Kuhmo KL51 & Bridgestone D697 Feedback
Submitted: Sunday, Mar 09, 2014 at 18:51
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106627
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ChristaJezz
Hi Guys,
Recently changed from Kuhmo KL51 to Bridgestone D697 for a trip up North. 120 Series Toyota Prado.
KL51: Great price, great wet weather grip, no noise issues, one
puncture, 100,000kms (had about 2mm left to wear indicators), 100% highway use. Would buy again with no concerns.
D697: Chose because of the LT higher load rating and great price, 5 tyres for $1,250. Second choice was Pirelli Scorpion. 10,000kms old and no grip or noise issues. Very happy with choice. Have noticed reduced fuel economy but that could be vehicle related rather than tyres.
Cheers,
Jeremy.
Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 08:08
Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 08:08
Have been running D697 LT's for 12 months or so and also happy with their performance.
Previously had 693's (OEM) and 694's which were also OK but the LT construction of the 697's convinced me to stick with Bridgestones.
Yes, the price is also hard to ignore.
AnswerID:
528012
Reply By: Crusier 91 - Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 08:33
Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 08:33
I've been running Bridgestone D697 265/75/16 for 2 years.
Great tyre for where go. Excellent side wall properties, quiet on the hwy, a more than capable off road tyre in dry conditions.
Negatives: Not a good tyre for muddy conditions
AnswerID:
528015
Reply By: cookie1 - Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 18:23
Monday, Mar 10, 2014 at 18:23
Bought Kumho when I first started 4wding and had a problem the first week, was overtaken by a Commodore, on a good condition dirt road in the Flinders, at the time we had the tyre go flat.
The Kumho distributor claimed it was an impact fracture and didn't want to know about it, not only that but offered to give me the number for Office of Fair Trading.
Would not ever buy nor recommend the product and have bought many thousands of dollars of tyres since.
Had a great run with Bridgestones and am now on my second set of Mickey Thompson ATZ4Rib.
cheers
AnswerID:
528053
Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 at 10:56
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 at 10:56
To be fair, I've never known any tyre manufacturer to offer warranty for an impact fracture. They are very common on SA outback roads - usually because of too much pressure, driving too fast and carrying too much weight.....or just bad luck!
FollowupID:
810535
Follow Up By: cookie1 - Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:19
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 at 12:19
I understand that however
given that we were overtaken by a Commodore with road tyres and we had much bigger and heavier duty 4wd tyres one would assume that the Kumho would be stronger than a car tyre, further to this I had someone else from the tyre industry look at the tyre and his judgement was that it did not appear to be an impact fracture.
I think the fact that the distributor couldn't care less and offered to give me the number for OCBA to lodge a complaint speaks volumes for their customer service don't you
cheers
FollowupID:
810541
Reply By: blown4by - Friday, Mar 14, 2014 at 00:11
Friday, Mar 14, 2014 at 00:11
Have previously used D693's and my Son (who lives in the Kimberleys) uses D694's. I replaced the D693's (due to their age) with D697's to do the GRR, Bungle Bungles and
Mitchell Falls plus a lot of off road work around and along the
Fitzroy River and did not even get one
puncture. Very quiet, no chipping and I run them at 28PSI on the rough stuff.
AnswerID:
528284