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It's getting close to that time to order this seasons new tires!  Where are the new Kumhos?

 

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Jeremy Foley
2001 Subaru 2.5RS Retired G-Stock Autocross Beast
2003 Evo 8 Modded Daily Driver
2004 RX-8 Current Borrowed B-Stock Killer

President
Team if you can't beat them-Join them!

Weellllllll since they were saying what...1st quarter of 08....given the seasons in Korea, the international date line and converting to metric......I'd say the new 710s will arrive sometime in october :)

With Kumho I learned to have the lowest of expectations for them to meet. Like to produce a tire....and they haven't let me down there :)  If Kumho had Hoosier's sense of urgency they would be unstoppable :)  

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David Hedderick
Pearland (Houston), TX
01 CRG YZ125 (FOR SALE! $2500)
08 Mazda 3s
02 Mazda Protege (automatic tow vehicle)
92 Miata SE - Fun half-arsed STS2 Car

Davebs14:

Weellllllll since they were saying what...1st quarter of 08....given the seasons in Korea, the international date line and converting to metric......I'd say the new 710s will arrive sometime in october :)

With Kumho I learned to have the lowest of expectations for them to meet. Like to produce a tire....and they haven't let me down there :)  If Kumho had Hoosier's sense of urgency they would be unstoppable :)  

 

Clarification:

By October of '08 we'll have tires with 2007 date codes, rather than the leftover 2005 production tires. 

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John Vitamvas
'04 Z06
'00 Boxster S (For Sale)

John V:

Clarification:

By October of '08 we'll have tires with 2007 date codes, rather than the leftover 2005 production tires. 

Hey, Shawn and I got 2006 production dates on the V710's we recently purchased...

We feel your pain!

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Chike Dellimore - Blue Ridge/Washington DC Regions
2006 Galaxy Gray 6MT Mazda RX-8 (B-stock)
Former 2006 Steel Gray 5spd WRX (D-stock)

"I have a lot to work on...crazy is still on the list."

I was wondering when someone was gonna start this thread.  Maybe some of the SoCal people who have "the in" with Kumho can give us a realistic update, since Tire Rack don't know ***, the NorCal rep for Kumho don't know *** and when I talked to Vilven tire last week they were asking the same question....

WHERE'S THE GAWD DAMN TIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary, Jason....how about it?  You guys heard anything?

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F125 #17
AS #197

I think Jason already posted this, but I'd expect the Kumho W710 Rains as late as summer.   I'm not sure arrival times on the new V710 are clear yet.   FWIW, I ran Nationals this year on 2005 tires (#1PAX on the West Course).   The current 710 is still a phenomenal bang for the buck tire that gets the job done, but I too am hoping the new tire arrives soon.

 -Andy M.

boxboy:

I think Jason already posted this, but I'd expect the Kumho W710 Rains as late as summer.   I'm not sure arrival times on the new V710 are clear yet.   FWIW, I ran Nationals this year on 2005 tires (#1PAX on the West Course).   The current 710 is still a phenomenal bang for the buck tire that gets the job done, but I too am hoping the new tire arrives soon.

 -Andy M.

Andy, I think we're all wondering where the new V710 is.  The W710 is less of a concern, at least for me.  I'd have no issues with running the current V710, except there appear to be none in the market.  I have had zero success finding the new or old tire.

I saw Jason's post from a few months ago, if he posted something more recently I missed it.... 

 

 

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F125 #17
AS #197

jwilliams:

Andy, I think we're all wondering where the new V710 is.  The W710 is less of a concern, at least for me.  I'd have no issues with running the current V710, except there appear to be none in the market.  I have had zero success finding the new or old tire.

I saw Jason's post from a few months ago, if he posted something more recently I missed it.... 

 

I will know they are here when I have a set in my hands. I would never wait to order tires because a "new one is on the way". 

Noting wrong with the current tire, like Andy I have always been behind on tire age. At the 05-06 natls I was on the same 05 build date tires, by 07 I had worked up to an 06 set. Nothing different with any of them. 

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Jason Isley
2005-2006-2007-2008 B Stock National Champion

RX7 KLR:

they are here when I have a set in my hands. I would never wait to order tires because a "new one is on the way". 

Noting wrong with the current tire, like Andy I have always been behind on tire age. At the 05-06 natls I was on the same 05 build date tires, by 07 I had worked up to an 06 set. Nothing different with any of them. 

 

I agree Jason.  I ran 05 DOT's for two years now with minimal difference.  I was told that production of the "new tire" was set to begin in later January, early February with delivery ASAP. 

Speaking of which, got to get some tires for the Dixie Tour....thanks for reminding me!

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D. Scott Bourne
192HS
DATS Racing LLC
Kumho Motorsports
Ken Towery's Motorsports
Tokico USA

DATS Racing, All DATS, All the time!

The V710's we just bought have a 2807 date code.  Doesn't that mean the 28th week of 2007?  But maybe it's because we're running a new size that debuted last year for the MX-5 Cup cars, so maybe that's why.  We did notice that the shoulders are much more square than the other V710's we've purchased in another size (for the Mini).   Here's a photo:

 http://webpages.charter.net/mitchlewis/kumho/edge.jpg

 
 

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)

Mitch, what size are those?

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Steve Rife
ETRSCCA

I think the 225/45/17 (MX-5 cup size) has only been available in the "new" compound/construction and has only been available since last year anyway.

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STS2 - 1990 Mazda Miata
Borrowing BS - RX-8

Yup!

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)

I might be going out on a limb here.  And please don't flame me if I am wrong.  But all my information would I think lead me to guess, and now while this is an educated guess it is however still a guess, and be that as it may, it might be wrong, but again here goes...................

SOUTH KOREA

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Trying to get faster

Since my name came up, here is what I know:

• Kumho has plans for new sizes and a limited number of rains.
• Six or so new sizes were mentioned at SEMA, and were listed on this forum in another thread. Those sizes should be available this year, but I don't know when.
• There are rumors of a construction or compound change out there. This will happen, but probably not until next year.
• There was a small change in compounding in late 2006 which I suspect had very little real impact, so I would not be particularly obsessive about what date codes are on your tires. I ran 2005 and 2006 tires on my car all last year. I did get some early 2007 codes late in the year. I noticed no difference in any of them.
• Go back and read Jason's and Andy's excellent posts above, especially the part about Andy's PAX result at nationals.

None of this should be taken as written in stone, but is probably pretty accurate.

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Gary T

Gary, Jason and Andy, 

Thanks for the responses.  Gary, I appreciate the info regarding the construction/compound change.  This gives me some of the info my customers were asking for.  As to the DOT codes and tire ages, I agree with you guys.  I have run 710's of various vintages and have seen no difference at all.    I personally use 3 or 4 sets of tires per season for our car.  However, I'm sure you guys can appreciate that some people do not have the same feelings about dot codes.  I've had a few guys who wanted guarantees that the tires would have dot codes no older than a certain date.  My other concern had been related to the apparent lack of available inventory through Tire Rack, Vilven Tire and the through the wholesaler that I deal with.  I finally got some info from my distributor that the tires are finally on the water headed for the warehouses.  I think its gonna be close for those of us on the west coast to get tires prior to San Diego and El Toro though. 

 

 

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F125 #17
AS #197

Check Discount/America's Tire. They frequently seem to have inventory when the others don't.

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Gary T

The new V710 was supposed to be out in January, according to the SEMA press kit.  It was the W710 that was due "first quarter."  They even specified the new sizes.  It's odd that they would delay an announced product launch by over a month and not update their press releases.

Yes the new sizes for the V710 will be a new construction.  I ran the 225/45/17 V710 last year and the compound is extremely similar to the current compound, but the shoulder construction is entirely different.  It is a square shouler THAT IS EXTREMELY STIFF.  If I could figure out how to post pics of worn tires you can see the differences. 

Basically, the new tire wears straight across the tread with a 1/2 " angled shoulder.  Think ALMS technology.  The tires were run on a 3000 lb IS300 with about 2 degrees of negative camber and coilover suspension.  The wear charecteristics are fantastic.  Hot pressures are 31 all the way around, and the shoulder is stiff enough that it takes a different set-up than the current crop of V710's.  From personal experience on my car you cannot swap between the two without adjusting your set-up.

Hope this helps a little.

 Chris

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Chris

Here's a shot of the square shoulder Chris is talking about.

http://webpages.charter.net/mitchlewis/kumho/edge.jpg

We already had a few runs on the tires so the outside edge has already started to round off.  That's why I took a photo of the inside edge.
 

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)