Hyundai Forums banner

Kumho Solus TA31 Tires

8K views 34 replies 11 participants last post by  OkieRich 
#1 ·
For those who have experience with the TA31s, do they/did they seem unusually loud to you? I've only had my SE for three weeks now, so when comparing it to my 2012, it's hard to know what to attribute to the tires and what to attribute to the redesign of the cabin, but I definitely notice a difference.

Also, I've also noticed that I have to take corners a little slower in this car than I did in my 2012. Again, I'm not sure if that's the tires or the cabin redesign.

The reviews I've read have been of little help. Some claim the tires are quiet, others claim they're loud. I suppose it's all relative to what you're used to, but I had a few different brands on my 2012 over the years and never noticed much of a difference between them.
 
#2 ·
I've used Kumho/Nexen/Hankook tires. As an OE tire or cheap replacement, they suck, almost as bad as those no-name ChiCom entry level tires that so many praise.

Loud... definitely
Comfort... lacking
Poor traction ... check(don't even consider them for snow, heavy rain...)
Flat spotting ... check
Last forever... check
MPG... not bad

When they're worn out, get some Michelins, Bridgestones, Pirellis... that match your driving style and weather patterns.
 
#4 ·
I can tell you that my SE is 'Bama-built, but I don't know if that necessarily means you're wrong. All it means is that I drove a 'Bama-built SE with Kumho tires off the lot. I don't see the motivation for a dealer to swap out the tires, but I wouldn't put anything past them.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the replies. Between the comments here and some other research I did (including a back and forth on this forum last year), it's pretty obvious that the Kumhos suck. Apparently, road noise is the lease of the problems I can look forward to in the future as a lot of owners have had issues with the tires bubbling and splitting as they age. I may just put a new set of tires on now. Normally I'd wait 20,000 to 25,000 miles, but I'm struggling with this car a bit, and anything I can do to make it more enjoyable to drive is probably worth it at this point. I'm having a hard time letting go of my 2012 that I passed down to my youngest daughter. Man, I loved that car.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Michelin's are good. As are the Bridgestone's and Pirelli's. But as you climb their hierarchy of models, it's the touring classes of these brands that provide you with your best components, quieter ride, and best traction under most road demands.
 
#11 ·
BTW, if you own the Nexen set of tires. Good luck getting one. All the dealers in my area have to order them. 2 days out. 100+ bucks each. 195/65/15 btw.
I've got a freaking dry wall screw in one of mine. Right between the sidewall and the first deep rib (I guess thats what its called). Everywhere I've taken it to, says, it has to be replaced. No repair possible at that location. So, I've been looking.

Was thinking of just replacing all 4. The car only has 3500 miles on it. And that really sucks.

Any suggestions????? Maybe a brand that you moved over to that you like better??

Thanks for any help!
 
#12 ·
Yep, sidewall punctures are considered irreparable. If it were me, I'd cough up the hunski and ride on the donut for the two days wait time. You don't want mismatched tires... they won't wear and the car won't handle the same...probably will have pulling and possibly brake shimmy. And I wouldn't look to replace the other three...they're still basically brand new. Waste of 3 good tires...but that's just me.
 
#13 ·
Ferdy, that makes sense. It is what I did when I had a blow out rear RT43 on a Saturn. Other tires were low mileage and just replaced it.

OP, you asked for tire recommendations. RT43 is my tire of choice. The blowout I had happened to 20 + vehicles that hit the same object someone dropped on the highway. Was not the tire's fault. Wal-Mart sells them in my area. For me, price vs performance is hard to beat with RT43's.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...&tireModel=AltiMAX+RT43+(H-+or+V-Speed+Rated)
 
#16 · (Edited)
@newsguy99 and @NDSE: My Pirelli's are awesome. Took off the Nexens at 10k. Still have them and the AD factory rims. Nothing wrong with them. Just wanted a better tire. My P's are 90k rated. Which means diddly squat because you have to do everything imaginable to get that kind of miles out of them. Religious rotations and balances, alignment checks each year, PSI monitoring, driving habits, road conditions, etc. Not saying they WON'T hit 90k. Just know that I live in the real world, not a controlled tire testing lab.

And the tire stores are correct on nails in regard to punctures in that shoulder area. Up along that edge where the sidewall curves to join the tread? About an inch to an inch and a half? A nail? New tire. In the big picture, I'll cough up the $$$ and get a replacement. Not gonna be happy about it but I'll pay it.

I ran into this exact scenario on my 2013. Nail in the shoulder closer in towards the meat of the tread. I tried plugging it. No luck. Continually worsened. To the point of taking the wheel off or ruining the chrome rim en route to the store. Care to guess which option I chose?

All this gets you to thinking about those road hazard certificates, doesn't it? :rolleyes:
 
#17 ·
OkieRich,

What was the cost of Pirelli's? Where did you buy them? What is the name of the tires? What makes them awesome?

To preface things the two most important things to me are wet traction and snow traction. Two reasons I got rid of tires since they were not safe. Ride quality is third. To have all 3 makes a tire awesome in my experience.
 
#21 ·
Pirelli P4 All Season Plus. 225/50R/17's. My OTD price/Service record attached.

I find them to be excellent in dry or wet conditions. I live in Oklahoma. Snow is merely a passing thought, for the most part. But in 3-4" of the stuff, I had no issues. But I didn't go out there driving with my hair on fire, either.

Now, let's talk "ICE!" :eek: Not the greatest traction in the world. Certainly not the worst, either. But we don't deal with much of that, either. Just need to use your head in these situations. Having said that, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

Noise? Hardly any. Not enough to get wild about and mention it. Ride quality? Smooth. On asphalt, they will lull you to sleep. Relatively quiet on concrete. They take small road bumps with ease.

I think @someguy has the P7's. Appeared satisfied with his, too, I believe.

Hope this helps. ;)
 

Attachments

#18 ·
This why you buy the replacement certificates for your tires. At $20 per tire, if you ever use it once, it's paid for itself.....

And if you end up getting a new tire when its about time to replace all 4 anyway, then you get the new tire, but don't have it mounted and sell it on craigslist for $10 less than the store and pocket the cash. Someone out there will always need that single brand new tire, regardless of the brand....
 
#19 ·
That's the first thing I'm doing when I get my car - going to the closest Discount Tire and buying the road hazard warranty on all 4 tires. They'll cover road hazards even if you didn't buy the tires from them. I already got a price on it, and its around $65 for all 4 tires after tax.

Makes total sense especially since I live in a construction zone.
 
#20 ·
I moved the Kumho Solus TA31s to my 2012 and put a set of Pirelli Cinturato Stradas (similar to the P7s) on my 2017 today. I won't be able to get a full appreciation for the difference until I get an hour or two of driving in, but I'm happy with them so far.

The biggest surprise came after moving the TA31s to the 2012. The manager at Discount Tire seemed genuinely surprised I wanted to replace them due to road noise. When I returned to have them put on the 2012 this afternoon, he said that hopefully I would see a difference after they mounted and balanced them. Surprisingly enough, I did.

I'm not saying the TA31s are great tires because we know they're not, and I will probably replace them before they hit 15,000 miles, but it really does make me wonder if the dealership put them on the car and just didn't balance them properly. The car was a loaner with 460 miles on it, so they may have thrown a new set of TA31s on and moved the original tires to one of their used cars or another loaner.
 
#22 ·
I purchased the P4's as well. Waiting on them to ship in. OTD price for all 4, with install, roadhazzard, balance is going to be around $480ish.

Reports are, these tires will hold up very well. A lot of people are saying that if you rotate, keep the air pressure where its suppose to be, and don't drag race with these tires, they'll last 90K+ miles.

Since I have a Eco, the tire size is 195/65R15

Believe it or not, but Wal-Mart carries/can order this tire. And has the best price on them, that I found. I just hope the installer is the older guy that I met while I was there ordering.
I don't want to have a young, non-ASE guy doing this. I'll make sure I tell the person at the counter that.

I just hate that I can't buy the OEM stock tires from a Hyundai dealership, without having to have them order it in.
 
#23 ·
I purchased the P4's as well. Reports are, these tires will hold up very well. A lot of people are saying that if you rotate, keep the air pressure where its suppose to be, and don't drag race with these tires, they'll last 90K+ miles.
Congrats. I'll admit that I caught them dozing at the store when I walked in with a SAM's estimate for them to beat.

Good to hear about the mileage reports. I'm rotating. About every 4-5k these days. Having the free balance done with the rotations. Have the alignment looked at once every 12 months, or so. And monitor the pressures, religiously, albeit from the TPMS display.

Drag racing? I'm done with that, too! But there was a time...last century...

:3gears:
 
#24 ·
I ran the OEM Nexen's for 5,000 miles and couldn't take it any longer.

Swapped them out for some fresh Michelin Premier A/S and WOW what a difference.

It actually drives like a car now.

I highly highly reccomed them. This is my second set of them and I honestly don't plan on ever owning any tire but these so long as they are in production.

$623 OTD. Still working on selling the Nexens.
 
#26 ·
Thanks for all the info on Pirelli! Tire Rack does a track test with P4's and then with Cinturato P7's and compare them to the RT43's. Looks like if you want quiet, Pirelli is great. Wet traction, RT43's performed better. If tomorrow I needed to replace the Nexen's I would probably go with RT43's since I know they perform well with my driving style. Pirelli would be my second choice.

Nexen may not be the best, but so far they are OK. We had inches of rain and flash floods. They pushed through the water with no hydroplaning. So they passed the first test.
 
#30 ·
Nice looking tires! Thanks for sharing.

Yep, Nexen's are noisy tires. But I came from a 99 SL2 Saturn. At 274,000 miles everything was noisy on that car. I can remember gleefully driving my Pinto in college. No power anything. That included the motor.:D The Elantra is a joy to drive despite the Nexen's.

Until I can afford new tires I will use the built in noise canceling feature in the Elantra. They call it a radio. :wink2:
 
#32 ·
Yep, Wal-Mart beats online price after you consider mounting, etc. The RT43's I purchased at Tire Buyer and shipped free to Auto Tire. They mounted and balanced them and that is it. With Wal-Mart that would include free rotations, etc for the same price or less. I had three tires mounted and balanced at Wal-Mart and they did a good job in that regard.
 
#33 ·
Just a quick update. The Pirelli P4 tires are awesome! Wal-Mart install, no so much.
When I went in to get the new tires installed, it was early in the morning, and I was the 2nd person in line when the doors opened.
It was a Saturday, so, I'm guessing the people were not fully awake.

After Wal-Mart put the tires on, and I went on a drive, I found they were bumpy. Like the tire was not balanced. I knew they balanced them, as I saw they were on the machine, and watched the guy put
the weights on.

Well, today, I took the car back over, and told them, it didn't feel right, and I was getting a very bumpy ride.
Sure enough, all 4 tires were out of balance.
The guy that did it today, seemed to know how to do everything, and took his time.
About an hour later, I get called to the cashier, saying I'm all ready to go!
CAR DRIVES FANTASTIC NOW!

So, if you do go to Wally World for tires. If it doesn't feel right, as soon as you leave.. Drive right back in. You'll know almost instantly.
 
#35 ·
Just a quick update. The Pirelli P4 tires are awesome!
I certainly am enjoying imonial on the effectiveness of the tool.my P4's. Glad you like them.

Along the lines of balancing: had a wheel alignment on a car years ago. Going home via the interstate. Front end was everywhere BUT where it was supposed to be. Pulled over, looked underneath. HOLY COW! :eek: Lo and behold, there underneath, clinging for dear life, a Vise-Grip.

Service Tech was happy to get it back. Thought he had lost his mind. Everyone In the shop laughing over it. Tech told me he thought he had laid it down somewhere and could not remember where to save his life. Or the guys were pilling a prank on him. LOL Nice testimonial for Vice-Grip.
 
#34 ·
Wal-Mart installer could not find my tire after had to special order one in that blew out. It was like an Easter Egg hunt finding it with all the tires they had in stock. Balancing went well.

I used to use the largest tire chain in area, with 37 stores. New tires would not be balanced correctly. They rarely or pretty much never checked tire pressure or set it correctly during rotations. So, not getting the balance correct seems to be a problem of that industry.

Great to hear how your car drives now! Something to look forward to.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top