Ken T

I am interested in your experience this year with the various brands of competition tires. Are most running Hoosiers? Any progress made by the other brands to compete with their speed? Michelin Pilot Sport Cup, Yokohama, Kuhmo, Goodyear, and the new Pirrelli Corsa users out there? How about you guys running 18 inchers? I am just about to buy new wheels and need tire input. Thanks!

Bill Gregory

Ken,

Search the archives, as this gets periodically discussed. Also, in the December 2001 Pano there was a test of various DOT R tires in 18", which may answer some questions. I believe many of the DOT R tires have survey information and comments on the Tire Rack web site (www.tirerack.com).

You should probably be more specific about what usage you'll use your wheels and tires for. Drivers education usage may have different requirements than racing or autox, for example.

Ken T

Thanks. I was just looking for that article, but couldnt remember the month. More specifically, the question is about DOT R compound tires for club racing. No street concerns at all. I will search the archives, however, new tires/compounds do become available ala the new Kuhmo and Pirelli Corsa and was interested if anyone had driven them. Thanks.

Bill Gregory

I've used the 17" Kumho Ecsta 700's this year, with 13 DE days on them, and I still have 3-4 days comfortably left on them. I've experienced what others have posted - they're good for about 10-15 minutes then they get greasy. In the Pano test of 18's, they trashed the Ecsta's after one day. While the 17's have been long wearing and some might say a price performer, my next set of tires will be the Michelin Cup's.

Ed Newman

I've run Hoosiers, Kuhmo's and now the Pilot Cups. The Kuhmos are better for autox as they heatup faster. They are also more forgiving than the Hoosiers. The Cups take a lot of work to get hot, but once their hot, man do they stick. They seem to be relatively forgiving and are wearing very evenly unlike the Kuhmos. The only downside seems to be their weight and long heat up time.

RogerJ

You have to take the Pano test with a grain of salt. It really is one person's experience vs. any sort of objective test. The writer also fails to reveal that he has a relationship Michelin.

Mike in Chi

Roger:

Quote "The writer also fails to reveal that he has a relationship Michelin." Unquote

Would you elaborate on that please? (I had decided to go with Sport Cups after reading that article)

Thanks

Mike

Hank Cohn

Ken:

It looks like Hoosier can still lay claim to the fastest DOT “R” tires that are readily available. There are, however, some caveats to that statement. I have been informally experimenting with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cups (MPSC) and have found them to be incredibly durable and amazingly consistent throughout a session, even sessions that are 55 minutes long. One would have to conduct a formal test, but I suspect that identical cars, one with Hoosiers and one with MPSCs with setups that maximized each tire’s performance would finish a race, even a relatively short one, with the MPSCs at the lead due to their ability to produce consistent lap times even while being overdriven. I am looking for an opportunity to put that thought to a test. Perhaps that means qualify on Hosiers and race on MPSCs. I understand that Hoosier is about to release a new tire with a few steel belts that is as fast as the current R3SO3s but much more durable.

Regarding the Pano test, while I think there is some useful information presented, it is not very valid for racing as they only tested stock tire sizes with stock suspension settings. I am positive that a lot of casual DE drivers would use tires under those circumstances, but I don’t think any racers would.

Hank

Ken T

Thanks for the info. Let us know if you conduct that test. I may borrow a VBOX from work and do something similar over some long runs next spring just to see. Thanks.