Yes.

Since you're (kind of) asking:

 

and the AP1 is on 275's?

 

Id love to hear people's feedback on their STR tires now that the season is over.

2 specific questions for the toyo guys:
did you have trouble keeping the tires cool enough in the summer months?
what kinds of tire pressures did you all run?

I am trying to make tire decisions for next season and am curious as to the ups and downs to the Toyo's and Hankooks.

 

Star Specs
Started the year off on shaved (4/32) Star Specs and did not like them. The grip fell off rather quickly and they "blistered", peeled, or showed multiple layers before the tread was gone. See pic below. I do not recommend shaving them unless they are just for a tour event. The blistering/peeling was confirmed by other ST drivers that had shaved their Star Specs. Others have had good success with them (not shaved). They may be a good tire for the cooler months (below 70F) rather then the R-S3s.



R-S3s
I really like these tires. They seem to get better with each event. I have heard others say they usually heat cycle out before they wear completely out. I have been running them since June, about 135 runs, and they are still working very well. The photo below is at 135 runs. These get proSolo launched and have been through about ten high speed car spins. They have been flipped once inside to out and get rotated front to back to balance out wear. They are always trailered and put on at the events, no street time.



R-S3s are best with a co-driver (tire warmer). In the hot months (90-105F air temp) they get sprayed with water after each run to keep them in the sweat spot temperature wise (150-160F). In the cooler months (40 - 70F) insulation is used between runs to keep the heat in them.

For pressures the R-S3s were run at 36 +/- 3 psi front and 32 +/- 3 psi rear. I added +/- 3 to indicate variance in pressure gauges and I do not know what the absolute pressure was. I have tried multiple gauges and see lots of variation.

Edit: The other thing that is important to know about running tires is camber. Currently running -2.3 front and rear. The wear appears to be mostly even across the tread. Early on -2.8 was used front and rear, but the inside third of the tread was wearing faster than the outside. Varying pressures did not appear to help. The temperatures across the tread were higher on the inside by more than 10F. I do plan to do more experimenting with more camber and tire pressures. Maybe a mistake was made some where and I'm missing some lateral grip opportunity.



Toyos
I have not run on Toyos. I hear besides being expensive the Toyos are optimum between 20 and 36 runs. A local ST driver used them once and stopped because in the hotter months they would fall off on grip before a run was completed. At nationals the MR-2 next to us was spraying their Toyos with water to keep them cool. I did not notice any other cars spraying water on their tires at nationals.

 

Great post, can you repost this to tires? I get a ton of talkback there from the SS fanboys.

 

I agree... you also get a lot of Bstone Fanbois in that forum.... "its a bridgestone... it must be the best!" LMAO

I honestly will only consider the Toyo R1R and the Hankook RS3

 

The AP1 thrust charts I posted above assume 245 rear tires. The AP1's second gear is too tall already; I wouldn't want to make it worse by mounting taller tires.

 

I ran 275's on the AP1 once...what epic fail that was. 2+ seconds slower on a 65 second course...and it was even a "high speed" one. The car's acceleration in 2nd gear was laughable.

 

The other thing that is important to know about running tires is camber. Currently running -2.3 front and rear. The wear appears to be mostly even across the tread. Early on -2.8 was used front and rear, but the inside third of the tread was wearing faster than the outside. Varying pressures did not appear to help. The temperatures across the tread were higher on the inside by more than 10F.

I do plan to do more experimenting with more camber and tire pressures. Maybe a mistake was made some where and I'm missing some lateral grip opportunity.

I added this to the original post as well.

 

Yea, currently I have -2.8 front -2.2 rear... My Dunlops seem to wear a little more on the inside than outside but nothing crazy... but I do a lot of street miles too, so that is to be expected... I gotta get a pyrometer one of these days to test temps.