Kumho Road Venture MT

No, the Kumho Road Venture MT can’t climb vertical rock walls, but we had to try. The 9.7-inch-wide tread worked really well, though, and crawled right over a section of trail that is usually a bit of work with other treads.

A Hunter GSP 9700 Vibration Control System is our choice for getting the best possible balance on test tires. Since this Hunter uses a road force measurement to pinpoint any variations in the tire, it allows the tire and wheel to be mounted so any discrepancies can counteract each other, resulting in superior ride quality.

Standing 34.6 inches tall, the 35x12.50R15 Road Venture MT leaves a decent distance between the dirt and the axles. On a 10-inch rim, they’re 12.3 inches wide. With two steel belts under the 19/32’s deep tread, the Kumhos worked well on the pavement too.

Why anyone would ’wheel a relatively light vehicle with 25 psi in the tires we don’t know, but as this photo shows, even at such high inflation pressures, the tread area is flexible enough to get a good grip on a rock.

If you’re not familiar with Kumho tires yet, it’s probably because you missed the Aug. ’99 issue of Four Wheeler. There we mentioned Kumho’s 30-year presence in the tire manufacturing business and that it produces all kinds of tires. We tried out the then-new Road Venture A/T, a very good all-terrain. What wasn’t mentioned then was that Kumho ranked 10th in global sales in 1997 and 1998, so it’s not a small outfit. Once on a roll in the light-truck market, more sizes and treads keep coming in the Road Venture line, the latest being the 35-inch MT. Don’t let the name fool you, though, because the road part certainly doesn’t mean these treads are good only on pavement.

ROUND AND ROUNDER
Capable of supporting a full 2,555 pounds per tire, the 35-inch Venture MTs were teamed up with a set of Weld Racing 15x10 Super Single II forged aluminum wheels, which are rated at a whopping 2,800 pounds and for up to 44-inch tires. The test vehicle will never be that heavily laden, but it’s nice to know that things aren’t even remotely likely to come apart underneath us.

Starting with good raw material is only the beginning, and as usual we used a Hunter GSP 9700 balancer (it’s really a Vibration Control System—see our July ’99 issue for more info), which we’ve used ever since we learned how nice it is to drive on truly balanced tires and wheels.

Although balanced to perfection, there’s no mistaking the feel of a mud tire’s large tread blocks as they hit the pavement at low speeds (1-5 mph in this case), a treat the Kumho MTs share with most aggressive tires. At increased speeds, the Road Ventures did a very good job of getting us where we wanted to go in a predictable and relatively quiet fashion—feeling like, well, 35-inch mud tires on pavement. Although modern mud tires such as these Kumhos are quite street-friendly, they’re obviously not made to excel on asphalt but to provide grip in the dirt (try the Road Venture A/T for a better road/trail mix). So rather than wasting a good traction tread on paved roads, we quickly steered the Kumhos off the tarmac and onto the more enjoyable trails.

VENTURE M(ORE) T(RAILS)
In the right environment, the Road Venture MT’s 9.7-inch-wide tread could put its 19/32-inch-deep cleats to better use. While there was no mud or snow to be found in Southern California’s 100-plus-degree temperatures in October, a quick glance at the tread pattern told us that this tire would work well in mud. On dirt it did for sure, because the 35s easily climbed their way through a particularly tricky section of trail that was loose dirt, rocks, and tree branches—usually a challenge. Being aggressive tires, when the Venture MTs did lose traction in loose dirt, they started to dig. Whether that helped or hurt depended on the situation—sometimes they could crawl out, other times they went down more than forward.

On harder surfaces, the Kumho MT tread showed very good ability to find traction, and even after deliberately grinding away at almost hopeless obstacles, the tread remained intact, keeping the sharp edges on the lugs. Rock is certainly a hard surface, and helped by the customary two-ply polyester/two-ply steel carcass, the Kumhos enveloped rocks well, even at higher inflation pressures.

Kumho may still be a new name on the trails, but based on our experiences with the Road Venture line, you’re likely to see more of these tires as people find out about them.