Kumho has been upping the game when it comes to all-season and touring tires for some time now. The Solus KH16 is designed for year-round traction, long wear, the kind of quiet, forgiving ride that you expect from a touring tire, but also sharp, responsive handling and braking that’s worthy of a sporty sedan, coupe, or SUV. It’s a truly balanced tire that checks all the boxes you’d hope for, and delivers long, even wear for a great value.

So what is it about this tire from Kumho that makes it such a success and such a great option for sedans, coupes, minivans and crossovers? Let’s take a closer look with this Kumho Solus KH16 review.

Features and Benefits

Kumho definitely did their homework with the Solus KH16. Here are just some of the features and benefits you can look forward to with this tire:

• Symmetrical all-season tread pattern for confident traction in wet, dry, or light wintry conditions
• Wide circumferential grooves evacuate water from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning
• Solid, continuous center rib enhances on-center road manners, stability, and high-speed steering response
• Advanced rubber compound is designed for long wear, year-round traction, ride comfort
• Variable tread pitch is computer tuned to help cancel out frequencies and keep road noise low
• Twin steel belts and nylon belt edge strips over polyester ply layers
• Select sizes are designed for low rolling resistance, helping to save fuel and emissions
• Kumho’s ESCOT technology package optimizes the tire’s internal tension and footprint, putting more rubber in contact with the road and promoting long wear and high-speed stability

Backed by a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty, the Solus KH16 is available in 15” to 19” rim sizes, making it a versatile choice for a variety of vehicles.

Pros and Cons

This is a tire where the pros really do outweigh the cons:

PROS:

• Incredibly quiet ride
• Luxurious ride quality
• Generous tread life warranty
• Predictable, responsive handling and shorter braking distances

CONS:

• Winter traction could be better
• Some drivers reported issues with irregular wear

SimpleTire’s view on Kumho Solus KH16 tires

Lots of tires try to do it all, with great ride quality, low noise, long wear, good road manners, and good cornering and braking ability, but many of them fall a little short in one regard or another. The Solus KH16 from Kumho isn’t one of those tires. We’ve been fans of Kumho products for a long time – we feel that they’re one of the best tire makers from Korea and they’re being fitted as OEM for more and more vehicles – and the Solus KH16 certainly delivers on our expectations.

The noise levels and ride quality with this tire are above and beyond what you’d expect and are more like much more expensive tires. Steering response and braking performance might not be quite up to the standards of ultra-high-performance tires, but it’s certainly more than adequate for all kinds of sporty sedans and crossovers, and a 60,000 mile tread life warranty is nothing to sneeze at either. The two con are a pretty minor quibble, since all-season tires don’t usually do that well if there’s more than an inch or two of snow on the roads anyway. Likewise, wear issues can be hit or miss depending on where and how someone drives and how frequently they rotate their tires.

Vehicles the Kumho Solus KH16 is an original equipment tire for

The Solus KH16 is used as Original Equipment for a bunch of vehicles, which speaks pretty highly of what you can expect from a tire like this:

• 2009 Smart Fortwo
• 2010 Hyundai Accent
• 2010 Kia Forte
• 2009 Ford Focus
• 2010 Hyundai Elantra
• 2010 Kia Optima
• 2010 Hyundai Sonata
• 2013 Dodge Journey
• 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan
• 2014 Kia Sedona

Vehicles the Kumho Solus KH16 is a good replacement tire for

Here are just a few of the vehicles that the Solus KH16 could be a good fit for:

• Ford Fiesta
• Chevrolet Bolt
• Honda CR-V
• Toyota Sienna
• Nissan Altima
• Kia Rio
• Chrysler Pacifica
• Toyota Avalon