tires and more tires....

[pigeon]

hey guys

myself, a friend, and my father (protege, nx2000, trans am ws6) all registered for solo 1 this year

now we are in the process of tire purchases and i was just wondering what some of the experienced people here would recommend?

now for myself, i'll be just getting street tires because i cannot afford a second set of rims for some r compounds...

so i have been looking at the BFGoodrich g-force T/A KD
any opinions?
(this is for the protege)

the nx2000
he is considering some r-compounds... specifically the Toyo RA1

and for my father (transam)
he is also considering the Toyo RA1's

do you guys have any feedback on our choices here?
or if you kno from experience that another brand is better, i would love to hear it

just from reading reviews, the BFG's seem to be the best street tires i could find, and the RA1's seem to be pretty capable race tires

thanks a lot!
-chris

[Dave Barker]

I have a big heavy Camaro and will be using Kumho Victoracers ( again). The Toyos would be good as well. They will last longer and do better in the wet but are sig more $. I can't afford to keep myself in Hoosier, Goodyear GS-CSs or the new Kumho V710 although all 3 will be faster.

[pigeon]

hoosier is faster than all the others?

[Dave Barker]

Hoosiers are very fast but so are the Goodyears and I expect the new Kumho to be equally as fast and equally as short lived, not in rubber life but in heat cycles. Apparently the Hoosier and Kumho V710s are good for 16 heat cycles and considering we can run up between 12 and 14 heat cycles per weekend your tire bill could become seriously big. Victoracers and Toyo Proxes RA-1s withstand a lot more heat cycles even if they aren't as fast to begin with.

BTW DON'T buy used Hoosiers. Just ask me how I know.

[pigeon]

awesome

thank you for the info

and cause i tend to be curious... why shouldnt i buy hoosiers?

[CobraStang]

Originally posted by Dave Barker
I have a big heavy Camaro and will be using Kumho Victoracers ( again). What size tires and rims are you using, Dave?

[Doug P]

CobraStang.

Check out the for sale forum for my Victoracers.

[Dave Barker]

Originally posted by pigeon
awesome

and cause i tend to be curious... why shouldnt i buy hoosiers?

The Key word is "used" Hoosiers. They are not date stamped like other DOT tires and what they look like says nothing about how they perform. Having bought used ones once and finding out just how bad they were I will never allow that to happen again.

BTW Russ this year I 'll be using 275/40s on 17x 9.5 rims. Believe it or not 17 x 11s will fit ON the car but not IN the car and I refuse to buy a trailer.

[DECH_92]

Why but a trailor and spend alot of money on wider rims and tires when your faster then everyone in your class with the 275`s

Dave I don`t see Christian S in the list. Maybe you should go down to 245/16 this year to make it fare.

Rus, they have you in GT3. yeh right. Think they left out an S

[CobraStang]

Originally posted by Doug Phillips
Check out the for sale forum for my Victoracers. My car comes equipped with 17" rims, not 16".

GT1 looks pretty depleted compared to previous years. Maybe some people plan on just doing the walk-in style registration.

[Chris P]

"They are not date stamped like other DOT tires and what they look like says nothing about how they perform. "


Dave, i have 5 sets of Hoosiers in my basement that do say Hoosier date stamp there tires. Would it be time for some glasses old man? ;)

Look for a 4 digit number, i believe the first two represent build week and the secound two represent year of production

so 4203

42nd week of 2003.........

[pigeon]

what tire manufacturer could withstand the most heat cycles?

[Nissan Racer]

Originally posted by pigeon
what tire manufacturer could withstand the most heat cycles?
These should do:http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Uniroyal&tireModel=Tiger+Paw+AWP&vehicleSearch=true&partnum=865SR4TPAWP&fromCompare1=yes
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/uniroyal/un_tigerpaw_awp.jpg
Between 480 and 580 treadwear :D

[Dave]

LOL, Pat...

in terms of r-compounds, Toyo RA-1's and Yokohama A032R's are by far the most durable and able to handle the most heat cycles. Having extensive experience on both of these, I'd say the Yoks last longer (they're basically unaffected by heat cycles), but the Toyos have significantly more grip and will last 80-90% as long without losing much performance before showing cord.

[Nissan Racer]

How are the Kumho V700 Victoracers?

[Dave]

The V700 Victoracers have fantastic grip once they've been scrubbed in (faster than the Toyos, slower than Hoosiers), but they can't take a lot of heat cycles in my experience (I found them to be very fast for about 3 Solo 1 weekends, with two drivers, and then they fell off fast in terms of performance). On my dad's Camaro the Victoracers seemed to last longer (in a 275 section width) compared to on my Civic (in a 225 section width). I think the reason for this is that the Camaro requires a 'slow in fast out' style while my Civic begs to be over-driven (chuck into the corner sideways) which doesn't suit the Kumhos well at all.

The other thing to keep in mind with the Kumho Victoracers is that they have a stiffer sidewall than the Toyos or Yoks (the Yoks are softest in this area), so they give the car a crisper feel on turn-in but break away faster once you've pushed them beyond the limit of their adhesion. Toyos and Yoks, on the other hand, feel 'mushier' on turn-in but are very forgiving as you approach and go beyond the limit of their grip. This makes them a better 'beginner' track tire, IMO, but they're not as fast as the Kumhos.

[pigeon]

awesome information

thank you

[CobraStang]

Originally posted by Dave Barker
BTW Russ this year I 'll be using 275/40s on 17x 9.5 rims. Believe it or not 17 x 11s will fit ON the car but not IN the car and I refuse to buy a trailer. I was also thinking of going to a 9.5" rim, but they're not common. Where did you get yours?

[Dave Barker]

Krispy, I am sufficiently short sighted that I have no problem reading date stamps ( week of manufacture) on tires and indeed my used Hoosiers have no stamp ( certainly no 4 digit code like all others I have seen)

Russ. My rims are from www.afswheels.com in California. They sell a lot of Mustang rims including 17 x 10s but are difficult to get to ship to Canada ( I had them shipped to Jay Peak in Vermont and picked them up while skiing there recently). They sell them direct but are usually much better priced on ebay which is where I got them. The company insists that the wheel on Ebay and the ones they sell direct are identical. Certainly they look good, and were quite reasonably cheap but I have not mounted them yet.

[Chris P]

Dave, i wonder why yours didn't have that stamp? I'll be sure to ask the next Hoosier rep i talk with. :cool:

[Dave Barker]

They do say "GAC" on the side which I assume stands for Grand-Am Cup. Are these different compounds?

[Chris P]

quite possible. Nobody in Grand Am runs my size so i never looked into it. Check their message board if you want to presue this

[YBNORMEL]

Dave are the v700 that much cheaper that the toyo's? Where can i get the best price on the v700?

[Dave]

Wheel & Tire Zone in Mississauga (talk to Pete or Andrew) has excellent pricing on Kumhos.