Howard

In the POC we have been offered a program by Khumo which will award the 1st, 2nd , and 3rd place winners of each class at every event a prize ( Khumo bucks,$50, $ 25, and $10). The only requirement of course is to run Khumo tires, and display their logo on your car. I have never run Khumo slicks and I was wondering if anyone out there has, and how they would compare with Hoosiers. I run 245/45/17 front and 315/35/17 rr.
Thanks in advance !

C Streit

I'm assuming by Kumho "slicks" you mean the V700 Victoracers? If so...

Stickiness - I think the Hoosiers have a slight edge here, at least they seem to in my lightweight (1900#) RS Replica...

Forgiveness - Kumhos give you substantially more warning than the Hoosiers before breaking loose. THis can contribute to a "greasy" feel when you're running the ragged edge. This is something you'll get adjusted to over time.

Weight - Hoosiers are lighter, but as a consequnce, flatspot much easier

Tread life - Kumhos work well unshaved and as such last longer... Also do double duty as a VERY light rain tire...

Cost - Kumhos cheaper

Availability - about the same

Howard

C,

The Kuhmos I'm contemplating are the S700's, which are the new slicks being run in Europe, soon to be in the states.
Thanks for the input on the V700's, I may have to run those until the S700's are available.

C Streit

I wonder if the compound is the same, just a different (or missing)tread pattern... Do you know?

Greg Fishman

No these are true racing slicks not DOT spec tires. I saw a team running these at the Rolex 24hrs in 2001. A Ferrari I believe.
Greg

ngoldrich

Does anyone know what the optimal hot tire pressure for Kuhmos V700 Ecsta sp? Dot R tires is ?
I want to make sure I have a good starting point this weekend at MidOh. Not sure I had the best pressures last time, they got pretty high over 40...

I am used to big slicks that we start cold at 17-18 psi...

I am currently starting the fronts at 34 psi cold and the rears at 31 psi. They still grew too much.
But the tire temps were fairly equal, just pretty high too...

Any info would be great.

Thx,
Norm

DJ

Norm,

I had good results running 37/38 hot on the Ecsta V700's.

ngoldrich

Kuhmos -

I now have most of the pressure & tire temps resolved.

On a 996 TT -

-1.2 front camber (that's about the mac we could get anyways on the front)
-1.3 rear camber

Front cold pressure 24 - Hot pressure 36
Rear cold pressure 26 - Hot pressure 38

Tire temps 188 ...

Several people destroyed Kuhmos at MidOhio this weekend.

Now hopefully my next set should wear pretty normally.

Well that's the extent of my testing now...

Norm

DJ

[quote]Originally posted by ngoldrich:
<strong>Several people destroyed Kuhmos at MidOhio this weekend.

</strong><hr></blockquote>


When you say "destroyed" do you mean "wore out", "used up", or was it some sort of catastrophic failure?

ngoldrich

DJ.

I meant blistered and chunked due to alignment or tire pressure issues.

For some reason Kuhmo did not provide or have available where many people looked appropriate alignment and cold/hot tire info...

So many of us used what Kuhmo recommended as a starting point - which did not work for any of us...

Norm

Danno

Hmm, I've seen plenty of people who've used Kumho tires with great success. Those I've seen that haven't, would've had the same story with any other tire. They are using R-compound tires well before they are ready for them with regards to driving-skill and suspension setup.

Anyone who runs an R-compound tire without a track-specific alignment is asking for disappointment. Similarly, going to the track without a pyrometer and making accurate datalogs on all the sessions is also not making the most of them as well. These people might as well be running on M+S all-season tires...

ngoldrich

Danno,

We did use a track specific alignment. I even had the crew realign the car at the track to improve it.

We also use a contact pyrometer with memory and download to laptop after the weekend.

We also record all hot and cold temps.

The problem was that Kuhmos documentation is worse than useless.

I should have guessed that right away. I actually blistered and chunked mine in 7 hot laps. Really pushing the car hard.

Learned my lesson. I dont believe the others did any tire temps & pressure checks.

The biggest problem is the tire pressure. Starting at the 36/38 recommended by Kuhmo yields 55+ psi hot. The others that blistered ended up above 50 too...

All is well now, and at least my setup is sorted.

Thx,
Norm