I corded my Victoracers this weekend and need to replace them quickly. They are they only R-compounds I've used, and have been very pleased with their performance, but I didn't get as much use out of them as I was hoping to. I do both auto-x and DEs.

I've searched through a bunch of old threads and it looks like the Toyo Proxes RA-1 might be a better compromise. Although there were plenty of varying opinions, the most common seemed to be that the Toyos needs a little more heat than the Kumhos, so will grip a little less in autocrosses, but that they perform a little better when hot, so are better on the track. Most seem to agree that the differences are pretty small, though. More importantly, several people have said that the Toyos will last much longer, so even though they're about $20 more per tire, they are a better bargain. Have I interpreted things correctly? Do people concurr with this assement?

Finally, I seem to wear my fronts faster than my rears, so I'm thinking about running the same size on all four so I can rotate them around. Unfortunately, it looks like my only option for doing that is to run 255/40-R17 all around. Has anyone tried that before? How did it work out? Will 255 fit in the fenders and is a 7.5 inch wheel wide enough?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Tom

 

me love victoracer. fo eva

 

are victoracers tires?

 

yes

-Christian

 

We ran the Toyos on our Sentra SE-R ITS car. They are not the fastest tire, but we had plenty of development left to do to the car (and honestly, to the drivers as well). So, our philosophy was that until we got the car a little better developed we'd run the Toyos and invest the savings into developing the car.

I'll probably do the same thing with my car once it's finished. When I get it sorted and better developed I'll switch to something faster.

We did get quite a few events out of our Toyos. It was nice not having to replace tires that often.

 

When you say faster tires, are you talking about Hoosiers or MPSCs or something like that that cost a lot more? Or do you consider the Victoracers a "faster" tire?

Thanks for the input!
Tom

 

I have run both Toyo's and Vicotracers.

My last set of Victoracers I corded in 4 days (4 races).

My first set of toyo's lasted me 48 heat cycles or 12 days (12 races)

On track shows the toyo to be very close in speed to the victoracers. Victoracers may be faster for a given lap, but toyo are great for an entire race. That said Victoracers are better autocross tires, but probably worth 0.1 to 0.2 sec over Toyo's. Hoosiers are probably worth 0.6 to 1 sec over victoracers at most autocrosses. MPSC are not good at autocross since they need to heat up more.

Biggest draw back to RA-1's is initial cost is higher then victoracers, but my track racing experince tells me the RA-1's last significantly longer and are cheaper in the long run. Hoosiers are great fast tires, but don't last. I believe the Kumho V710 is similar in grip vs life as the Hoosier. Pilot sport cups have goo grip and last, but are very expensive. Of course don't last any longer than RA-1's.

 

Do you have a set of 16" wheels you can run instead of the 17" at the track?

16" tires are cheaper and that tire and wheel combo is often light and faster too.

This is for a 944 Turbo I assume.

 

255 on a 7.5 would probably mount up (I have done loads of 235s on 7 and 245 on 7.5) but it is CERTAINLY not optimal. Sorry. There will be too much tread area rolling over the sidewall for that to be a fast combo (and it might even be a little scary!)
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All of the above. We have always heard the Victoracers to be a little faster, but not much and certainly not enough for us to use them over the longer lasting Toyos. We've had pretty good life out of our Toyos.

 

Great input, guys, thanks a bunch. The car is a 968, actually.

My streets are on 16" wheels, but they are only 7 and 8 front and rear, which probably wouldn't be a great choice for 225 and 255, plus then I'd have to buy new streets! I got the 17s for the track in case I ever want to do a brake upgrade, but now that I realize how much work I still have to do on the driver, that was probably not wicked smaht.

I think I'll probably go with the Toyos and stick with 235 x 255, and just be sure to flip them on the rims. Hopefully I'll like the tires and will stick with them so I can replace the fronts and rears at different times.

Thanks again everyone,
Tom