I am here to give my 2 cents on Kumho tires.
1. definitely bang for the buck.
The ecsta supra 712s are very well priced but the tread pattern is a little "r i c e y", but they ride well and get decent traction dry or wet. I prefer the big tread blocks rather than little tread lines. I switched the rears from 275/40-17 ecsta supra 712s to the 285/40-17 kumho MXs. The MXs are definitely NOT worth the extra money. When they are cold, they do NOT grab worth a $hit, and rain, dont even go there, I had tire spin at 70mph when I hit a bump while accelerating. I now have the new Ecsta SPT in the 285/40-17 version and am VERY satisfied with them. They grab very good. Little road noise, nice tread pattern (very attractive). My new set of wheels are going to carry the SPTs as well. 295/30-18 and 265/35-18...

 

The 712's were nice when new, but they were hard as a rock on cold mornings. My biggest complaint about them was there their performance went to poop after about 12k miles. I road them for 35k before I finally got new ones. At that point they had steel poking out of them.

 

The 712 are ok but I prefer the 711's. They actually have better traction in a straight line. I don't auto cross so the 712 didn't really do me any good and the 711 actually looks like a "real" tire.

 

I have the 712's and I remember one day in the winter I actually chirped second gear. But theyre a pretty good tire for the price.