Kumho Ecsta SPT Tire Launch

In the late '90s you had barely heard of Kumho Tires, much less were able to pronounce the name properly. By catering to various forms of motorsport from drag racing to Le Mans, however, the brand stitched itself into the minds of many aficionados. And now you can't stop hearing the name.

What truly contributed to its success were the tuners. Many were looking for performance tires without the hefty price tag. Kumho heard the call and answered back with the Ecsta Supra 712, and soon became a household name. That was five years ago. The 712 is considered Kumho's bread and butter, and to replace such a successful tire was a brave move.

This year Kumho released the Ecsta SPT. "It's the spiritual successor to the 712," said Dan Davis of Kumho Tires. That's right, the 712 is retired. Before you get emotional, the SPT has increased performance in every category, including wet and dry handling, ride quality, wet braking, noise and aquaplaning. So you see, there's no reason to cry.

Kumho invited us to test the new SPT against the Dunlop Sport Maxx and Michelin Pilot. These two tires are considered high-end in terms of cost and performance, and it seemed ambitious for Kumho to go up against them.

The company set up an autocross with half the course wet and provided us with automatic and manual Z4s and a manual Boxster. First up was the Michelin. As expected of a high-end tire, these handled like a dream. The wet handling was especially impressive. On the Dunlops we thought we were going to die. They were unpleasant compared to the Pilots since they broke traction easily and sent cones flying in the wet. And almost every other driver spun out in the Sport Maxx.

Next up was the Kumho SPT. It took three laps to gain confidence after the Michelins and take the SPT to the limit. The handling was quite impressive. The tires did squeal but didn't lose traction. In the wet, they lost traction but managed to hold the line.

Each lap was timed and the average taken. According to the data, the Michelin Pilot came in first. But the surprise was that the SPT was only a tenth of a second behind, while the Dunlop was several seconds slower.

The data speaks for itself. Kumho never claimed the SPT was better than the brands tested; it simply wanted to prove that you can obtain good performance at a low cost with its product. This is an excellent selling point, and we look forward to seeing where Kumho Tires will be in another five years.