[DC1]

5900 miles since mid February.....about 1000 of them in the Ozark Twisties....front tires still look great,.almost as good as new, rear tire worn out in center of tread, not slick yet but down past wear indicators.....managed that in just over 3 months...



So............I am going to Connecticut in Sept for a 50th wedding anniversary and definitely need a new tire before then.....My question is????

Has anyone had more success with the Kuhmo AST car tire lasting longer than the OEM Kenda in the 225-50R15 size.....or do you have another suggestion in that size???? *Notes* on handling characteristics would be valuable also...

As always with me, Any advice apprciated!! DC1......

 

[Bob Denman]

:congrats: on piling on the miles! :clap:

The Kumho seems to be a very good tire on the RT.
Some folks like to switch to a 215/60-15 size, so that their speedometer read-out matches their GPS.
I'm running the stock 225/50-15 size on mine, and love it so far! :thumbup:

 

[murphybrown]

Yes on Khumo

OEM's not so better....I replaced my OEM at 4800 with the Khumo...have almost 33k with about 25% wear left...but will be replacing mid June with a new Khumo before heading North to Alaska. I have not been impressed with the OEM's on the front for my '14...on my '10 the OEM's were great for average of 13k...on the '14 doing good to get 8k...this last set I am trying the dyna beads for balancing. Have been laser aligned and dbl checked and all is aligned...OEM's cup and wear outside edge..:dontknow:

 

[Bob Denman]

Karyl,
Up front; wouldn't cupping and wearing one edge, be a sign of alignment issues? :dontknow:

 

[Spyderminion]

Love the motto murphybrown!!

 

[BikerDoc]

getting ready to install my 4th Kumho today before leaving for Canada next week... My first three Kumhos averaged 30000 miles each, my first three Kendas averaged 8000 miles each so I would say there is considerable difference.. front tires can be flakey... my 2012 RT Oem tires lasted over 45000 miles while my 2014 RT front tires were defective and had to be replaced at under 8000 miles

 

[Dan McNally]

I know a few folks who had severe cupping issues on 2014 RT front tires with very low mileage, even though they had been laser aligned when new . . . looks like there was a bad batch of them

 

[AeroPilot]

Yep - the Kumho gets about 20K on the 2011 RT - Got another in the garage

5900 miles since mid February.....about 1000 of them in the Ozark Twisties....front tires still look great,.almost as good as new, rear tire worn out in center of tread, not slick yet but down past wear indicators.....managed that in just over 3 months...



So............I am going to Connecticut in Sept for a 50th wedding anniversary and definitely need a new tire before then.....My question is????

Has anyone had more success with the Kuhmo AST car tire lasting longer than the OEM Kenda in the 225-50R15 size.....or do you have another suggestion in that size???? *Notes* on handling characteristics would be valuable also...

As always with me, Any advice apprciated!! DC1......

Very pleased with the Kumho Ecsta AST at doubling the wear life. We'll see how it does on the 2015, but will probably run the Kenda for another couple of months. The original is just now touching the center wear indicators, but there is still 5/32 tread depth below that. We have close to 5,000 miles on it, but I figure I'm good for the 2,000 mile trip to Utah next month.:clap: One difference I noticed is that Kenda has really high wear bars, compared to the 2-3/32 on the Kumho. Probably the motorcycle vs car tire safety factor. If we were aggressive riders or lived where it rains a lot, I would probably change sooner. For our riding style and predominantly dry roads, grip and handling is good!

 

[SpyderAnn01]

I'm getting ready to put on my 5th rear tire on my 2014 and, while I got 20,000 miles on a Kumho, I will most likely not put another one on. I find that the Kumho hydroplanes too much for my liking.

Here is what I have had on my RT

Kenda rear 9,600 miles (it was ready to be changed at 7,500 miles)
Arachnid rear 8,300 miles (it was ready at 7,500 but I could have gone to 10,000 on it)
Kumho rear 20,714 miles
Arachnid rear 8,971 miles (it is ready to go now)

Front:
Kenda 17,955 miles
Federal Evo 29,630 miles - Wow, I didn't realize that I had so many miles on them. But they are ready.

 

[Bob Denman]

Hi Ann,
I found that my OEM Kenda also got a bit "Sketchy", once the tread was worn down :shocked:... Is it that the Kumhos are worse?

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Hi Ann,
I found that my OEM Kenda also got a bit "Sketchy", once the tread was worn down :shocked:... Is it that the Kumhos are worse?

Yes, for me the Kumho is definitely not good in rain. The Kenda and the Arachnid (has almost identical tread pattern to Kenda) don't hydroplane with either the Kenda or the Federal Evo on the front. I had thought that it was the Federals that caused the hydroplaning but when I went to the second Arachnid I had no issues at all. The Arachnid is pretty much bald now but even so I had no hydroplaning on my trip to Houston last week.

They will get a bit slippery on take off if your tread is shot.

 

[Bob Denman]

How long did the Arachnid :shocked: last, versus the OEM Kenda, and your Kumho tires?

 

[Highwayman2013]

Lots of choices in the 215/60/15 size.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

How long did the Arachnid :shocked: last, versus the OEM Kenda, and your Kumho tires?

The Arachnid and the Kenda are pretty much identical.

 

[Bob Denman]

Thanks! :thumbup:

 

[ARtraveler]

Some additional OEM tire information:

First rear tire on the 2014 RT--8900 miles and was bald in the center.

Second tire (supposed to be from the new batch) is looking new at 14,000 miles (5100 miles on the rubber).

Original front tires still looking good at 14,000 miles.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

AND THIS IS A SURPRISE !!!!!!

The Arachnid and the Kenda are pretty much identical.

:agree:............Maybe because Arachnid COPIED the Crapenda.......:roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:.................just a thought :thumbup:

 

[SpyderAnn01]

:agree:............Maybe because Arachnid COPIED the Crapenda.......:roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:.................just a thought :thumbup:

I wasn't surprised. One difference is that the Kenda typically wears in the middle and the Arachnid wears on the outside (with 28 psi) I upped the pressure on the 2nd tire and it is now worn pretty much all the way across.

 

[Bob Denman]

Did you take it up to 30si, in order to get more even wear across the tread pattern? :dontknow:

 

[DC1]

getting ready to install my 4th Kumho today before leaving for Canada next week... My first three Kumhos averaged 30000 miles each, my first three Kendas averaged 8000 miles each so I would say there is considerable difference.. front tires can be flakey... my 2012 RT Oem tires lasted over 45000 miles while my 2014 RT front tires were defective and had to be replaced at under 8000 miles

Sounds like Kumho is going to be the way to go for me on the rear, probably stay with OEM size for this tire, may try others later on....My front tires still look like new but I did have them do a very careful laser alignment right after I bought it...It is my limited understanding that the kenda rear tires "balloon" at speed from weak belting and that is what causes the middle wear....I.was running 30 lbs the whole time and the middle wear is incredible compared to the sides which still has great tread.....I think I will try the Kumho next and watch pressures closely to ensure even wear....If I can get 20,000 + miles out of it I will be very satisfied....


Thanks for the responses everyone and mileage listings on different brands, and the advance notice about hydroplaning...Very detailed and informative.........You folks rock!!!