[s-cars] Re: S-CAR-List Digest, Vol 7, Issue 98 - 17" tire size ideas

Larry C Leung l.leung at juno.com
Thu May 20 19:08:28 EDT 2004


Teddy, 

Is this on your S-car or the Miata? I would think with the 
weight and power of the S-car, shaving would actually
make them last longer. I even found with the GTi (note,
nearly 58% of it's weight was up front, probably over 80%
under braking and turn in), that shaving helped tire life, 
although then it was actually hard to get the tire temps up 
to full operating temp (had a hard time getting them over
128 degrees F, although my tread temps only varied by
3 - 4 degrees on an SCCA stock class car). 

In the rain, however, needed full tread depth, JUST to get
the temps up. 

I really never could get the tires properly heat cycled on 
the street, even with a spirited highway run. Car was just
too darned light to heat up 205/55-14's. I was looking 
forwards to trying 195/55-14 Kumho V700's when the
tree fell on the car. Smush!

LL - NY

On Thu, 20 May 2004 15:55:01 -0700 (PDT) Theodore Chen
<tedebearp at yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> --- Larry C Leung <l.leung at juno.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Well, some of these are true track rubber, some of these are more
> > of a hyperactive street tire. I usually support separate 
> track/street 
> > tires, because, in the long run, it actually costs less to run 
> that way. 
> > Since 17" street tires aren't really inexpensive, you'll really 
> want to
> > get the 30K or so miles out of 'em they're generally capable of. 
> Track
> > tires cost about the same, but with shaving and heat cycling (VERY 
> 
> > important for track tire life for a heavy car such as the UrS or 
> even,
> > perhaps a pony car ;-) they'll last much longer than full tread 
> street
> > tires doing the same job.
> 
> yes, dedicated tires make more sense.
> 
> FYI, i've run kumho V700s at full tread depth.  they don't have much 
> of
> a tread pattern, so they become slicks very quickly, and chunking 
> has never
> been a problem.  they won't be as fast at full tread depth as if 
> they were
> shaved, but eventually they'll get to that point.  they don't lose 
> much
> grip over multiple heat cycles.
> 
> speaking of heat cycling, i just buy the tires and put them on the 
> car for
> a freeway blast.  take a couple of corners at speed to scrub in the 
> tires,
> and let them sit for 24 hours.
> 
> i haven't tried running RA-1s yet.
> 
> > Note, some of these
> > tires will live MUCH longer if the car has a TON (i.e. 1.5 degrees 
> or
> > more!) negative camber, and they'll react better too.
> 
> they all will, and -1.5 degrees camber isn't a lot.  mustangs 
> typically
> have about -3 degrees for the track.
> 
> strut suspensions have relatively poor camber curves, so you have to 
> set
> them up with more static negative camber.
> 
> miatas have double A-arm suspensions, but still run -2 degrees of 
> camber
> in spec miata (which is the maximum allowed by the rules).
> 
> you bring up a good point, though.  in my experience, hoosiers are
> VERY intolerant of poor camber.  get your camber set up well and/or
> check tire temperatures with a pyrometer, or you'll turn your front
> hoosiers into scrap in a day.
> 
> -teddy
> 
> 
> 
>         
>                 
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