Thought I'd resurrect this thread as I just had my first two days on these tires. My conclusion is that at the price T_Rack was selling them for they seem to be worthwhile. My impression of grip level is that they are somewhat better than the performance street tires I've driven, although at full depth ( I did not have them shaved) they do seem to behave more like a street tire than any of the more familiar R-Compound tires. They do scream in the corners when pushed and slip pretty nicely though.

I didn't have any of the tread wear issues mentioned a few months back. I drove approximately 500 miles on these tires before the first session on them and they held up extremely well after two days at NHIS with its 14 turns in 1.6 miles. Two oddities I did note. First they seem to gain more air pressure than other tires I've used. Starting at 34/36 I wound up at 45/48 in a 20 minute session (and got extremely greasy at those levels). As the ambient was around 60 degrees and the day was overcast, this amount of gain seemed quite high to me. Also, (and perhaps this is a related phenomenon) it seems to me that the sidewalls are not as stiff as other tires I've used. Under heavy breaking it was clear that I was getting more suspension travel from the tires than from any of the mechanical parts (996 H&R coil overs) which was a little disconcerting. Anyhoo, at $500 for the set, I'm very satisfied. Given the wear level I experienced, they might actually be an atractive alternative as a pure summer street tire.

 

YIKES! You should be starting out more like 27/29, and shooting for hot pressures of 32/34. I bet you had some baaaaad handling at 45/48!!

As a side note, I now have 4 days on my set and they still look really good.

 

Sorry for the ignorant question but....what is HEAT CYCLING???

 

hey dell,

check out this link heat cycling tires

one can effectively do this by going a long spirited drive or in a parking lot driving like you would on a skid pad.

i think the crucial thing is to allow the tires too cool, uninterrupted for 48 hours so the tire's molecular bonds can re-form in more uniform manner.

 

Yeah...you could say that! I found that at 38/40 things were fine (which is what I was shooting for). I was quite surprised by how much gain there was given the rather benign conditions.

 

Thanks Carlos!

 

For my 968 the correct pressures seemed like 44F and 43 R; this is where they were the best. They seemed better than my MPSC but my rear mpsc may be cycled out.



Mike