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Kumho Crugen HP71 vs Kumho Solus KL21 — Compared

Relative Score (0–100): 60% professional tests, 40% owner reviews.

Solus KL21 is ahead, 56–51

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Tire AKumho

Crugen HP71

Summer Ultra High Performance tires

Tests – · none yet Owners 42 · 274 reviews

“2026 Pathfinder Tires: 255/60R18 Kumho Crugen HP71 vs 255/50R20 Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra I think I settled on a configuration that suits our needs but it comes with the upgraded 255/50R20 Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra tires/rims. The 20" wheels look great but I think the 18" Kumho's with the taller side will be better for the sometimes rough roads (potholes, large bumps, torn up city streets) we drive and for lighter towing. I highly doubt the dealer will exchange them for me but first I wanted to ask if I'm just overthinking this or should I try to trade down for the 18s. For reference I'm completely satisfied driving an outback with 225/60R18 Yokohama Avid GT (controlled, planted) and not happy with a highlander with 235/65R18 (too soft, uncontrolled). I get that these are different vehicles, suspensions, center of gravity, but hopefully it gives you a better idea. Thanks Edit: clarification on towing: fiberglass trailer like Scamp/Casita”

Tire BKumho

Solus KL21

All Season

Tests – · none yet Owners 51 · 14 reviews

Category by category

Relative Score per category, 0–100. Open “Why this score” for the tests and owner ratings behind it.

  1. 47

    Dry

    Solus KL21 +8
    55
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online3648
  2. 54

    Wet

    Solus KL21 +5
    59
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online4955
  3. 57

    Snow

    Crugen HP71 +3
    54
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online4844
  4. 55

    Comfort

    Solus KL21 +4
    59
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online4050
  5. 57

    Noise

    No comparison
    –
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online44–
  6. 44

    Treadwear

    Solus KL21 +15
    59
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online3055
  7. 55

    Handling

    Crugen HP71 +6
    49
    Why this score
    SourceCrugen HP71Solus KL21
    Reviews found online5549
Scores at a glance
CategoryKumho Crugen HP71Kumho Solus KL21
Relative Score 51 56
Dry 47 55
Wet 54 59
Snow 57 54
Comfort 55 59
Noise 57 –
Treadwear 44 59
Handling 55 49

Higher is better. The Relative Score follows your weights below; category scores do not change.

Weight the categories that matter to you

Wet grip and treadwear start at “Important” — the two things buyers rank highest. Move the sliders and the scores update instantly.

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Neither tire has a score here yet, so this weight changes nothing.

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Recomputed
Headline score

Crugen HP71

Solus KL21

Only categories both tires have data for count toward the headline score.

Pros, cons & observations

Themes extracted from owner reviews found online — not the opinion of TireWheelGuide.

Tire A Crugen HP71

Pros

  • Affordable pricing compared to premium tier brands
  • Quiet and smooth ride quality when new
  • Confident wet-weather traction and performance in heavy rain

Cons

  • Significantly premature tread wear and short lifespan for many users
  • Developing loud road noise or howling as mileage increases
  • Balancing issues and vehicle vibrations
All owner themes in the Crugen HP71 review

Tire B Solus KL21

Pros

  • Impressive treadwear and longevity reported by many users, with several achieving over 30,000 to 40,000 miles
  • Good ride comfort and low road noise under normal driving conditions
  • Affordable replacement pricing compared to premium tier brands

Cons

  • Extremely poor grip and significantly increased braking distances on fresh or compact snow and ice
  • Isolated reports of extreme premature wear or complete tread failure under 20,000 miles
  • Structural deformation issues reported by at least one user
All owner themes in the Solus KL21 review

What real owners are saying

From Reddit, forums and review threads. Not part of our score

Tire A

Kumho Crugen HP71

Mixed

Community sentiment for the Kumho Crugen HP71 (and its EV variant) is mixed, with owners praising its affordability, comfortable ride, and quiet performance on many vehicles. However, a significant number of drivers report disappointingly rapid tread wear—particularly on heavy electric vehicles—as well as occasional noise on coarse surfaces and internal acoustic foam detachment issues.

r/KiaEV9 ·1 upvote ·2026-09-28

“New Tire Woes: Trouble finding XL Load rating. Any advice? 2026 EV9 LLR with 20k miles in SoCal (3 year lease) and the Kumho Crugen HP71 EV wore very quickly despite alignment checks etc early in the lease. Note that these stock tires are 130V with XL load rasting. Most disconcerting is that despite some modest tread left, I hydroplaned on some sprinkler runoff...so I'm not confident in these tires with the upcoming El Nino. This subreddit seems to love the Michelin CrossClimate2 but they don't come in XL load rating in this size. Neither do Defenders. The two main options are: 1. **Hankook iON evo AS SUV** (OE on some EV9s) - But these are seemingly backordered at multiple tire shops. An online vendor cancelled my order despite showing in stock on the site. 2. **Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season**. **Any advice, and anyone have experience with those Pirellis?**”
r/tires ·1 upvote ·2026-08-04

“Kumho Crugen HP71 vs HP71 EV? Ended up with a screw in the shoulder of my rear driver side tire, leaking around 1PSI per hour, most likely not in a repairable spot. My current tires are about a year old, have around 13k miles on them, and tread wear on them is between 7/32 and 8/32. Purchased a used (no plugs or patched/never repaired) tire with 8/32 tread remaining thinking it would be a direct swap but once it got here I realized that the original tires are Kumho Crugen HP71 EV tires as opposed to this one being a Kumho Crugen HP71 (both 235/55/r19/101H). The car is an AWD Kia EV 6, so separate motors for front axel and rear axel but more simple setup than a fancy ICE AWD. At the rate of wear on these I probably have around 1.5-2 years (~20k miles) remaining on the original three tires before they will need to be replaced anyways. Is the difference between the regular HP71 and HP71 EV so different that I can't use this tire for a year? I believe the EV version has some foam in it to reduce noise, and supposedly it has 24% lower rolling resistance but it seems like that marketing is based on a generic tire and not necessarily the non-EV HP71 tire. Thanks!”
r/AskAMechanic ·1 upvote ·2026-07-26

“I need a new tire, right? 215/55R18 Kumho Crugen HP71 tire showing cords on the outer sidewall. I need a new tire, right? Edit: I’m thinking about replacing just this one tire, 2023 CX-30 AWD. Tires were new Oct 2025 and have 7mm tread depth left. According to the spec sheet, this new tire would have 7.9mm of depth. Can I get away with one tire? Edit 2: Existing vs new tires would have ~1mm of difference in tread depth Read more”
Top themes
#Rapid tread wear#Affordable price value#Cabin noise levels#Ride comfort#EV tire performance#Acoustic foam issues#OEM tire replacement

Based on 51 community posts

Tire B

Kumho Solus KL21

We haven't collected enough community discussion about this tire yet.

Specs side by side

Attribute A · Kumho Crugen HP71 B · Kumho Solus KL21
CategorySummer Ultra High Performance tiresAll Season
Vehicle typeSUV and 4x4Passenger Car / Crossover
Sizes available635
Rim diameters16″ – 22″17″ – 20″
Tread depth9.9/32″—
UTQG640 A A—
Treadwear warranty65,000 mi—
SidewallBlackwall—
Max pressure51 psi—

Which one should you actually buy?

Kumho Crugen HP71

Kumho Solus KL21

Winner: Kumho Solus KL21 — better treadwear, dry and wet. Pick the Kumho Crugen HP71 if handling and snow matter most to you.

Pick tire B You want the longest tread life

Kumho Solus KL21 scores 59 vs 44 on treadwear.

Pick tire B You want the most grip on dry roads

Kumho Solus KL21 scores 55 vs 47 on dry.

Pick tire A You enjoy sharp, responsive handling

Kumho Crugen HP71 scores 55 vs 49 on handling.

Pick tire B Your priority is wet-weather safety

Kumho Solus KL21 scores 59 vs 54 on wet.

Tire A · Kumho Crugen HP71
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Tire B · Kumho Solus KL21
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How do we compare tires?

Every category score blends two independent signals. 60% comes from professional tire tests (braking distances, lap times, noise measurements), each result compared with every other tire in the same test and newer tests counting more. 40% comes from owner reviews found online, adjusted for how generously each site rates. Both use one scale: the average tested tire gets 70, the best 100. When a tire has only one of the two, the missing half is estimated from the other and the score stays closer to average; with no road test and fewer than five owner reviews it gets no score yet.

Community buzz from Reddit and forums is shown for context only — it never changes the score.

56

Leads

Solus KL21

Amazon