Tirerack.com ratings???

[fearturtle03]

I was looking at new tires and was curious about Tirerack.com's ratings. I was looking at what alot of ppl on here have, the Kuhmo Ultra High Performance ECSTA ASX's and their dry traction rating is like an 8.6 and steering response an 8.2.

I currently have only the high performace Potenza G 009's on my car now and they have a rating for dry traction of 8.7 and steering response of 8.3, as well as much higher ratings across all other categories. I was wondering why is this tire in a lower performance category, if it has better ratings and performance than the Kuhmo???

I guess i would get the Kuhmo's because they are much cheaper cost wise than the Potenza's, but i am just curious as to why it is in a higher performance category than the Potenza? Is it just rated for a higher speed?? And would I be losing anything if i switched from the Potenza's to the Kuhmo all season?

Thanks

[knownzero]

Under the Kuhmo Ecsta SPT's almost every single reviewer listed their driving style as 'spirited'. Riiiiight. Sure, the tire lends itself to those types of reviews but I refuse to believe that the guy or gal with a 97 Toyota Camry can do anything approaching 'spirited'. They are reviews from people that generally have zero concept of what spirited driving is, but if you look hard enough, you'll find some nuggest of decent info on there. Don't take them as truth.

[msumlin]

I would use Tireracks comparisions and testing results as a guide, not customer's opinions. Kumho's are a great tire, as I have the SPT's and MX's on my cars. I have used Bridgestone SO2A's and Yokohama ES 100's and the Parada Spec II's, and each has their strong and weak points.

[FrozenPilot]

Take all the consumer reviews with a grain of salt and weigh their own reviews heavily.

Some consumers tend to think the Goodyear Assurance ComforTread handle phenomenally, and Tire Rack's own criticisms show road isolation leading to lack of handling and wet grip. Generally speaking, the category of tire (standard, touring, grand-touring, high-performance, and ultra-high-performance) are a better indicator of what to expect in a tire than a consumer's viewpoint.

[Mz6GreyGhost]

Generally speaking, the category of tire (standard, touring, grand-touring, high-performance, and ultra-high-performance) are a better indicator of what to expect in a tire than a consumer's viewpoint.[/b]

Let me add the actual testing that Tirerack does as well, compared to other tire models.

The consumer reviews are nice, but they're all based on opinions, which vary as much as the weather.

[top_gear87]

Tire racks official tests FTW! the ECSTA ASX's performed very well.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=52