Ted Drake

I need some help.
It's time to buy some tires for next year.
I have run the Hoosiers DOT 245/40/17 and 275/40/17 on my RS bodied 69T with a 3.2 engine.
Mostly equally AX/DE and TT events.

I'm considering buying 2 sets of Kumho Ecsta tires. 235/40/17 and the 275/40/17.

I've heard rumors galore on these tires.

1. I have lot's of negative camber -3.25 front and -2.5 rear. Do the Ecsta tires mind the negative camber?

2. Is it true the compound on the Ecsta changed during 2002? Is the new compound working OK?

3. Do I have to get them shaved for dry use?
I am considering shaving one set for timed runs and leaving the other full depth for practice laps.

thanks in advance,

Chris Campbell

I don't have too much "data" yet, but I just got a set of the Ecsta V700's. Ran them full-depth last weekend and I was not terribly impressed. They seemed to get a little "greasy" feeling after only 10 minutes or so.

The grip and predictability (and price) are nice though, particularly for a tire that can be driven on the street and/or in the wet if desired.

I have heard that the Kumhos do not "like" as much neg. camber as the Hoosiers. We are playing more in the -1.5 to 2.0 range vs -2 or higher.

I have also heard that at least with heavier/faster cars, even shaved Kumhos have sometimes shown chunking probs. I had no chunking last weekend but my car is barely 2000lbs and pretty neutral.

I have run the Victoracer V700's and Hoosier R3S03's in the past (also Yoko A008RS's). The Hoosiers rock and despite the extra cost and fragility I think I will go back.

kary993

Ted, I would suggest that you do a search on the forums as there are many good threads about Kumho's that would directly answer your questions.

Ted Drake

Thanks for the replies guys.

I bought just one set of the V700 Ecstas.
For the second set of rims I did get the Hoosier R3S03's.

The price difference between these two brands was about $300 a set. The longer lasting but slower V700 Ecsta’s seem like a fair practice tire. If they don’t chunk, get greasy or ?

Ideally I’ll run the longer wearing V700 for practice sessions and save the Hoosier R3S03's for the timed laps.

For timed runs I didn’t want to loose that much time on tires alone so the Hoosier R3S03's made sense there.

Cary see you at Buttonwillow, check the little typo on your city spelling...San Deigo?
insane diego, sandy eggo?

kevin911turbo

Yokohama will have available a new version of the A032R that will have a more competitive compound and will be available in those sizes. I is called the A032R S-compound.

Just another option

Kevin