My wife drives an '01 S-Type 4.0 with Sport Package. Has just under 54K miles on it. I was rotating the tires and I noticed that the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S that I had on the car had just about had it (got approximately 25K miles out of them). The rears were at the wear bars and the fronts were almost there as well. My wife is not hard on the car. I paid $920 for those Pilots out the door when I bought them. Seems like there were quite a few more options in 235/50-17 this time around.

I shopped online but ended up buying the tires locally. I ended up going with a set of Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum's. Time will tell but my initial impression is good. The tires cost me $600 out the door (tax, mounting, balancing, new stems and disposal of the old) at a local shop. They balanced up with no more than 1 of an ounce of weight on any one tire. I think one was a 1/4 ounce and another was a 1/2 ounce. So far I've put about 250 miles on them (I don't normally drive the car much -- I only perform the maintenance and put gas in it for her) and I'm very pleased. The ride quality is very nice, the tire is quiet and I don't notice any difference in handling (but again we really don't push the car hard).

I also purchased a set of Raybestos Advance Technology rotos and Raybestos Advance Technology Ceramic pad (front and rear for both pads and rotors). Installed them this morning and bled the brakes to flush out the old fluid and replace with ATE DOT4.

The rotors were original and were just about at minimum spec. The front pads had about 1.5mm left (second set of OEM front pads). The rear pads were about as worn as you can get without hitting the backing plate. The brake parts cost me $326 shipped to my door from RockAuto.com

Overall I'm pleased and the brakes and tires cost me about the same as just the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires last time I bought them. I really like the Pilot Sport A/S (used them on several cars over the years) but they are expensive and they don't last long.

I'm curious to see how I like the Kumho's over time. It is my first time buying Kuhmo but if my initial impression is any indication I think I will buying them again.

 

Good to know Cliff, as we have the Pilots on our '05. The fronts are in pretty good shape but the rears are going to need to replaced soon. The wife is the driver and she drives under 4 miles a day. So we are going to stretch the rears out as long as possible. Please keep us informed about the ride and tread wear on the Kumho's.

 

My wife also only puts about 4 miles a day on the car. That is why her '01 only has 54K miles. Usually if we go anywhere together we take one of my cars.

I'll post back on the Kuhmo's after we get some miles on them.

 

The major knock on just about all Korean-brand tires is that no matter how well you take care of them, they don't last. My wife's 2005 S-Type 3.0 came with a new set of Hankook Ventus tires installed by our local Jaguar dealer just prior to me buying the car last December. I wasn't happy about this particular tire selection and used that as one of my bargaining chips with the sales guy. After buying the car, I contacted Hankook's corporate office here in the U.S. and was surprised to learn that these tires carry a 50,000-mile treadwear warranty so I had Hankook mail me a warranty card which I filled out and mailed back to them. We've put right at 14,000 miles on the tires to date, I run them at 34 psi year-round and rotate them at every oil & filter change, and I must admit that they've held up better than I thought they would thus far. Comfort, ride quality, and traction in the rain have never been an issue for these tires. I don't believe they will go 50,000 miles but they may very well get 40,000 and if they do, I'll be happy.

I've done some significant research and when new tire time rolls around for this car, I'm leaning towards the Dunlop Sport Signature. The price is right, the warranty is great (60,000 miles), and it's a highly-rated tire for the money. No way will I spend the outrageous money required for a set of Pilots....

Keep us posted on your Kumhos....