WOO I JUST GOT BACK FROM FORMULA D ATL!!
anyway, to make the title more relevent, a spec miata team was giving away used racing slicks after the miata cup race today. OOPS 205/50/15 lets put them on the OEM 7-spokes.
it was awesome, i got a set of four hankook ventus rss race tires for free. no flat spots, just a little worn.
what can you guys tell me about race tires? how to heat them up? ive heard theyre tricky tires to drive on. what do you guys know?
R-compound tires?
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grip_racer
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240marcuSX
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evildky
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you havn't driven till you've driver on R compounds, you intend to autocross with them? I have no personal experience with hankook, I have run Kumho Victoracers and V710's as will as the old BFG R1's (they sucked) obviously they are not inteded to use on the street and they will grip best once heated, first pass or 2 at the autocross will bring them up to temp then they will start to stick! they will offgas their natural oils as they age so in the offseason they should be bagged and stored in a basement or similar and even then they won't stick like they used to
Ventus RSS haven't used them.For my car which drives about once a week, maybe twice if the weather is nice, I have RA1 Toyo tires, which are amazing when warm. I've played around with some 15" size and am now doing 16" in various widths on a selection of wheels.Here's the bad thing though, it rains a lot here, sometimes sunny then rainy then sunny. Wet roads and R compounds aren't a great match. In a moment of bad judgement I drove the car to work on a rainy morning. A day long downpour occured. Standing water on the highway during the trip home. Long story short, I was puckered up pretty good when I was losing control at 60-70mph amongst traffic, because I was hydroplaning. And this is on a brand new set of tires.An R compound uses not only soft rubber, but usually has much less void ratio.(ratio of tread blocks to water channels/evacuation ability). More surface area AND softer compound = dry condition adhesion.So for everyday driving, stick with a UHP tire. The conditions may conspire against you and it could cost dearly.
^^This is true. Sport Compact Car did a good article covering most of the R compound tires at market. I'll scan the info so we have a picture to go with a brand name.IF a member does in fact put R compound tires onto their driver car, they need to know the wearout rate and on/off characteristics of such a temperature sensitive tire. Only reason I can afford to even have R compound if because i work in a tire shop and even then, they are still spendy.. and then they wear out quick, which means they are spendy again.