This is exactly why I was hoping to hear from people on this forum who have ACTUAL EXPERIENCE with these tires on the HCH, hence my post. I have read all the reviews, and have my hesitations based on Sumi and Kumho's "Kia/walmart" reputation and the low price.

 

No I don't not at all. However in general, many of the reviews I've come across for the tires I mentioned are consistently good. So I purchased a pair for my current car and so far they are very good.

LLR tires are something I am not familiar with. So I really can't comment on them until I do some research about them. You know much more about them than I do at this point!

Were I to get a Civic Hybrid, I'd probably go with standard tires (i.e SI style rims or EX style as I do not like the Hybrid wheels). I doubt they'd do too much damage to the overall fuel economy. But again, I don't know for sure.

Yes of course...quite obviously you don't get take everyone's word for it. You do look for overall trends and scores across the board.

 

No doubt shopping online has drawbacks especially with tires.

From personal experience I purchased the Kumho ECSTA AST series. The snow and ice traction is OK...but overall it's a quiet, good handling, grippy tire in the dry. I can attest to that this far. Far superior to the BF Goodrich tires that are mounted on the rear two tires (which cost 1.6 times as much)!

Yes you are correct...all manufacturers make good and bad tires...not doubt about that whatsoever.

But again, if the Civic requires LLR tires, I can't really advise anything since I don't know what they really are.

 

Don't dismiss Kumho as the Kia of tires. I've owned plenty of tires worse than a pair of Kumhos I currently own.
I agree, don't skimp on tires - I NEVER do. I look mainly for superior wet and dry traction, without too much road noise. Super long tread wear doesn't impress me at all. 80K of slippery tires is just stupid, so get good traction.
I like the Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 series (in the 235/45/17 size). This is a summer performance tire. I wouldn't think of using it regularly in ice or snow. I have a pair on the rear of my MB 560SL, and they are as good as the Dunlop SP9000's they replaced - and at 2/3 the price, to boot. The Dunlop was about $200 each.
Both these tires are no longer made, I think, but I'd certainly consider Kumho in the future.
I don't have any specific recommendations for you though, as I only have 9K on my new HCH2 I have heard good things about the Goodyears you mentioned, though, although I doubt they are LRR.

 

Were it not for that LRR concern, I think I would have already decided on the Goodyear Accurance Triple Tread. I am still leaning toward the Sumimoto if I can find them, it gets great marks and reviews for wet and dry traction and tread wear. I think the OEM Bridgestone would also be a fine choice, but it's the most expenseive of the lot so I'd have to be more excited about it to pay the extra cash. I wonder why tire rack doesn't show ratings for that tire?

 

Kumho Touring A/S 795

This tire looks like it might be good for a Kumho. Some like it on the prius and think its LRR, though it's not listed on the GreenSeal list and its max pressure is 35. It is difficult, many reviews mention that it's a good tire for the money. I don't really want to buy some tire that's "pretty good for ten bucks" versus a tire that's "pretty good compared to all the other tires out there." I am really looking for the second, not the first approach.

 

Glad to hear the positive Kuhmo reviews.

...and not to add fueld to the fire, but IMO it is not a safe practice to wear a mix of different tires on your vehicle. You can read up on this at the Tirerack, but I will give you a summary.

All tires have different handling characteristics and thresholds. For example, if you have tires that have better wet traction in the front than in the rear, you could experience oversteer. That is, when your rear wheels lose traction sooner than your fronts and your rear end slides out and around. This may be okay around town, but could kill you on, say, a long sweeping interstate turn. This is especially a concern for those who only use two front snow tires.

I just want you guys to consider that. Only trying to help.

 

I would have used the same tires all-around. But the BF Goodrich tires were put on new from the dealer I purchased the car from (used). I wanted to get the same tires but they were 2 1/2 times more than the Kuhmos...and got worse reviews.

For the driving I do, I'm good I think.

 

I went with Continentals (ContiTouringContact CV95 - the CH is on GreanSeal's list). I don't know if they make them in a 185/70 (mine are 195/60). We recently had an ice/snow storm and I took the car out. I don't know how extensive a test it was. In all I never lost control, it tracked well, stopped when I was supposed to, and I traveled some 50 miles without incident. There were spots that did test the tire, but they never broke loose. However I was driving very careful, and there was not much snow (just ice patches). Overall I like the tire. Grips MUCH better than the Dunlops and they don't seem as noisy. Handling improved too. I've logged about 15K with them and have no complaints. They are not cheap - were just shy of $100 per. FE dropped about 2 MPG too, but I can't tell if that's the tire or the wheels.

1/16/07 Update: We've had a full-on snow storm (for Seattle) this week. I took the car out today on compact snow and ice. The tires did very well. So far I've been very impressed.

 

Well, ive had experience with both the khumo MX and khumo 712, one a 220 treadwear super sticky tire, to a average everday performance tire, not on my hybrid. (Old honda accord, and both tires didnt effect mpg. from what I could tell)

I think they are great quality, and are worth the price. I was buying tires every 6-8 months at the time, so I was trying lots of tires out. (auto-x, a LOT!)

Khumo changed the tire market a lot. They became a huge player in what was before a cornered market. After them, falken stepped up and started making awesome tires too.

Quick question; does treadwear ratings have any effect on rolling resistance? Im looking at the falken ziex 512 for my 1st gen HCH. The last owner of my car put terrible tires on her.