So Tempted to sell the Kumhos I have wrapped up in my garage...I wonder how much I could get for them...

 

Sleeper Tire...... 265/35r18 BFG R1 25" O.D. No Contingency but they are quick and you would see 100 runs easy.

Chris

 

 

Seems pretty clear to me when I look at the three jackets hanging in my closet.

 

I will let you know how they work on Monday... I have a set mounted up right now for the PDX this weekend. Sucks having to work weekends. lol

 

everybody I know who tried them for autox said that they are terrible ...

you'll be hitting the snooze button multiple times

 

Mark -

I would say "different" but far from "terrible". The 285's we tested back to back with the V710 and A6 were HUGE. Much taller and wider than the A6 285's . This made the steering response more vague than we would have liked on the 8" wheel application and hurt the acceleration off slower corners on our course. Even with the gearing, weight and lack of response issues, the tire still turned strong times during our (GRM/Tire Rack) test on the tighter than National level course used. It ended up a few tenths off the V710 and A6 for all three of our drivers under controlled conditions. IMHO the 265's would close this gap and improve driver confidence. A larger, faster course would also work to the R1's advantage. Could they be faster than the A6 or V710 on the RX8? Additional testing on a National style course would be needed to answer that question and driving style would also come into play, but they are in the ballpark (IMHO) and would be good option if you were in a position to only buy one set of tires a year and contingency didn't matter.

Jason - it will be interesting to here your opinion, don't be afraid to get creative with air pressure compared with the V710's


Chris H

 

v710's can't come soon enough at this point. Started a two day local event this weekend on brand new 245 Hankook c71's. Rotated them front to back at 18 runs... corded the fronts at 35 runs. yay.

 

Wow! Sorry to hear about that. What was the surface like. The C70s I've run held up great on concrete and smooth asphalt, but when I took them out to a rough asphalt surface they took a serious beating.

So after the tour this weekend the results were Hoosier, Hoosier, Hoosier with Hankook in the rest of the spots. My driving left a lot to be desired though. On Saturday we were all trying our best to get heat in the tires and each run was getting faster. I managed to botch up my 3rd run with a big slide and a cone. The raw time was right in the hunt, even with the slow down of the big slide.

On day two the car felt much better, but I made the mistake of gunning for the front runners instead of protecting my trophy spot. My first 2 runs were right in line with the Hoosier guys, but I once again wasted my 3rd run by totally overdriving it. EDJ put down a smoking fast 3rd run that put the pressure on me and I dropped the ball.

I talked to some people after the heat who were watching from the sidelines, and they commented that the Hoosier cars were hooking up a lot better on the surface and getting through the course with less drama.

The good thing is that I race against the 2 top trophy winners a few times a month so hopefully we'll get some more comparisons against the Hoosiers.

 

It was very rough asphalt. Our times and penalties were way off the mark as well. Surface, adaptation (or lack thereof), and tires themselves probably all had a hand in an expensive weekend. Live 'n learn.

 

We got 60 runs on two C70s, and 72 runs and counting on the other two C70s. They had two flip & mount throughout the life to balance the wear between outside and inside edges. The 60-run C70s were heat-cycled out with some treads left, though no longer stick. Had to swap to scrap Hoosier A6s in the rear on the grid at the SFR Divisional. The surfaces we ran range from rough asphalt (Golden Gate Field), ok asphalt (Oakland & Qualcomm), to super smooth asphalt (El Toro).

The C70 compound is way soft for us when we watched the gob buildup on the tread surface, as compared to clean V710 surface at SD Tour.

For those who still wish to run Hankook on RX-8, we suggest trying C50/C51.

 

Anyone know if the 245/35-18 V710s will be coming out in the new compond?

 

When I talked to a number of Kumho guys at the Long Beach GP they said nothing this year. Only the new sizes of the V710, like the 225-17 and 305-18 are being built with the new construction and compound changes. All of the old stuff will continue with business as usual.

 

None of this applies to Solo, and I did not do a back to back with another brand... But I just got back from doing an SCCA PDX event at Firebird. Ran the 265-35-18 R1 on an 18X8.5 rim. The tire took about a lap and a half to come in, part of that time is building up the air pressure, but once they were warm they were great. On an 84-86 degree day I could push these as hard as I wanted with no fall off.

I would not call this a top tier autox tire, but for sure a great track day tire, and would be a great tire for someone just starting out. It was very forgiving and shows very little wear after a day with crazy track temps and some long high speed turns.

This was the first time I have had a non-V710 race tire on the RX-8, I was very happy to see it only took a slight change in tire pressure to get the balance I am use to.

The tire was also very easy to mount, after a 245 V710 anything is easy, and even though I had it on an 8.5 I see no reason it wont work on an 8. We will find out soon enough, next stop for these tires is a co-workers 335i (8" front, 8.5" rear).

 

Jason, I know you have 3 Jackets and that is why I don't want anything but the 245 710's. My point was that there are a lot of other opinions on what tire to run. I was trying to be sarcastic.

I am happy to say I got my set of 20 run 710's, Thanks Jim!

 

What, I wasn't laying it on think enough for ya.

I think we all know this is a two play game right now, K VS H, they both have good and bad things going for them. Seems like the biggest problem with the H is deciding what size to run, as we have seen quick times on 225-295 and everything in between. Kumho makes it easy, unless you live near the Thompson's tire guy, you have to run a 245.

 

You don't have to live close to me, UPS and FedEx will deliver tires :D.

Dan

 

But, I don't think they'll drop ship people

The Thompsons' seem to have a very, very talented tire installer who can figure out how to get a 285 V710 to seat on the 8" rim...that's what Jason was referring to

 

Dan is their tire guy.

 

Well...somebody should a told me that, before I put my foot in my mouth!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ev3AqBhZwc

 

since when did that ever slow you down ...

 

that won't get a 285 V710 bead to seat on an 8" wheel

 

Yeah, figured... back to serious thread.

now where is that lolcat picture...

 

allow me to oblige