pmason

Ok, rookie season for me, have a question on what is the typical tire strategy for a race weekend. If I have one set of new Hoosiers/Hankooks and one set of used do I save the new for qualifying? Do I save them for the first race? etc?

xupkid2

Use your older tires for practice and save your new tires for qualy, spint race and enduro. You might want to consider doing one heat cycle on Fri with the new tires so they can sit for 24 hrs before qualy so you get the most life out of them. Thats what I typically do.

MUSSBERGER

In my brief experience in CR, I and others with more experience use the stickers for both and their previous race rubber for practice.

I also do the overnight thing that Brian does.

93 FireHawk 968

Save the old tires, previous race weekend, for practice. Fresh tires for qualifying and race. I try to stretch the tire budget and do 2 sprint only race weekends with same set of tires. This is track condition and wear specific. Can't afford $ 1200 for tires every race weekend, plus I'm not that fast to warrant fresh rubber every race.

Good luck!

SG_M3

Since he's using Hoosiers or Hankooks, why would you waste their golden heat cycle? They are they fastest in the first cycle, if you are worried bout life, then hoosiers/hankooks shouldn't be the tire you purchase.

TheOtherEric

If you're going to give that advice, you should also add that your suggestion is completely contrary to Hoosier's recommendations on how to maximize life. Perhaps they're fastest on heat cycle #1 (I dunno; never tried it) but that's a sure way to reduce their life. And your comment that Hoosiers aren't appropriate for anyone concerned with life is too ridiculous to merit a response.

I and my buddies scrub in the Hoosiers during practice (or some other non-competitive situation) then wait at least a couple days (Hoosier says 1 week!) before using again.

But I'm cheap, and I don't even bother using Hoosiers for normal race-day practice sessions.

pmason

Like many of you, I'm trying to stretch out my tire budget as much as possible.
Did stock up over the winter and found a number of slightly used Hoosiers 75% tread left had 24 in the basement. The idea was for practice and DEs, but thinking of new stickers for race weekends.

Also looking to switch over to Hankook as I'm hearing good things, you can get a few more cycles out of them and they are good as Hoosiers.

TheOtherEric, if I remember you were using NT-01's weren't you? Used them in the past and did like them, tons of heat cycles also.

North Coast Cab

Can you get the front row out of 10+ cars? If not I would run the old tires in practice and qualifying. You'll get a lot more useful life out of them this way during the races. I'd also run the older tires during the enduro. Always heat cycle them as Hoosier recommends and allow to cool slowly for at least 24 hours. This will give you more useful heat cycles.
Run old tires until you can get within a second or so of the top cars, then it's time to spend money on tires.......and wheels so you can have a practice set, qualifying set and race set.

Mike in Chi

Eric

I'm with SG M3 on this. I used to try to heat cycle. Didn't get that much extra out of them. I was advised by many in the paddock that first cycle is the best -- use them for qualifying or the race. Judging by the number of rotating stickers I see rolling off the grid (yes I'm far enough back I get to see a number of cars go by ) this strategy is being followed by a lot of people.

I'd also agree that Hoosiers aren't the choice if longevity is the major concern. Since developing my Hoosier addiction I haven't tried others, but four or five years ago Pilot Sport Cups were known to be a long wearing tire. But watch those first few laps til they get hot.

One last bit of advice for our op, pmason, -- never let your spouse know what a set of Hoosiers cost. The cost of all future things will be measured in more or less than a set of Hoosiers...

MRW

"One last bit of advice for our op, pmason, -- never let your spouse know what a set of Hoosiers cost. The cost of all future things will be measured in more or less than a set of Hoosiers... "

Ask Mike how he knows this.....

Mike in Chi

MRW's wife refers to me as "The Devil".

My wife refers to me as "When are you going to give up that sport?"

pmason

Clearly its in Mike's sig, E class Money Vacuum. Even those that know say its not so but I got to think that a boat would be cheaper than what we are doing.

Mike in Chi

How big a boat?

If it flies, floats or fornicates...

TheOtherEric

Well we're certainly all agreed there! Obviously Hoosiers are not a long-lived tire. But just because you don't/can't budget $1000 for new tires every 4 heat cycles, doesn't mean you shouldn't run Hoosiers. Most people I know do what they can to extend the life as long as reasonable.

TheOtherEric

Yes, we run the NT01 for DE, enduros, and practice. I love that tire. We raced on them for a while too, until we finally saw that switching to Hoosiers would make us competitive. I.e. we saw no point to spending on Hoo$iers when the couple second benefit wouldn't be enough to compete with the leaders. And I still stand by that -- if you're not within 2-3 seconds of the winner, why bother switching to Hoosiers? Just so you can finish 4th instead of 8th? The money would be better spent on driver or car improvements.