Scott MacDonald

Hi All!

As the snows melt and the track season is about to begin here in the Northeast, I am looking for suggestions for my next track (not autocross) tire. I have been running Yokohama A-032Rs (225/45-17 and 255/40-17) on my fairly stock '89 S4 5-Speed, and have been pretty happy with the traction and wear properties, but BOY are they NOISY for the drive to the track (I run street tires except on track days). I don't want to buy new rims (my car budget is already stretched into 2006 at this point...fortunately I have a very understanding wife ), so I want to stick to DOT legal track tires.

I have heard good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport Cups, but would also like to hear any opinions on the Kumho VictoRacer V700s (cheaper, if they hold up as well as the others) or the new Pirelli P Zero Corsas. Or any other suggestions for that matter!
Thanks in advance

Scott

Jim_H

Mark K is impressed with the Toyo RA1's. There was a thread on this a couple of weeks ago but street tires were mostly discussed.
jim

Brent 89-GT

I have run the Yoko's and Kumho's. I have also heard good things about the Michelins but the price is waaay up there. I think that the Kumho's stick a little better than the Yoko's but, I wouldn't want to get caught in the rain on anything other than the Yokos.

The problem I have with running the more expensive tires is that they do not last very long no matter which ones you buy. It is not condusive to street driving to run as much neg camber as the tires really need to wear well at the track. I have -1.5* dialed in which is more than the stock spec for sure. Still, I burn the edges off the tires and that is with 255's in front. To get the most out of the tires you really need 2.5-3* neg camber. Without that extra camber, you will ruin anything pretty quickly. I just consider the tires sacrificial and save what I can on them. Unless you are competing, the difference just isn't worth the extra money. ALL of them are going to be noisy and prone to wandering on the street, just the nature of the beast. If I were you and had to drive to and from the track on track tires, I would stick with the Yoko's.

bshaw

Hi Scott,

After MANY recommendations, I'm going with the Pilot Sport Cups for my track tires this season. They're supposed to give you 95% of the grip of Hoosiers with twice the tread wear. Their life is limited by heat cycles, they get hard after a couple dozen, so you wouldn't want them for daily driving. I'm driving a street tire to the track and changing to the PSCs once there.

See you at the track...what group are you running in?

Bill
'84 928s 5 speed (FrankenPorsche)

P.S. - new pics are up at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/p-928/749.html

Scott MacDonald

Jim, Brent, and Bill,
Thanks for the recommendations!
Bill, I'll still be running in Black at the end of this month, and have applied for the instructor training program CVR is developing. YOUR CAR LOOKS AWESOME!!! Will you be at Lime Rock March 26-27?
Scott

Dennis K

I've run Pirelli P-Zero Corsas for the last 8 months. Upside is that they're a pretty good street tire for an R-compound. They're good in the wet, pretty quiet, don't follow ruts, and EXTREMELY forgiving on breakaway. Downside is that they are expen$ive as hell, blister on the outside edge of the tire and don't seem to tolerate the combination of a heavy car and a hot track that well. They must be shaved (Tirerack called me to recommend this) but even so, I still had blistering problems. Check out this thread for more details of my experience and other people's reviews of this tire:

Pirelli P Zero Corsa thread from the Racing/DE forum

If Toyo makes RA-1's that fit your wheels, I'd go with those. I haven't heard a bad thing about the Toyos - relatively cheap, long life and get stickier as they wear.

I'll be trying Michelin Pilot Sport Cups next but that's only because they have the right sizes for the wheels I'm running. I'll give a review after I run them a bit. I am curious about the Dunlop SuperSports just introduced to the US. They seem reasonably priced, but they're too new and I haven't seen any reviews yet.

Scott MacDonald

Dennis,
Thanks for the tip! Guess I'll stay away from the Corsas. I actually searched the Racing/DE Forum and somehow missed that thread. Glad to get the input from you left coaster's!
Scott

TeufelHei

BSHaw, that's one heck of a way to overcome the ECU issue you got there. Any problems so far?

Old & New

Be aware of the KUMHO ECSTA V710 Competition Tire recall.

http://www.scca.org/news/press04_57.html

http://kumhousa.com/V710.asp

SHRKBIT

The Victoracer V700s are a good tire, and durable. At full tread depth they're good in the damp, maybe even mild wet conditions.

The Yoko, as you mentioned, is noisy as heck. They get noisier as they wear and develop a resonance at particular speeds. I wasn't terribly impressed by their grip, but they do pretty well in the wet.

Neither tire does well in a strong rain, but when the Yoko hydroplanes it's probably at a higher speed. And they will hydroplane.

Curt