Anyone running these tires, impressions?

 

Best tires ever.

You can drive in wet weather pretty much like you can in dry weather.

 

Good to know as I'm about to order these myself.

 

Got a set on our car- check my gallery for pix.

 

Have about 18k on my first set, LOVE them... did the Wicks school at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with them and an autocross this past weekend. Best balanced tire so far from what ive found for wear, and performance.

I had to have one replaced under the road hazard because i got a nail in one that was too close to the edge to repair, so i bought a second new one and put those on the front, and rotated the older set to the rear, wearing nicely

 

Got about 2500 miles or so on them, 2000 from a trip. Came from the runflats and the KDWs are way better, road noice similar but not worst. You can feel the difference just when you are stopped and you turn the wheel; it has a much lighter feel to it. Grip is a lot better, wet-weather is good, too. Sorry, I can't compare it to any other tires except the performance run-flats.

 

i just mounted a set of these on some flik ftds 16X7 ET42, but i got 225/45/16s. they were cheaper than the 205/50/16s (?) and only 1/2 inch wider (according to the manufacturer's specs), so they fit no problem. i was running toyo proxes 4s, which are ultra high performance all seasons. the toyos were great tires, excellent grip wet or dry, very quiet, excellent wear charateristics, but the grip level on these kdw2s brand new, less than 200 miles on them, is higher than my well worn toyos. i'm sure the grip level will increase even more as they wear in. the noise has increased just a little, mainly between 20mph to 45mph, depending on the road surface, but on the highway i can't tell a difference.

judging from the large tread blocks i can predict that these tires will get loud unless i rotate them more often. i'm a tech and i've seen what happens to tires from no rotation, and i can assure you these will wear badly if ignored. i plan on rotating them once between oil changes (2.5k miles), and rotate and balance them at every oil change (5k miles).

bottom line, i like them so far!

 

I've had my KDW-2's for about 3,000 miles now...

The good: The dry grip is noticeably improved, the rise isn't as harsh, and they look flippin' sweet. And the wet grip is pretty stinkin' good too. I've driven too fast through some puddles that were a might bit deeper than what I figured, and the KDW-2's just took it in stride. No hydroplaning yet, but I haven't pushed it to find out where their limit might be... Oh, and I paid $125 a pop for mine from the Tire Rack - not a bad price, in my opinion.

The bad: They're a bit noisier than the RF's, and there's a distinct "off-road tire" noise when I'm decelerating, especially in the 15-10 mph portion. It's gotta be those big tread blocks. But the noise is nothing compared to the benefits.

Hope this helped

 

and looks like they are available in 215/40-18. Hmm...

 

Thanks all for the input, I'll probably get these. Hope they last longer than the tires I run now(Goodyear GS D3)

 

Good tire when new, but get very noisy near the end of there life.

Nik

 

I'll be interested in how they compare to the Goodyears.

 

Same except they are the loudest tires I have ever driven on. Also while running the MINI reccomended 33psi in the 17s they almost look like your riding on the edge of the sidewall. I have about 4k miles on mine so far.

 

I've read comments that are strongly in favor of both. I'm in the goodyear camp, because that's what I have. I've never read anything from someone who has had both.

Certainly seems as though you can't lose with either choice. The only knock I've ever read on the kdws is road noise.

mb

 

I had the Goodyears on other cars and preferred them to the KDWs. They had good grip and H20 performance and they did not howl like these tires do. I can't stand how crazy noisey these tires are (and I had thought Toyos I had in the past were bad....).

 

great grip but loud, btw I have a set of used 215/35/18 for sale very cheap

 

not nearly as loud as the parada spec-2s we have on our beetle. But thats a completely different animal considering the design of the beetle and different sound-deadening.

 

I have had the runflats, Yokohama Parada Spec-2, and now BFG KDW2. I have about 13,000 miles on the KDW2s. I used both the Paradas and KDW2s at Track Days. Both the Paradas and the KDW2s were quiet when new but got noisier over time. I believe the main reason for the noise is negative camber in the rear wearing the tires on the inside. More frequent tire rotation is suppose to help the problem. I like the KDW2s better than the Paradas for a few reasons. The KDW2s stick better, look cooler, and are quieter. I am running 215/40-17.

 

I have had several different sets of ties on the car in the last 55k miles and the KDW-@ have been by far the best so far. I have gone thru 1.5 sets and will have no problems going for a third. Dry stick is great, wet weatehr is unbeleivable . Yes they can be noisy but NOT if you rotate them more than normal. I do mine about ever 3 to 4 k and have had no noise issues whatsoever.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

mmm...tire pics are always good.

 

we just put some KDW's on a bit ago as well, switching from some parada's as well (pretty much slicks at the time of changing). i don't know if i've heard a street tire as loud as the parada, the KDW is nothing at this point compared to that one on noise.

i'm still not sold on the daily driving grip on these though. don't know why, it's mostly the pavement on the transition fwy's out here where i could take at 60 in the spec2's now i have to drop to 55 if i don't want to get light, feels like they are washing out a bit...? but had the KDW's out at Buttonwillow for some track driving and i was able to hold times similar to that of my mazda on R-Compounds....so i've got mixed feelings.

i just put them on my Mazda a couple days ago, no real driving yet though

 

hey jimbo you posted!

Yeah as you might know I have these on my car. I have very mixed feelings about them. I autoXed over at the rack in July, one of the weekends that it was around 100*, you know what I'm talking about? Anyway I poured water on the tires after every run, and they still chunked and look like absolute crap. Also in the wet, they just spin like crazy (intersection of Bittersweet and Mckinley comes to mind most and that is even grooved concrete) Yesterday morning I barely got on it there and my tires spun all the way through 2nd and into the first part of third... Not good. I got these tires in May, and so far I have done 5 autoXes with them and driven them on the street and I have to say, they probably will be replaced when I switch back to my good rims in the spring. I don't know by what though. I was looking at the dunlop sport maxx. But I dunno, they were good when they were new I think, but right now they look like ***** and perform like *****, and yeah it's time to get new ones and r compounds... or a different tire and r compounds... I'll let you know though.

Mikey

 

I wish I would have read this before I bought them. These are the loudest tires I have owned. I do have under 1K miles though. On the other hand why should you have to "break-in" a tire for road noise. Disappointed with BFG.

 

After the first rotation I did @ 3k miles the tire noise is like 40% of what it used to be But yes..I agree the "break-in" is odd.

 

The noise comments confuse me a little.....I've had these on for about 15K miles and haven't noticed. Given the disparity of noise related comments maybe there's something else going on.....maybe inflation level? I dunno. I rotate mine every 4-5K miles.

I like these a lot. They're miles ahead of the RFs in all conditions. The Bridgestone S-03s were better in the wet, but then they should be.....