Not sure if my impression is wrong, but this is what I think about it:

Yeah, indeed the sidewall did feel a tad soft.

After a high-speed turn in, it does take a moment for the car to 'settle in', but when it does, it grips without complaining much, if at all.

I'm not sure, but I THINK that a softer side-wall compliments most passenger car's soft suspension set up, so to not 'load' the suspension too suddenly which can cause the tires to skip.

Driving very predictably albeit quickly, I think this tire ultimately has very high dry and wet grip.

The downside is that incredibly quick lane changes feel unsettling, and a somewhat slow response, like when you are zipping between lanes in very heavy traffic at high speeds.

But we shouldn't be driving like that anyway!

I think the tire is suitable for all SUVs and sedans, even sports sedans.

Probably not so good for our sporty JDM friends (MX-5, S15, R34, MR-S etc) and their MY counterparts (modded Wira, Satria etc) who drive on average 50 km/h faster than us even during traffic jam.

This post has been edited by ViktorJ: Sep 4 2018, 03:23 PM

Yup. In fact, I would say it doesn't actually have a soft side-wall per se, just soft in comparison to its category, i.e. UHP.

Could probably remedy that easily: just go ultra low profile!

When I wanted to go for lower profile, the tire shop guy gave me a funny look and pretty much ignored me and just changed the stock setup anyway.

For reference, its a D segment with 215/50/17, I wanted to go 45 or even 40

This post has been edited by ViktorJ: Sep 4 2018, 05:01 PM

IIRC, Kia Forte comes with 215/45/17

Its crazy harsh to me, but I always thought it was more due to the suspension setup rather than its tire profile