Tires....seriously

I need tires...

what are people running? what do people recommend?


I hear good and bad things about everything out there.

Here's what i'm thinking...


Michelins/BFG...without doubt probably the best, but also the most pricey ($215 US ish per tire), Difficult for me to get in Toronto, need to source through US dealers (Buffum)

Pirellis...close to the BFG's, and close to the same price ($250 ish CDN). I have run well used/old Pirellis, and liked them.

Yokohamas...Not sure of performance compared with the BFG's/Pirellis. There are "new" Yokohama's which supposedly kickass (A035e), however while they are available for sale everywhere else in the world, they are ONLY available to "contracted drivers" in Canada. And the rest of the public gets the older technology. Cost on the older tires is similar Cheaper than both the BFG and Pirelli

Hankooks....no idea on performance, have heard stories both ways. Price wise the "older" (g50 vs g51) compounds are available cheap right now and local because of a Hankook sell off.

Silverstones....friends have run these exclusively, but they need to be brought in from the manufacturer (8 weeks). Pricing is similar to the "closeout" Hankooks.

Lassa Rally Tires....newcomers...pricing is good (129-149 US per). Claimed performance between Pirellis and BFG's, but still relatively unknown.



Fact of the matter is I need tires before the next event (3 weeks). I have brand new SOFT compound tires, but will likely toast these if i run them, so they are put away until a rainy day, or the Fall.


Are fresh tires always better than used? Is a used BFG better than a brand new Hankook?

Looking to get probably 8-10 tires of something...likely mediums to get me through the "meat" of the season.

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Chris

This is a good question. I am interested in what other peoples experiences are.

Hankook, seems to have given up on the rally tire market in the US, so once people run out of stock there are pretty much no tires left and no plans to import more.

The g50 vs g51 compound difference is quite large. The tires that end in a 0 are much harder than the 1 tires. I have a set of 70 (Softs) and replaced them with a set of 51s and they wore about the same, with similar grip levels.

That is the thing...i don't want to be stuck with orphan tires....i've done it before (i'm running on FALKENS!!! right now)


I have heard that the Hankook compounds are generally a little "hard", so would have likely been buying all "softs" anyways.


BTW...forgot to mention that these would all be going on an Open Class Subaru, which probably weighs 2850 or so.

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Chris

Hankook gave up? Fuck!

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

If you don't want to be stuck with 3 orphans, consider how long Buffum has been selling Michelin/BFG product (forever) or buy a huge pile of (too hard) Hankooks while you can.

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Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net

Doesn't Jardevall run those Lassas? Since I can't afford any more of those BFG's (great tires though they are), I was gonna try those things out... If Carl is running 'em, if they're good enough for him fer darn sure they're good enough for me.
Whatever you do don't let those brand new softies sit around for very long, or they'll turn themselves into medium hard compound...

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Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

Jardevall does run the Lassa's....apparently.

What i'm trying to figure out is...

say i've got $2000cdn to spend.

Am i better to buy 8 Michelins/BFGs and run them until they are bald...grooving and cutting them to get every ounce of life out of them?

or buy like 10 Yokohamas/Lassas.

Or buy like 12 Hankooks, and keep tossing new tires on the thing?

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Chris

All of the tires you list are fine, I would run any of them with out a worry.

I have not personally used the lassas but my old co-driver did last weekend and noted that getting air pressures right was the biggest challange, using nitrogen would help. They still worked fine and they used 12 tires for the whole event as I understood it.

Again you are not going to get screwed with any of the above options.

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In the long run reality always wins.

8 Michelin/BFGs.

I had the opportunity to pick up Hankooks for a ridiculous cheap ($55 USD) but chose to not because I would rather run a used Michelin than a new Hankook.

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Grant Hughes

why??

seen people explode the hankooks?? or everyone just super slow?

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Chris

I've destroyed a pair of Hankooks in one day of testing at our test place. My used Flatiron's take off Michelin's are hardly phased by it. My Yoko's in the rear have held up quite well also.
Lassa's look interesting and Jardevall seemed to do fine on them this weekend though. Might get a set of those next just to see how they compare.

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Grant Hughes

IIRC the Egan Creek/Peanut stages are pretty easy on tires, so if time is tight, you could probably run the softs at Bear without wearing them out too much. John V. can probably give you some good advice.

Galway will destroy two sets of softs in 50km, so make sure you have hard compound tires (regardless of brand) for that event.

Running the wrong compound in the wrong temp will destroy any tire quick too. Overheat the tire and it will chunk and wear quick. Too hard is no good either.

I've been able to hang with guys on fresh hankooks while I'm on 10 year old hard low tread michelins.

But with the crappy availability/high price of rally tires, I'm going to try switching to truck tires.

Carl S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> But with the crappy availability/high price of
> rally tires, I'm going to try switching to truck
> tires.


Have you found any tires that will fit on most rally cars in 15 sizes? the smallest I saw were still too large a side wall to fit on most cars

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-Jason

mack73 Wrote:

> Have you found any tires that will fit on most
> rally cars in 15 sizes? the smallest I saw were
> still too large a side wall to fit on most cars
>
> 94 Golf
> www.Mack73.com


You are absolutely right in pointing this out. It is a problem, as the tallest tires you can comfortably accomodate in most smaller, older cars are 62 cm tall tires. If your "small" car makes power, or is heavy, it is difficult to find the right tire. The 62cm tires work best with lowered gearing in most econocars. Here are the best choices:
1. Michelin 16/62-15: no longer available( I found 4 and will try them)
2. Pirelli K 175/70-15: best current choice-Four Star could make it available
3. Pirelli T 195/65-15: second best-Four Star could make it available
4. BFG/Michelin 14/62-15: good tire but very narrow(suitable for the light(er) cars). Ran it one season-very satisfied
5. Silverstone 15/62-15: have not tried it-looks right
6. Yokohama 185/60-15: good tire-only 60 cm tall. Ran it one season-very satisfied
7. Hankook 185/60-15: good tire-only 60 cm tall. Ran it one season-very satisfied

I will try Pirelli and Silverstone next.

George

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Civic Rally Car