prestonr2010

Bought car with semi played Pirelli's, Last set Michelins N2's, no complaints very good performance, maybe 10 club days 750 miles, corded the fronts. Thought about Pirelli, Yokos, etc. for replacements....any good stories out there? Have a new set of Michelins incoming but.......Any thoughts appreciated.

911therapy

You got 10 club days out of a set of Michelin N2's slicks??? I dont know how you kept the car on track. I get 6-8 heat cycles at most out of pirelli DH's. usually one full track day and part of another.

but, the pirelli DH scrubs work great for the money. Just dont plan to set your best laptimes and plan for them to last 6-8 heat cycles...Unless you dont mind driving on ice

Surfbum

Trophy Cup West going to Yoks next year due to the Pirelli tire failures.

I too can't believe your getting 10 track days out of a set of ANY slick

CRex

That's some INCREDIBLE mileage. The max race mileage we've done on any compound on the 981 CS was about 450km (280mi). That was a triple stint (effectively one continuous heat cycle) and I wouldn't give those tires to my worst enemies after that...

Perhaps your local track has very good tire deg? FWIW if you're cording the fronts on this car you'd probably still have more performance to be had...

tcsracing1

i use to get alot of life out of Pirellis. I would wear them to the cords (sometimes)
Nowadays i get a flat in 30-50 minute race on fresh tires.

Go with the Michelins. Same spec as IMSA using in GS. The failures we are seeing on 718 clubsports with pirellis is not worth it.

Just being honest. I love pirelli, but they need to find a fix. I have spent alot of money to lose races and repair blow out damage.

spiller

What’s the situation with Pirelli failures? The DH is by far and away the tire of choice here in Aus and I’ve never heard of excessive failures down under.

tcsracing1

it appears to be odd, but it is the relation to the rear tires on the cayman platform for what ever reason.

spiller

We only have a handful of GT4CS’ down here so that’d be why I haven’t heard of it then! Now that I think of it a friend from my local PC with one of these cars did mention he had the bead of the tire separate from the sidewall on one of his rear Michelins however. Discovered when they went to change to a fresh set.

zedcat

Anyone have feedback on the Hankook C52 slick? I met their rep at MSR Houston this afternoon. He recommended 250/640 and 300/660.

CRex

Hankook gets a lot of flak for the brand but actually is great price/performance. Very stiff sidewall so the car feels more direct than Pirellis. 52 is their hard compound—the design retains a lot of heat—don't abuse them. Treat them well and they last.

This is exactly the tire I was referring to in my earlier post. On our 981 the fronts could (marginally) survive triple stints (3 hours) at race pace, even on the very-high-deg tarmac of Barcelona. I haven't come across anything else that could top that.

Pacewise, expect the Hankook C52 to be half a second behind the Mich N2 peak vs. peak.

spiller

I’ve used the hankook medium on my 6 cup...they are quite a bit slower than pirelli and take a long time to come up to temp by comparison but a good tire for the money and I will run them again.

spiller

What is your take on comparing hankook compounds to pirelli? Is the DH a like for like with the Hankook hard compound (aside from overall pace). I’ve never tried the hard hankooks but wonder if they’ll offer better longevity with heat cycles than the mediums. I just do track days, no racing at this stage.

blomman

I've done about 10 trackdays with my 981 gt4 cs this summer. The Michelin n2 last 1-3 days 170-250km, the laptime is about 1sec slower day2 on a 3,2km track.
The hankooks medium compound I've run 3days, 250km and they have 50% left. The hankooks is for me about 1sec/lap slower.

Question:
The hankooks have even wear all over, the Michelin mostly worns from the middle and out.
What is my problem do you think?
Manthey made the alignment so nothing wrong there, -4front, -3,5rear

spiller

As mentioned above, hankook sidewall is very stiff so the tire is not rolling over resulting in more even wear. The Michelin is the opposite situation with more sidewall movement causing more wear on the middle/outer part of the tread. Taking tire temps with a pyrometer at the track will help confirm this but tire wear doesn’t lie. My shop currently has my 996 cup with around 5 degrees of camber in the front and this set up is no good with the Hankook tires (too much understeer). Not saying you need this much camber however as your car has totally different weight bias.

CRex

No comparison really. For track day use I'd go Hankooks all day.

Pirelli DHs have such a narrow optimal window that whatever advantage you're paying for will be used up within the first 5 laps. You HAVE to treat them as a competition tire. The softer sidewall also tends to get folks to baby the initial laps meaning they're still under-driving when the tires peak.

Hankook C52s (and there's a new compound C53 coming out) has a flatter degradation and just lasts longer. I can't possibly imagine a Pirelli DH surviving the mileage we pulled in Dubai or Barcelona 24.

And who cares about half a second when you're focused on you vs. your own progress? On a multi-class open-spec trackday laptimes are just white noise.