re: Tire advice needed

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.gmi.edu>]

On Fri, 8 Mar 1996 STEADIRIC@aol.com wrote:

> >I don't understand.  I know we've about beat this to death, but I need to 
> >know.  Are y'all driving on the same BFG's I'm used to?  I know my RADIAL 
> >T/A's are high mileage tires (and great ones for that matter) and thus 
> >aren't supposed to stick.  But calling the Dunlop's higher mileage and 
> >not as "on rails" as either of these two?  Never driven the Yoko's, 
> >although I've heard they aren't all that.  My brother put brand new 50 
> >series Comp T/A's on his Probe GT,  performance was WORSE than the factory 
> >GOODYEAR EAGLES (which are the KING of suck as far as I'm concerned).  

Just one small point about OEM tires.  They are sometimes not the smae as 
the aftermarket version of the same tire.  I suspect that the Goodyear 
tires found on some OEM apps on the 'murican muscle cars may not be the 
same as the ones you buy from the tire rack.

> >Help me please.  Have I been getting weird sets of tires.  Aren't Dunlops 
> >(D40 M2's and SP Sport 8000's) the stickiest, stiffest-sidewalled, 
> >shortest lived tires this side of lotsa money?  Eric?  Graydon?  Scott?

No experience with Dunlop yet, although I bought a set of D60A2 JLBs for 
the 5KCSTQ.  I'll let everyone know after a few weeks with the tire.

> are untouchable.  My views on Yoks are well know (They SUCK!) BFG T/AR1's 
> are great on the track but I would'nt want to drive there on them,  (Off 
> temp performance sucks) and the Goodyear GSC's are pretty awsome.

As far as race tires go, Eric's pretty well right on.  Although, I 
wouldn't say that Yoks suck - I quite like the _feel_ of Yoks, (and 
Bridgestone RE71R feel the same way, BTW), but they just don't have the 
stick of a BFG R1 on an autocross course.  But, I have to agree with Eric 
here too, you certainly would NOT want to drive those on the street at 
all.  Especially two years ago, when BFG was still learning, and they got 
their stick by making the compound soft - they would pick up large 
stones, and they would not fling them off, they just hammered them in 
deeper the next time the stone came around and hit the ground!  One drive 
down a gravel road would ruin the tires - they were high-maintenance in a 
dirt-road pit.

	The Yoks, with their less-than-R1 stick, are passable street 
tires.  I found that a moderately adjusted suspension (not too much 
camber, very little toe out, etc) would make a set of A008Rs or RSs quite 
nice on the street.  Gave almost 10,000 miles too!

Later,								
Graydon D. Stuckey								
graydon@apollo.gmi.edu								
Flint, Michigan   USA
'86 Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, GDS Racing Stage II				
'85 Mazda RX7 GS 12A-leaning-towards-a-13B-soon