Hey guys,

I am looking into buying a set of Grand Am Cup Hoosiers from an outfit that specializes in used race tires. Anyone have experinece with these. They are billed to be in "excellent condition with 70% tread remaining". Just wondering what kind of heat cycle life they have . I bought a set of used S03's last year with 70% tread and they got hard as a rock after a relatively small amount of heat cycles and still plenty of tread left. I've heard that the Grand Am Cup tires are supposed to be better than the S04's in terms of heat cycle tolerance - just wondering if anyone has some direct experince and can verify this.

A set will only cost me $350 + shipping so I figured it might be worth a shot, but I'm not into burning $350 on an experiment.

 

Skip,
I don't have an opinion on them but could you share the source. I need a set of tires for a up coming DE.
Thanks

 

Sent you a PM

 

A buddy of mine has gotten excellent wear and performance from the GAC tire on his GT3. Talking about back to back 3day DE's with a lot sessions per day. Very happy. He started from new though, not "30%" used. Bone stock car down to the alignment.

 

Skip -- When I talked with Hoosier earlier in the year they indicated that Rolex slicks (designated GT on the side) and Grand Am Cups (designed CUP on side) were made of same tread compound. I run the rolex slicks and they last about 15 heat cycles, and the cliff is big at the end. You'll know when they're gone. They'll heat cycle out before you run tread off. I really like'm.

 

joe so my tires say gt on the side ,,,they are from ther rolex series?

15 heat cycles = 15 DE sessions? i assume when they are gone you will feel it right away? they will get slippery or what?

 

Check them for cording after every session.

 

I run them on a race prepped 951 for DE and like them a lot. In warm weather I wear them out before heat cycling them out. I also bought them "slightly used" for about the same price and think they are a good value. As Mike Buck reports, 6 days with a lot of sessions/day on a new set is probably equivalent to the wear rate I got. They tolerate a LOAD of slip angle so drive the heck out of them. Do watch 'em closely for cording.

 

930Man -- The ones with the GT on the side are the from the GT class in the Rolex series (these are the 'other cars' in the race with the Daytona Prototypes). The ones designed CUP are from the Rolex Grand Am Cup series (the guys who appear to love smashing the heck out of each other).

Regarding heat cycles, yes, one heat cycle mean one DE session. And my experience is that when they drop off, it happens pretty quick, like in maybe 2 or 3 sessions. They'll feel very slippery -- you will not be able to turn near as well and if you have some power, you'll probably be able to spin the rear tires.

Never had a problem with cording on the three sets of GT's I've used so far.

 

I have run them all summer. Ditto on the heat cycles and the drop off. As for preformance: I flat out love them. Bought them new this spring when they went to an all '05 spec., these were '04 Grand Am Cups. Got the sets for about $600. I also had a set of SGS slicks. These were great in the adhesion department. Good Luck.

 

thanks for th e input on the tires
let you know how it works out this weekend

 

I bought a set of Cups supposedly with 1 heat cycle on them for a race last weekend at VIR.

I put 4 cycles on them Saturday (5 laps practice, 5 laps qualify, 2 30 minute sprint races). My Sunday qualify was 1 sec slower than my best race lap on Saturday (not surprising, I'm not a very good qualifier and I only did 1 hot lap, 3 total). My best race lap on Sunday was another .5 sec slower than my qual and 1.5 sec slower than Saturday's best race lap. I was pretty disappointed by that.

I'm thinking they cycle out pretty quickly. FWIW they still seem to have lots of rubber left and should be useful for DEs for a while

 

Skip:

Can you PM me the place? I'm interested in getting them for next year.

Thanks
Kam

 

We bought a few sets of these from Hoosier last year when they were discontinued (2004 model tires). We have experienced really good wear, our tires have dropped in performance before they ever got corded. They tended to take an extra lap or so to get up to temp compared to the S03s but stick great once they are hot. They have been a good durable tire for us, the endurance compound may be even a better DE tire than the S04s because of their longer life.