Re: Tars agin

[PDQSHIP@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-03-11 06:17:58 EST, you write:

>e Porsche guy here swear by the A008's.  I had a five minute soapbox
>speach by a few 911 owners about how much of an unfair advantage these tires
>were in either format - the street version or the A008 R race version.  The
>preached on about haw good they were in the wet too. 

And that is just DEAD wrong.....  Too many 911 went into the rail with the
008's back in the mid eighties so Yoko made a 008P just for Porsche....
 However, when you make the last 2 inches of the outside tread basically a
racing slick, in wet they are THE worst tire I've EVER driven, 008P or 008 or
008R, even 001R, Porsche or any other make.....  I've had them on a 81
scirocco, 86 GLH Turbo, and my 87 5ktq......  On DRY smooth pavement they are
THE BEST tire I've had......  However the compromise is, WET handling is
basically non existent (but the same could be said for old porsches)....
  Unfair advantage on a track, you bet, not a wet track but a dry
track.......  It is verystiff sidewall, loud, but the treadwear was
surprisingly good.....  Compromise the dry handling to keep you from putting
the car away when it rains.....  The D40M2 is a better tire for all around
driving and occasional track......  The SP8k is as close to the 008 as you
will get and still have wet handling, and actually is more suited to track
use than the 008's, far less scrub on the sidewall.....
> This was just a couple
>of weekends ago (See my Alfa Romeo at PIR post) on a wet track for half the
>day.  I wonder if these tire's performance are car specific?

Naw, that you had more than a few tell you that 008 are Great, makes me think
that maybe they should compare some tires, 008's are an old design and hardly
the leader of the pack anymore...
>
>On a different note, have you any experience with Sumitomo tires?  The Tire
>Rack salesman said that Sumitomo is the parent company of Dunlop and that
>the tires offered under both names are very similar.  I made a call to
>Dunlop and spoke with their sales engineers.  They confirmed that Sumitomo
>had a controlling interest in the company, but could not give me a
>comparison between the two.

I would guess similar, but I have no experience with them.....


Scott