I've got a question about tires.

I checked out the SCCA Forums and it seems that the line of thinking is if your a rookie go with the Kumhos they are more durable you can drive to the event wiht them on your car, they are cheaper. Hoosiers are for the serious competitors they cost more they are easily flat spotted and they wear out quicker.

I'm thinking about going with the Hoosiers simply because they seem to be the best and I'll have a set of JDM wheel for them. From what I can tell they aren't that much more expensive either!

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

 

it is almost impossible to flat spot your tyres with abs on your car. Get the softer tyres otherwise you will only be disappointed.

 

Mack, the Hoosiers are the overall stickiest (is that a word?) tire but if you are a newbie I'd go with the Kumho's. There's not that big a difference and in fact I believe the S2000 that won at nationals last year was on Kumhos. It also depends on the surface that you're running on. The surface we run on is pretty rough on tires and I saw a 911 kill a set of Hoosiers in one event. I'm getttin 5 or 6 events out of Kumho's with two drivers on the same surface.

I believe Jason wrote up a good comparo a while back. In fact you might want to ask the threesome for advice on this. Whatever tire you choose you're going to be in for a hell of a lot of fun.

 

Woody-

ABS doesn't do you much good if your sliding sideways.

Thanks CG. I hear talk about Kumhos being a tire you can drive to the event. Is that really feasable or do you know.
Most of the events around here are a 20-30 mile drive from the house. Would save me having to have a support vehicle or a trailer though.

Thanks!

 

I drive mine to the events which is about 20 miles each way. I even drove my wife to the airport 20 miles past the event site one morning. I ended up putting over 100 miles on the tires that day. After the tires are well worn I wouldn't want to get caught in much rain on the highway. I drove home from the last event on corded front tires and had heavy rain for the last 3 miles. It was scary, I could feel the front tires lift one at a time on very thin sheets of water. My garage never looked so good.

 

Kumhos are sounding better by the minute! What widths are you running? 225/50 F 245/45 R ?

Thanks for your help!

 

Yep, 225/50 F
245/45 R

 

The Hoosiers are lasting incredibly for us... we are getting nearly 100 runs per set. We got over 80 runs on one set including THREE drivers at a ProSolo and a ton of practice. And that was on sticky, grippy, abrasive concrete! It's all up to you, as both tires are just as fast. One of the things that I like about the Hoosier is that it is 6-8lb. lighter per tire. With all the differential talk lately, I like the fact that the Hoosier has less 'in line' grip. We were getting slower 60ft. times at Ft. Myers than RandyP, but shocking the driveline less. If you want to drive to the event, you must get Kumhos, however. Hoosiers are very fragile because they don't have steel belts (which is why they are lighter.)

I say get a tire trailer and go with the Hoosiers! They are much closer to a racing slick, whereas the Kumhos are much closer to a soft street radial.

 

I learned that Kumhos can be cooked pretty quickly on hot concrete and that cornering grip is more important than straight line acceleration in AutoX. I will be switching to Hoosiers for this reason only.

 

Dayum!

I new once Jason got involved I'd be really confused!

OK so lets assume I go with the Hoosiers.....I've looked around for a trailer and can't seem to come up with something made specifically for AutoX. Is there such an animal or do I just design my own?

Guess this is moving away from the tire discussion but what the heck!

Thanks