Virgin On Full Slicks

[Neil]

Ando,,,you say the tyres are 99% new,,,that tells me either you or someone else has done the nice and easy heat cycle laps. Either way whats done is done and now just go out and thrash the living shit out of them.

Neil.

[Tektrader69]

Talking about used RE55's . anyone know where I can get a goos used paiur of 255/40/17's in Vic?

I need a pair of rears for my standby set of wheels.

[Marlin]

Everytime i'm at Gordon Leven's he talks me out of full slicks (for my little car) because as duncan said they will go off and lose grip before you wear them out. The constant heat cycles of our trackday sessions is worse than just throwing them on and driving non stop till they are down to the wear markers.

Also, he has most sizes of semi + slicks for under $100 used (by used I mean 1 trackday or 1 supersprint event).

Dude!!!!! Hook me up!!!!!!

[Beer Baron]

What do you need slicks for Baron I havent seen you at any of our events for a couple of years

just cause you haven't seen me doesn't mean I haven't been out there. driven R35 at oran GP and PI just this year, throw a few other fancy ones in there too inc a ford GT. ran the silvia at PI last year an OP as well. did eastern creek about 6 months ago too... is that enough?

[Beer Baron]

Everytime i'm at Gordon Leven's he talks me out of full slicks (for my little car) because as duncan said they will go off and lose grip before you wear them out. The constant heat cycles of our trackday sessions is worse than just throwing them on and driving non stop till they are down to the wear markers.

Also, he has most sizes of semi + slicks for under $100 used (by used I mean 1 trackday or 1 supersprint event).

I have not seem him with any GOOD used tyres in 235/245 or 255 17s for a long time. and his prices just kept going up and up for tyres he gets for free. 5 years ago he used to have good tyres. but i haven't seen any decent stuff in 17inch there for a looong time, and most he did have were badly heat cycled A048s.

[Marlin]

Well noted, thanks Richard.

[Beer Baron]

out of interest I just rang him. he has nothing in 16s at all. and in 17s has just one set which is $400 for a set of used cum-hos 235/40/17... he may have lots of stuff in small sizes but his stock and prices on used 17s and 16s hasn't been good for years. obviously stock goes up and down, but years ago when no-one wanted the stuff his prices were not bad and sometimes he actually did have good stuff but these days most of the stuff is long past it's best heat cycle wise even though they may still have tread and for what you're getting it's not good value. well at least not in 16/16/18 inch sizes.

[Beer Baron]

anyway, back to the topic at hand. those 205/16s would go very nicely on a GTI-R pulsar, or a integra Type R (they may come with 17s standard though), MX5 perfect (looks at Chris), most models of Civic (and there are plenty of hot ones at the track these days), check out forums like that and you may find a home, or chuck them on ebay. could be a winner there.

[hrd-hr30]

check the build date stamped on the sidewall before you use them. Not sure when Falken last made slicks...

its the last 4 numbers of a code stamped into the sidewall. first 2 of them are the week number and the last 2 digits are the year. I wouldn't bother with them if they're more than 3 years old.

[Duncan]

the kumhos in 235/40/17 for 400 are an excellent buy. they are our new control tyres, I run 245/40/17, they are 1300 a set new, wear very well and are within 1/2 sec of the dunlops and bridgestone. far better than the crappy yokos.

[Marlin]

Are you refering to a treaded tyre Duncan?

I am going to get slicks, anyone have any feedback on a brand they'd recommend?

And I'll ask the question again, do you agree I'll get more life per dollar on slicks?

[phunky_monkey]

the kumhos in 235/40/17 for 400 are an excellent buy. they are our new control tyres, I run 245/40/17, they are 1300 a set new, wear very well and are within 1/2 sec of the dunlops and bridgestone. far better than the crappy yokos.

$1300 a set is a great price considering RE's are not up at near on 2k, as are the AO50's. Which ones are they Duncan?

[Tektrader69]

Are you refering to a treaded tyre Duncan?

I am going to get slicks, anyone have any feedback on a brand they'd recommend?

And I'll ask the question again, do you agree I'll get more life per dollar on slicks?

I have a set of brand new Hoosier slicks for my car build. They are a not too expensive and the distributor is in NSW

MAybe look into those if you want a reasonable set at a good price.

http://www.hoosiertireaustralia.com.au/

[Duncan]

we're now running kumho V70A. they are great for the price.

btw ando I'm running slicks at the sau day too, kumho on the front and falken on the rear. so i am cheater^2

[SRS13]

A few mates and I are also running the Kuhmo V70A/V700 245/40/17. Picked them up from John Mills at F-Sport for $330 each as they are the control tyre for the Saloon car series. For $1320 for a full set, you cant go wrong. Will be buying another set whilst they are at this price. The 235 and 255 sizes are up around $470 mark as they are not the control tyres.

Edited September 29, 2009 by SRS13

[phunky_monkey]

Wow, cheap cheap. Pity the 235 and 255's are so much more... I think it would be worth giving a go for that price though. How do you like them?

[SRS13]

Yeah they go OK. The size is fine as it fits both 8" & 9" rims well.

Managed a 1:20.06 at Oran GP with them on the weekend. Grip levels are good and the wear seems to be OK. Going to Wakefield this Monday so will see how they go at a track I am familiar with.

Can't compare them directly to a RE55 as I have not used the RE55's brand new.

[phunky_monkey]

Cool, let me know how you go if you don't mind.

Dane

[SRS13]

My thoughts on the Kuhmo's so far.

The sidewall is stiff being only a 40 profile so tyre roll (sidewall flex) isn't that great as compared to an RE55. As such, you dont need to run as much camber as you would with the RE55. I am finding that whilst the wear is good (longevity) the wear is slightly uneven across the tyre. The inside is wearing more than the outside which suggested that I may be running too much camber. I backed off the camber when getting a wheel alignment from 4deg front and 3deg rear to 3deg front and 2deg rear. Even then, the wear is slightly uneven wearing more on the inside than outside. Not sure if this is to do with my set-up or the tyres however I remember the old Lotus cup tyres (205/45/16) wearing in a similar manner. Grip levels mid corner and corner exit were slightly reduced with the reduced camber but thats a trade off for increased tyre life I guess.

The Kuhmo's are rated as a hard compound so you can go quite a few laps without them going off. They get up to heat pretty quickly though (1-2 laps) but maintain grip levels for up to 10 laps. The Kuhmo's like slightly higher tyre pressures. I ran them on 30 cold and tried to keep them at around 34-36 hot as recommended by Kuhmo, whereas with the RE55's I ran them 32 hot. So far I am happy with them except for the uneven wear however if I had the same size rim all round I could have rotated them to assist with the wear.

Will let you know how I go at Wakefield. 1:07.xx is the target....

[phunky_monkey]

Awesome, thanks for the detailed write up.

I run the same size rims all round so rotating is not an issue, so I'm keen to see how they perform and how long they last for. RE prices are just crazy now so a cheaper alternative would be very tempting. I'm not so sure 245's would clear at the front for me though which would be my only concern.