Autocross tire thoughts, Here's something for you to ponder Options

[PeeGreen 914]

So speaking with Jeff K last night we were talking about tires. I mentioned what my plans were and talked a little about contigencies. I asked what his thought were on tires for prepared classes. This is direct from him

In my experience, the Goodyear is the fastest tire out there. The Avon is second and Hoosier is third. I use to be a contract driver with Hoosier but after doing much testing I found Goodyear to be better and willing to do what it takes to change.

So for my class I will be going with Goodyear.

What are your thoughts on this?

[J P Stein]

Could one expect any other answer from a contract driver? Yes, after the Nats the results will come in. It looked to me as if there was some cherry picking of Goodyear shod cars at the SD NT & AVONS were on Kissiels car at Packwood....cause HE couldn't get any Goodyears?.....or was he testing? I have never had any trouble getting Hoosiers.

GRMs testing of R specs still finds Hoosier on top...or so I've read on the net. You pays your money & takes your chances.

Tires are a major expense when one buys 2-3 sets per year considering one gets 30-40 passes out of them. That don't take long in a 2 driver car at the pointy end of the field whee 2 drivers are the norm. Radials are well over 300 bucks a pop, but last longer I'm told. If you show up at a "big deal" event on old tires you may well get your hat handed to you......unless you have a large advantage over your competition. AVONS are just as expensive and limited in available compounds/sizes in the USA.....& no contingencies.

I'm told that Goodyear now offers contingencies equal to Hoosier so there is no reason to hang with Hoosier.....but most will, I think. Brit is going with R75 rears & R25 fronts.....Hoosier radials......we shall see how this works....pricey SOBs, but he only had to buy one tire. This makes 10-12 freebie tires for him. Not bad for a 40 year old car.....eh. Grant? How many have you won?

[grantsfo]

Could one expect any other answer from a contract driver? Yes, after the Nats the results will come in. It looked to me as if there was some cherry picking of Goodyear shod cars at the SD NT & AVONS were on Kissiels car at Packwood....cause HE couldn't get any Goodyears?.....or was he testing? I have never had any trouble getting Hoosiers.

GRMs testing of R specs still finds Hoosier on top...or so I've read on the net. You pays your money & takes your chances.

Tires are a major expense when one buys 2-3 sets per year considering one gets 30-40 passes out of them. That don't take long in a 2 driver car at the pointy end of the field whee 2 drivers are the norm. Radials are well over 300 bucks a pop, but last longer I'm told. If you show up at a "big deal" event on old tires you may well get your hat handed to you......unless you have a large advantage over your competition. AVONS are just as expensive and limited in available compounds/sizes in the USA.....& no contingencies.

I'm told that Goodyear now offers contingencies equal to Hoosier so there is no reason to hang with Hoosier.....but most will, I think. Brit is going with R75 rears & R25 fronts.....Hoosier radials......we shall see how this works....pricey SOBs, but he only had to buy one tire. This makes 10-12 freebie tires for him. Not bad for a 40 year old car.....eh. Grant? How many have you won?

Lets correct fairy tales from the autocross tire rookie JP.

Avons are available in many more sizes and compounds typically used in AX than any tires from Hoosier and Good Year in the US. You just have to order from their distributors and there is some leadtime if you want to wait for container that comes about once a quarter. You can pay for air freight if you are in a hurry.

Again on Avons they are very specialized tire in soft compounds that clearly work best in cold and damp weather. If you are running warmer temps and Good Year and Hoosier have your tire in stock they are clear choice. Down side no formal contingencies but I bet if you were to speak to key Avon people and you were good you could get something. I got a discount to try them.

But truly I think most will find its not what brand of slick to use. Its more what is available in your size and compound requirement. Hoosier and Good Year have been discontinuing many of their soft compound tires in sizes most of us 914 guys would use. I'm not a fan of canti's unless you gain a classing advantage using them. They are really a rotten AX tire.

Hoosier is popular due to ease of availability and ease of contingency payouts and much better payouts than Good Year. Good Year only offers 2 tires to 1st place vs 4 from Hoosier and Hoosier awards tires to 2nd and 3rd too! Clear why Hooiser is choice of amatuer AXer's you get lots of tires if you are good. And honestly if you are good there isnt enough difference to justify losing out on double the tires and a chance for tires if you place second or third in a national level event.

Note on the GRM DOT R test they clearly stated they thought they would possibly see differnt results from Good Year AC compound in colder weather and with more time on the tire. They didnt reveal much in the way of alignment settings etc. In talking with Roger K he sees this all the time when a new tire comes out. Takes time to figure out optimal setup etc. I wouldnt count out Good Year in the fight for DOT tire. We saw several cars on Good Year DOT's in San Diego take out Hoosier clad cars. I tend to focus on real results rather than intenet rumors like our freind JP does. But I still think A6 is awesome tire - and I do see A6 as a viable alternative to slicks as operating temps of the a6 compound are superior to most slick compounds. Just watch results from Nationals in prepared classes where cars are using A6's. My car isnt the only one on A6's in Prepared.

JP the "modern" Boxster I built has already won several tires in the past 2 months. At this rate we will have grabbed 10 in the 6 first months it has run Hoosier a6's. Brit has spent 5 years in the car and only won 10 tires? Yikes! I thought for sure a "national" class car like that would be winning 10 per year easily? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) Especially given it runs in a "soft" region. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

I'm with JJ if you get lots of free tires from Hoosier thats the tire to run.

This post has been edited by grantsfo: Aug 17 2011, 06:33 PM