mark kibort

I had a heck of a time this last weekend with a set of used hoosiers. im wondering if the Hoosier tire is more sensitive to colder temps (ie 50-55 degree days vs the 75-90 degree commonly seen my my track car)

The toyo ive run in World Challenge, is awesome. always the same, all the way down to the cords and doesnt seem to mind heat cycling. i had one set i drove 2000miles on the street, several race weekends of practice, even road america and then was using the hoosiers for races and qual.
this last weekend, the hoosiers were almost undriveable, and the toyos felt pretty good. thought it was just an over used heat cycled rear set, so i change the rears for the race, and they were not much better. right from the warm up lap, i was slidding like i was in the snow.

either the hoosier is more sensitive to the colder temps, and in that case, ill save these for a warmer day, or the time in the garage has let the ozone or air dry them out and make them hard after one or two years of storage.

anyone have some experience with hoosier storage or cold condition use? the other competitors in my race all had much newer hoosiers and they were mostly the S04s too.

thanks for the input in advance!

mk

John Veninger

We East Coast guys run Hoosiers all the time at 55 degree. My S04's work best at 39-40 hot.
Anytime I've had undrivable Hoosiers it's been due to them being heat cycled to death or its raining

mark kibort

ive had more heat cycled tires, but i was always driving them in hot conditions.

generally, i run 30 cold, and they are 36-7ish hot pressures. some of the fast pros generally even run lower pressures hot. one of the top porsche guys locally, says he doesnt believe in the heat cycle issue, its just that those tires are not adjusted for lower pressures to keep them working as the rubber ages.
He told me to try 25psi cold and i did. helped a little, but it was still bad!!
I think they are heat cycled to death and old (bad combo?)

plus, ive heard the S03s are different

Ive been pretty amazed with the toyo Ra1s. my best times on them are only .5 seconds off the hoosier, maybe less.

MK

Greg Fishman

What is the date on the tire? I have used year old Hoosiers with 10 cycles on them and they are pretty scary.

Z06

From what i have seen the Hoosiers like the warmer weather.

mark kibort

Hi Greg,

the date??? they came off Don hansons racer when he switched to slicks 3years ago, the next year i used them and ran some of my fastest times against him at laguna. then, they were still pretty decent in warm conditions, and put on some better used ones. now, going back to them, they were almost dangerous. probably he had 2 days on them (6 cycles) i put on 4 cycles on them, so they are close to 10 cycles and 3-4 years old now.

penny wise pound foolish. Unless they will work on a hot day.... nah, ill pitch them!

MK

mark kibort

thats what im thinking. Just havent had a cool day of racing up here in a long time! and when i have, ive run the toyos, which have been awesome.

Im always trying to run the hoosiers, as they are 5lbs lighter a tire.

thats 20lbs lighter and its rolling so, effectively its like 40lbs as if it was in the car! (as far as acceleration) BUT, if you cant get the car to handle, its certainly not worth it!!!!! (as proved by my 2 second a lap slower times!)

thanks for the inputs,
MK

RJay

I'm not sure that I'd be willing to run 3 year old tires period. Environmental stuff is sure to be degrading them, sunlight, ozone, etc... Even on the street your supposedly should chuck your tires after four years regardless of mileage (which admittedly probably get more environmental exporsure, but are certainly also constructed for a different set of parameters). I would think you really wouldn't want to risk a catastrosphic failure.

mark kibort

Good point about the Ozone and things i certainly dont understand.
i have so many old hoosiers and i think its time i toss them. maybe i can save the toyos that are not as prone to having issues being old for some reason, but the hoosiers definitely are more fickle. wonder if i should wrap the good tires in plastic wrap or get those tire bags.

thanks for the comments.

Mk

Greg Fishman

Mark,
On the tire there is a DOT stamp for the date. It will be a four digit number. First digit is the week of production 1-52 and the second is the year of production. So if your number is 0103 it means it was made the first week of 2003.
I have some 03's that were made the middle of 03 and they are only good as rollers.

Lothar

I ran used S03's at a Roebling Road DE in June. It was extremely hot and the tires sucked. They had little grip and my lap times proved it. I thought I was just being a sissy and not driving the car. After watching some video and reflecting on my weekend which included time trials both days, I concluded that I was slow because I would have left the track had I pushed any harder in the corners.

I plan on buying the Toyo's next go around. I'm done with used Hoosiers and used tires period.

carreracup21

Dave, those old S03's were shot. Probably had more than 15 cycles on em. They go south quick after about 10, on my car anyway. I have also found that "heat cycling" helps them stay quicker in the later stages. Nothing like tearing into some stickers though. The nickname for new tires definetely fits.... they stick (in addition to having stickers on them). When are you racing ?

mark kibort

Yep, I hear you. I have more video of Laguna than probably anyone,and i was watching side by side screens of my average laps, and you could see turn in was not there, and corner speed was slow, and that effected exit speed . straight line speed and times points to points were close, but the tires made it just not fun. kind of reminded me of the Toyo T1S tires we used a few years back with speed GT. (however they are 4-5 secods slower being a street tire not the 2 seconds lower being a used up DOT race tire)

Ill tell you, when i went to road america, those toyos i practiced on were pretty darn good, and only .5 seconds faster than my so called " good hoosiers". i had 5 track days (practice only) and 3000miles on the tires!! I even drove to LA from Nor cal to get the car shipped to RA with mark anderson in 100 degree heat for 5 hours at 90mph. AND drove the car home again, and the tires stilll had tread and were sticky!! so they are 5lbs heavier, and not quite as sticky as a new hoosier, but after some use, you just cant beat the hoosiers. Just think, the speedGT guys ran 2:14.5 at road america on them!!!!! they cant be that bad!

MK

Orjan

Are the RA-1's still for sale in the US? Got word from my supplier (Scandinavia) that Toyo is discontinuing the RA-1...

RJay

WHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Say it isn't so! Damn!

Are they planning to introduce a new competition tire or are they just getting out altogether?