Anyone used the new Goodyear 250 compound tires and also the Hoosier softer slicks and have an opinion?

Hi Randal,

I've used all of the above slicks over the past 1.5 years. Here is my take:

Auto-X
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Goodyear R210's were nice and soft. When I couldn't get those anymore, I tried R270's and didn't like them....no bite compared to the R210's. The new compound R250's are much better for auto-x than R270's.

An added benefit is that the Goodyear canti's have a very stiff sidewall, much stiffer than the Hoosiers. Turn in response is excellent.

On the big tracks, I run R430's due to the heating for increased longevity.

Hoosiers
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I have used the R45 compound canti for Auto-x and the R60 compound for the big tracks. As I said earlier the Hoosiers have a softer sidewall and for auto-x do not turn in as fast, but you compensate and it isn't too noticeable. The R45 sticks very well, somewhere between a Goodyear R250 and the R430/R60 compounds.

On the big tracks I am consistently 1.5 seconds faster per lap on a 3 mile course running new Hoosiers versus new Goodyears. My charting indicates that I get between 10-12 heat cycles out of Hoosiers before they fall off significantly versus 8-10 cycles for Goodyears.

Basically they are close. I actually for some reason prefer the Hoosiers on the big tracks.

However, the Hoosiers are a pain as they lose quite a bit of air over the day and especially overnight. They will go flat overnight at an event. The Goodyears always stay inflated. Go figure....

Hope this helps.

Bill P.

Hoosiers

Update:

I talked to the Hoosier factory today. They have new 35 compound racing tires 23 X 9.5 X 15 that are currently being cured, but will be out shortly. The 35 compound is equivalent to the Goodyear 210 compound that is no longer available.

I think I'm going to try a set for AutoX.

When will you get them?

Mr T

Before the big upcoming two day Zone event at Alameda.

I have used the Goodyear 23x9-15 cantilever tires in R210 compound on my 914 with both 4cyl and V6 power. I found them good on asphalt and real good on concrete. They like heat though. Not so good in temps lower than 60°F.

Now that I did the V8 swap I decided to go larger and have switched to Hoosier R35 compound slicks. These are 23.5x12.0-15 on 14" wide wheels in the rear and 22.5x9.0-15 on 10" wheels in front. These are the Formula Atlantic sizes and should work well for the lower speeds and shorter courses of autocross.

My first event on these tires is this Sunday. I'll report what I find if anyone's interested.

Mike T

I'm interested!

I found the same thing with Goodyears, i.e., you have to get them warmed up before they start to really stick, but all my tires were old, so maybe tires with no heat cycles would work better.

I've got my order in now with Roger Krause for the Hoosiers. About the only negative I've been able to secure is that the sidewalls aren't as stiff and maybe they don't wear as well as the Goodyears.

But it's nice to get the 35 compound, which is equivalent of the Goodyear 210's which you can't get anymore.

I ran my first autocross with my freshly completed V8 914 and as promised I'm reporting my findings on the Hoosier tires I'm running now.

To recap: I was using the Goodyear 23x9-15 cantilever tires in R210, now running
Hoosier R35 compound slicks.

These are 23.5x12.0-15 on 14" wide wheels in the rear and 22.5x9.0-15 on 10" wheels in front.

All my observations are stricktly subjective, no actual numbers;

Course length = 42 - 45 seconds
Surface = asphalt(slippery asphalt according to the DOT tire classes)
temperature = 75°F
weather = dry, sunny

Right away I noticed the push the car always seems to exibit was gone. Steering response was as good or better than the Goodyears.

This being said I was there just to test the car and never optimized the setup, pressures, shock settings, swaybar settings etc. Also the corner weights wern't set using scales but chassis measurments. My testing was cut short afer 3 runs due to an oil leak(cheap chrome fuel pump block off plate).

Generally I was impressed with the tires and the cars performance. Later in the season I'll have a chance to run a fixed design course and see what my lap times are compared to the previous tires. Of course the V8 engine will affect those results. I think the Hoosiers are at least as good as the defuct R210 Goodyears for my opinion an use anyway.

I'll have some pictures later and will post them.

Mike T

Thanks Mike.

If the new Hoosiers (35's) are as good as the 210's I'll be happy.

Actually I never had a new set of 210's, I got the ones I have (used) from Jim Hayes when he quit racing. Most had reasonable rubber left, but timing wise were over a year old. But even those old 210's worked reasonable well.

Tired Tire Story: Yesterday we had an LRP event at the Marina. My tires (*) were going off, but probably faster than I understood.

Following the morning session (great course) I had a best time of 42.6. Terry Zaccone (Autocross Hall of Fame) in his world famous 911 (Gerry Woods motor) had a 42.6 as well and Gary Dorighi was a half second ahead of us. Terry was on good Hoosiers and Gary on good 430 track tires.

In the afternoon the Marina concrete warms up. I have never been there when I didn't take a second and a half off my time in the PM, i.e., you're run the course 4 times, know it and can concrentrate on getting fast and smooth and the "Goodyears" like the heat.

This PM I couldn't get within half a second of my morning time and I was driving hard.

But it was fun watching Terry get within half of second of Gary who improved his time by at least half a second. You could really see the speed in Terry's 911 as he tore around the course.

Also fun watching Mr. T throw his car around, he's come a long way.

It does seem like all the 914 guys that were down at the Marina are improving.

Brad of course is the real reason all of us are improving.

All in all a fun day, expect the traffic going home took over two hours. Must have been people heading home from the Garlic Festival. I could see Brad and Nathan up ahead of me for a while, but then lost them going over the HY 17 grade.

Of course we missed all those 914 members that had the "under repair" signs hanging on the wall.



(*) 210 in front running 20lbs, 275 (crap tires) in the back running 22lbs. Goodyear admits that the 275 compound tires they made were bad and I'll second the motion.

I'm gonna have to make the jump to slicks....if for no other reason, to keep up with all youz hot dogs

The downside is I gotta
the crap outta my rear fenders.....sigh. There goes my lovely paint job
Maybe I'll try the port-a-power trick.

but the real lesson this weekend was:

stupid large amounts of HP *DOES* make up for the lack of driving skills!

Andy

That did look like a horsepower track to me.

Andy:
When one has a goodly amount of HP, "things" get ....ah...interesting. You arrive at a corner sooner and at an elevated speed. Power oversteer becomes an issue. You can regain momentum quicker than a low hp car and make the lap time look good in comparison.....but the time lost can't be regained when comparing to a car *in your class*.

High powered cars are harder to drive smoothly, IMO. Since you're going faster, the mistakes are magnified. Even a good run can look bad when smoke is coming off the tires under braking. When things go right in a section, you find yourself arriving at the next going faster than you did before....oh shit, I wuz lookin' so good



Try it sometime and report back.

This was my first ride(drive) of a V8 car and I have to tell you 15 seconds into the run I was laughing right out loud. I have never driven a car with this much acceleration. It was just ridiculous. I had to soft pedal to keep from spinning. It was just so much fun I forgot to watch/listen/feel for problems. We need a smiley sporting a woody...

Mike T

When I was running the cantelever tires all Hoosier had was an R45 tire. The Hoosier guy tried to tell me they were equal to the GY R210 but I was unwilling to risk the $ for a full set to find out. I run mostly local events so I bought used tires from various suppliers. I did on 3 occasions buy new R210s and was dissapointed to find the used tires felt faster. I attributed it to improper break in of the new tires. The used full tread ones I was buying were heat cycled and the new ones were just run with no attempt to heat cycle. No place to do it locally. No numbers just seat of the pants. YMMV

MIke T

OK, the total newbie in me comes out.
Heat cycling is a good thing? I wouldn't have expected that, but I don't know S..t about tires.
What would proper tire break in be like? And could it be done with heating pads?

Too many heat cycles is what uses up a tire. If it's been heated to operating temperature enough times it loses grip. Even if it has lots of "tread" left. Now we're talking about slicks here. DOT is different. An initial heat cycle to break in the tire is beneficial I've found.

Mike T

Thanks Mike, That clears it up for me.