just paid 707 here in jersey at sears for brand new kumho ecsta asx at sears
put em on my stock 17's
they look great
and they stick so well to the ground even in the rain
just my two cents on my "winter tires"

 

OUCH!! That seems kinda steep for 17s. (Look HERE) I too am looking at these for some 18" rims I have but I'm not buying them at Sears. Glad you like them!

 

Unfortunately you CAN find them cheaper elsewhere. My problem was that I had a destroyed tire and had no choice but to purchase them from Sears.

Sometimes convience is a better bet than saving money. I couldn't afford to wait a couple of days as I need my tC asap.

Back to the question. Yes, they are a decent improvement over the old Bridgestones I had on my 05. I can't give a definitive answer on the dry but definately notice a difference in the wet (MN weather, we finally got snow) and snow.

They're more quiet, but ofcourse they are new tires waiting to be broken in. When Spring comes I'll be ableto make a conclusion. Worth every penny I paid for them so far as my old Bridgestones were starting to feel slippery even w/ 75% tread (i have 66K miles on her).

BTW, was that price w/ alignment too? My total was $680 w/ alignment and metal stems...

 

i know i couldve gotten them cheaper from elsewhere
but i always trusted sears for their service
plus free rotations, balancing and all that whenever i go in .. soo not a bad trade off

 

yes the price included alignment
the whole 9 yards

 

I also have these exact tires and love them for wet weather driving. I have no problem taking the highway at high speeds even in snow, the car just seems to stick to the road. I got mine from tire rack for $82 and they were sitting at my house within 20 hours (next morning). But anyway, the tires are great and they are quiet even after the break-in period. However, the dry traction isn't the best. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad, but i have a problem with spinning in first gear constantly in hard launches, and sometimes even in second. Verhy good cornering though. Overall for wet and dry traction, i would say 9 out of 10

 

my brother has them on his WRX. They are quiet as of now but I expect them to increase in noise after 10K miles. For the $, it's tough to beat. But it seems that most tires in the Falken ZE512 category and price range gave similar negative characteristics.

 

i just put on a set to replace my pirellis pzero nero m+s tires. they wore out after a year with roughly 20k miles. so i searched tire rack decided that the kumho ecsta asx had a great price, ratings, all-season, longer tread life and way more positive reviews. i am hoping to get a good chance to launch my tc hard from a stop and see how well they put the power to the pavement compared to my old pirellis and bridgestones.

 

^^^ Sorry to say but you're probably not going to be able to do a hard launch with them, they spin very easily through first, they hold good traction once you get it, but probably not gonna happen in first. Even when i drop in to first slowly and THEN hit the gas they still break loose at about 2500 rpm and don't regain traction until second gear. However like i previously stated, the grip in the turns is good. And wet traction is AMAZING.

But anyway, let us know how the hard launches go. Maybe your tires will act differently.

 

launches arent that bad
just gotta get used to the tires and how they react to the torque
much better than the bridgestone craptenza's the car came with
wet traction is a huge step up though

 

The Potenza's on my car ( came with them ) suck ! I knew they would . Spin on dry pavement with less than 5k miles and an automatic to boot . LOL . Dunlop Sport 5000 is excellent all around . wet and dry . The Kumho's you got are very good overall though . I am nit picking . The Dunlop will do better but , those you have are very good as well . I have run them in the past .

 

lol, the guy at merchant tire told me that the dunlops he had on his integra gsr were terrible and just went bald in no time. told me never to get them, lol.

 

i've had mine for more than a year, life saver in the snow too! awesome tires! would buy them again!