Q&A

Bought a couple of used slick sets this year, and apart from two or sometimes three amazing sessions, they never made it to the 4th session
(only driving events, no competition, with sessions of one hour usually)
So i am thinking of buying a new set now

How long do you guys manage to run on slick tires when new ?

FFaust

What happened before the 4th session, did they cord?

I also tried some scrubs this year, and they really are addictive. In my case, coincidentally after 3ish sessions, I lost the two rears. Surface of the slick was ok, but steel wires were sticking out of the inside wall. Was the weirdest thing, no damage at all, just the wires sticking out. Apparently this had been seen before, and the official word from the local supplier was that it was because they were old???

Leigh2

I ran Yokohama slicks most of this year. Stupid sticky when new but fall off a bit after 3 or 4 cycles, then another fall off around 8 cycles. After that point it's a steady decline but still usable...I've run some for as many as 15 cycles or more but they get pretty slippery. Most of the time they cycle out and become hockey pucks before the tread wears out. I'd estimate that with 20 to 30 minute heat cycles you can get 4 hours out of a new set...maybe longer if the track surface isn't too rough. They will be pretty slippery at the end though....on a 1:30 lap when new they will slow a couple of seconds or more with over 8 heat cycles.

jrgordonsenior

Pretty much my same experience with Yokes. Were these the Patron tires Peter?

ukrbmw

That is the problem with take offs. New will last 10-15 cycles no problem (especially if you're rotating them on the rim). Used is a crap shoot, never know how old they are and where they were stored.

Q&A

So far mine started to cord in the inside and/or lost complete grip.
I run 4 degrees negative camber. 15 cycles is pretty good i think.
I'll give it a go with a set for next year and see how it goes. What's the best tire out there ? (price/grip/cycles)

Chris R.

Francois, did your tires look my freak tires? Do you have a pic? What kind of slicks are you guys talking about?

ukrbmw

Tough to say who is the best - a lot depends on your availability since you're in Europe. Michelins are pretty outstanding and I'm sure readily available there.

Personally, I've used Hoosier and Dunlop slicks. Both were fantastic. My only beef with Dunlop was sizing, I couldn't get exactly what I wanted, so had to go a little narrower. However, Dunlops were about 40% more expensive, so I ended up running Hoosiers.

FFaust

Cup racers around here seem to really love the Michelins, and say that the grip doesn't fall off as suddenly as with the Yokohamas.

Make sure that you don't get too big a rear tire diameter, since it can mess up your ABS unless you have the motorsport unit.

24/64 18, and 27/65 18 seem to be the ticket. I think that you can also get a 30/65 for the rear, but that might make the car push a bit.

IMSA cups run 27/68 in the rear, but that's too tall for our cars.

No Chris, nothing like yours; I should have taken a picture. Rubber was intact on both the tread surface and sidewalls. All there was, was steel wire poking out of the inside wall all the way around the tire... as if the steel belts had let go. 3 or 4 inch long pieces of steel wire. As I said, the weirdest thing.

Leigh2

Yes from that group buy early this year. I emailed Troy some time ago to see what's available for next year but no answer yet....

jrgordonsenior

They're just starting to market the leftover 2010 Patrons at $1,800. per set. Obviously not as great a deal as the 2009's, but allegedly a better side wall construction and compound. You can also win them via their generous contingency program with POC and NASA. They were $2,300 to the IMSA/Patron cup racers this past year....

It will be interesting to see if Yokohama follow Michelin's lead and produces a wider set of tires for the newest GT3 cups....