More of a Notice about Kumho LE Sports, than a alignment/tire pressure thread

[Nero Tenebre]

nspec I think it's your toe setting. That's the only thing that wears out tires that fast unless they are indeed defective.

 

[swerve2007]

nspec I think it's your toe setting. That's the only thing that wears out tires that fast unless they are indeed defective.

unfortunately i will confirm the Kumho LE as being junk. my rear toe setting is zero and i just threw away 255/40/17s after about 3500 miles. the fronts are about half way.

 

[britlude]

i find the kumhos are great, i usually get about 7000 out of my rears (255/35x18) , twice that out of the fronts (215/40x17) on my '92

 

[Nero Tenebre]

Wow seems like inconsistent quality control perhaps, these reports are all over the place. Or perhaps they changed the formulation of the compound... Tire makers do all sorts of things, the more I learn the harder it gets to pick tires. Anyways, KO I hope yours last you so report here after you've formed an opinion...

 

[bee_are_bee]

I just replaced my set of LE Sports with another set due to road hazard. I had about 13k on this set and the rears looked like there was another 1000 - 1500 miles of usable tread left. I run stock wheels with stock alignment settings.

 

[N Spec]

I had Pepboys, who did tire mounting and balance verify miles and I was right, 2,500 miles on the tires. I went to Sears to relay this info with Kumho. This is the result after about 2 hours trying to talk resolve the issue:

The manager from Kumho simply denied any goodwill or even discount for my next set of rear tires. Even if they would have discounted me with $100, that would have been reasonable. I'm not going these tires again for sure. Unbelievable!

 

[Ko-nsx]

Funny the different mileage people are getting. Well see what mine do.

 

[britlude]

I had Pepboys, who did tire mounting and balance verify miles and I was right, 2,500 miles on the tires. I went to Sears to relay this info with Kumho. This is the result after about 2 hours trying to talk resolve the issue:

The manager from Kumho simply denied any goodwill or even discount for my next set of rear tires. Even if they would have discounted me with $100, that would have been reasonable. I'm not going these tires again for sure. Unbelievable!

the problem they have is they don't know how you drive... you may be driving miss daisy, but they will assume with 2500 miles to bald tyres that you'll be spending every weekend doing burnouts, donuts, and track days. difficult proving otherwise!

my tyre wear has been consistent over the last 3 sets of kumho i've fitted, le sport are much better all round than the KU31 they replaced!

 

[nsxtasy]

I had Pepboys, who did tire mounting and balance verify miles and I was right, 2,500 miles on the tires. I went to Sears to relay this info with Kumho. This is the result after about 2 hours trying to talk resolve the issue:

The manager from Kumho simply denied any goodwill or even discount for my next set of rear tires. Even if they would have discounted me with $100, that would have been reasonable. I'm not going these tires again for sure. Unbelievable!

I think you might have been more successful if you had contacted Kumho directly - perhaps through their technical support people (who might have more insight into the NSX and its treadlife issues) rather than customer service - than by approaching your local retailer. And if you haven't tried that, that option is still available to you.

Another factor may be how you approached them. I don't mean to offend, but your posts here display a strong attitude and sense of outrage, which you are certainly entitled to but can very well work against you in a situation in which you are hoping for some form of customer service redress. It's the old saw, "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar".

 

[N Spec]

I think you might have been more successful if you had contacted Kumho directly - perhaps through their technical support people (who might have more insight into the NSX and its treadlife issues) rather than customer service - than by approaching your local retailer. And if you haven't tried that, that option is still available to you.

Another factor may be how you approached them. I don't mean to offend, but your posts here display a strong attitude and sense of outrage, which you are certainly entitled to but can very well work against you in a situation in which you are hoping for some form of customer service redress. It's the old saw, "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar".

I didn't display any anger or tone change with anyone. I emailed the warranty department and they called me a few days later to tell me to bring it to a local retailer for inspection. The tech was confused/surprised himself by the results after I showed proof of mileage. He called Kumho for me and they still denied any goodwill or claim.

I then called the manager's direct line over there on the west coast and he would not even goodwill a dime. He told me to slow down and stop burning out after looking at the pic... I was appalled at this remark, because we don't exactly own some beater sports cars. I can't remember the last time I've seen an NSX do a burnout. Even if I were tracking or racing these tires, they should still last at least 5,000 miles in the rear. I asked him what he would do if he if he was in my situation. He told me he would buy another set of the LE Sports and never would have called it in (Like he was annoyed by my phone call). I told him that was a dishonest answer, and if he just burned $400 in 2,500 miles, he would not buy the same set of tires again. That is the only time I stepped over boundaries, as I pretty much called him a liar at that point.