kary993

I run Pirelli slicks on my 993. I use a D5 or D6 front and a D5 or D4 rear. Most of the time D5's. If I were to have a harder front tire than rear tire the car will simply understeer no matter how I set up the suspension. Glenn, I am not sure how you pull this off and have a great handling car. Hard front tires don't work on my car.

As far as longevity, I wear out at least 2 rear sets to 1 front set using a softer tire up front than the rear. The only difference being if the tires are harder compound (D4 rears) they last more sessions. I find that if the Pirelli slicks are good for about 6 really hard sessions and then they begin to slow gradually (1 second of lap time) until they are useless (2 or 4 seconds off). At that point there may even be some cord showing.

I have to say that there is nothing like the first two to three sessions with the Pirelli's, they are superb in my opinion on my 993!

BTW, I have found little use in heat cycling the Pirelli slicks.

viperbob

I have had great luck with the Yokohama slicks. I get consistant performance for 12+ heat cycles. And I run the SH** (I better be careful or I may lose some some points) out of my car on the track...

Larry Herman

Norm, I have run the Pirelli's also, and felt that I got about 5 or 6 good hard sessions out of them. But I also got flats on them, for undeterminate reasons. I ran the D5s up front and the harder D4s in the back. I tend to run pretty hard. But it is nuts to not make it through 1 DE on a set of tires, so I am going back to Dunlop SSRs for VIR. I am going to miss those 3 or 4 easy seconds that I got with the slicks. Oh well.

DCLee

FYI: My tire guy is trying to move a set of 245/285 Pirelli slicks in soft and med. compounds F/R, e-mail me privately if interested. No financial interest, etc.

ngoldrich

Gumball, I have not tried scrubbing with slicks. Last year I also ran a car with hoosiers and I saw zero difference with scrubbing. So I did not even try it with slicks.

I will give it a try.

Thx,
Norm

Jimbo951

Is there a difference between "scrubbing" and "heat cycling"?

I usually run my new Kumho's for 1 session and then pull them off the car and let them sit overnight. I consider this "heat cycling".

ngoldrich

Jimbo951, I believe it is the same thing....

Norm

Noel

Judging by your location and your Avatar, I'll guess you are running at Mid-Ohio. If so, this is your problem. When I was there in April, they just finished grinding down the cement strips in the corners and they acted like giant cheese graters, only rubber in place of cheese. Guys were using sets of Hoosiers in 4 sessions. I also heard that the ALMS guys were complainnig abut this when they were there. SO the problem may not be your tires or setup as much as the track.

Just a thought. Do you have this problem at other tracks?

BTW, I'm headed to Mid-Ohio next weekend (OCt 23-24). Is the concrete still as bad as I remember?

ngoldrich

Noel, have fun at MidOh!

I actually had this problem at Putnam Park, MidOhio, and Watkins Glen...

However, you are right about the cement strips @ MidO, it did indeed act like a cheese grater on my car too...

I guess I was looking for the magical cure. On one hand its good to know many others have similar experiences with diefferent brands of slicks, but its a little disheartening, because I was hoping for a more cost effective tire that I could still get the performance. I guess I cannot have my cake and eat it too :-(

I may try staying with Dunlop and going 1 compound harder both front and rear which will keep the balance the same, just reduce the terminal grip. Then I can see how long they last.

Thanks for everyones input, it is appreciated.

Norm

GUMBALL

ngoldrich:

I have tried the "scrubbing" or "heat cycling" on several different types and brands of tires. The results seem to vary with tire brand/compound.

All I can say is try it.

"A racecar, being an inanimate object, theoretically should respond to logic and reason........theoretically........"

MJR911

Definitely try scrubbing, all my SCCA buddies that run full slicks swear by it. We don't do it with hoosiers S04s either, not any noticable difference.

ngoldrich

Gumball, MJR911 -

I will indeed try scrubbing. I will report back my findings.

Thanks,
Norm

ngoldrich

I ended up ordering a set of Pirellis to give them a try. They are $400 a set cheaper, so since I have been going through 1.5 sets per weekend, that will be a nice savings if they handle near to what the dunlops did and an additional bonus if they last more than 3 heat cycles (sessions). I will report back after trying them. I am not going to scrub the first set because I want to compare apples to apples with my Dunlops that I never scrubbed. Both in terminal grip and longevity. My second set I will scrub. Thanks for everyones input. I will be trying several of the ideas...

Norm

Glen

Norm, what about sizing? I ran 265-285 up front on my 993 and 315-335 rear. Perhaps You should just bump up the front width?

ngoldrich

Glen, interesting point. My Dunlops were 265-650/18 and the rears were 315-690/18.
The Pirellis are 265-645/18 and 325-705/18. After trying the new set, I think I will indeed see if I can fit a wider front.

Although I see the Pirelli 285 does not come in a D6, but it does come in a D5...

Thanks for the idea,
Norm