ltborg

well my a5s corded today after 29 runs, which is apparently pretty common on them. so much for a good deal on those. now that im looking for new tires i figure do it right and get the good ones. ive done a lot of research and i cant seem to draw a clear conclusion on what tires people are running sucessfully on (specifically national/national tour solo2 and prosolo events). so the options are listed above...

so, for overall performance, wear, and drivability, what have you guys run and what do you recommend? since 17 vs 18 inch wheels have different tire size options, ive listed them separately. again this is in terms of autocrossing, not track days. feel free to post up combos that you feel work well. tia.

Mojave

A6's are considered by many to be faster than the Kumhos, and the 17s should be at least a little cheaper than 18s, so 17" A6 got my vote.

ltborg

btw if anyone has some experience with how long the a6s last compared to a5s and v710s, could you post up about that? im a little nervous about hoosiers with how quickly these last tires went.

thanks for the votes, keep them coming.

wallyman424

can't say for sure about autox, but 710's last longer than hoosier R's on track in my experience.

wallyman424

now, did you cord at the outer edge of the tire? because as far as i remember one of the changes hoosier made with the a6 was a more rounded shoulder, to prevent the cording there.

TedDBere

Well you didn't mention what class you are competing in but since your profile lists coil-overs I'll assume it's not SS so 17s are an option.

The fastest national cars last year were on A6s. Since you're not stock you may want to try the widest, shortest A6s you can get.

17s are cheaper too.

Stan may be by to comment on A6 wear when you really push the A6s. Put at least -1.8 camber in the fronts, some will go as high as -3.0. Anything less will promote premature cording of the fronts at the outside edges.

I get between 80 and 120 runs on the A6s if I flip them at around 60 runs.

Good luck

ltborg

thanks for the replys guys, good stuff.

just to clear up some questions, the car is sm2 because of the coils and i plan to stay there. the cords are on the outside edges of the front. i was running with -2.1 camber. pressure was 48psi to try and prevent cording on the shoulder.

in classes asp and sm2, how do most vettes like to run, 17s or 18s? the 17s would be cheaper, lighter, and available in both kumho and hoosier sizes. however most people ive seen have been running 18s. is there a reason for this or am i just missing all the people running 17s?

as for wear, im mainly looking to see how much longer the 710s last than the a6s since at this point id rather get a tire thats 90-95% as fast but lasts twice as long. i know the 710s outlast old hoosiers but like you said, the shoulder got some more rubber, so maybe they last just as long, or only a few runs less.

brenb

18's on the front for steering feel, 17's in the rear for a bit more straight line grip.

The Kumhos are cheaper and last longer than the Hoosiers, and really aren't much (if any) slower. If they made the size I needed I would have no problem running them instead of the Hoosiers.

JCD

V710 have been a real pain for me, I've had rocks take out little spots that grow and ruin tires (2 this season). The word I've heard is that they'll usually heat-cycle out well before they wear out, so you'll see a drop in PAX/RAW before the tires are done. So with that in mind the V710s last about as long as the A6's in a competitive sense.

My next set of tires will be A6's and I'll be able to give real info at that point...

Solofast

While the 710's have a lot more tread life, after about 60 or so runs the grip level goes down so far that they are miserable. If you are running them after they get that hard you might as well run street tires....

The A6's are more likely to wear out, but the useful life isn't all that different between the two.....

Nobody ever said this was a cheap sport.

If you were doing track days, and are willing to give up some grip, the 710's are probably the right choice. For running only autocross, the A6's are probably the ticket.

sothpaw2

Would you recommend the A6's if I want to drive to an event that is 20 miles away, 1-way?

TommyBoy72

If you are a regional competitor, you probably should just use the V710s. The only real exceptions to this would be (in my mind):

1. You are losing your class or PAX by less than .2 seconds on average.
2. The price difference does not bother you aka money is no object.

If you are trying to be nationally competitive, then I would indeed go with the A6.

Wide 17's get my vote unless you've done something with the brakes to prevent this.

brenb

That's true, but for someone just starting out and looking for the "cheap" way to play the v710 is still the better value.

ltborg

this is about how i am leaning right now. no brake work has been done and i dont think i would get much in terms of autocross by going to brakes that require an 18" wheel. id rather have the best tire setup for the job, then make the brakes work with that.

i also know i can gain more than 0.2 seconds from changing driving style/getting more experience. right now im trying to compete at the regional/divisional level with an occational national tour event just to get an idea of how i am doing as time goes on. neither myself nor the car will be ready to be competitive nationally at this time. running dot race tires gets me a better comparison but i cant be burning them up in under 30 runs like this last set. some people i talked to at the event yesterday said they burn through the a6s just as fast and im trying to figure out if that holds true on vettes with people running the correct pressures.

i know its not a cheap sport but seeing as im not competing at the very top right now, im trying to find the best compromise cost wise. hearing how much better the a6s were suppose to be than the a4/a5s got me wondering whether i should stick with the kumhos (which i had on my c4 and loved) or whether the new hoosiers are as good or better all around.

and thanks agian to everyone for the info, this is proving very helpful. if anyone has more comments on the 17 vs 18 issues, id like to hear those too, even though the tire choice is the biggest issue for me right now.

Datawiz

Does anybody make 19" rubber for the rear C6 rims? I'm ready to get a set of slicks for mine.

dbratten

I'm not an expert and haven't run the A6s but your tire pressure seems excessive. I run a fairly constant 28psi in my 315x17 Kumho 710s on the front and around 26psi in the rear with 335s. I drive on them to events that are close (20-30 mi) also. Wear looks even so far after 25+ runs and 5 RTs to events. Tires weren't new when I started either. I also have a streetable alignment which isn't optimal for wear or traction but it's a daily driver so what are you going to do.

--Dan

ltborg

i thought those pressures seemed very extreme as well however if you look around most people seem to be running the a6s run higher than the kumhos, which is recommended by hoosier. hoosier apparently "fixed" the issues of high pressures with the a6s so the earlier ones were suppose to be running even higher. i talked with a lot of people about this before running pressures like that because i figured the tire wouldnt hold it. some people were running as high as 60 psi. on my old 710s on the c4, i had 315/35r18 all around and ran 31f/29r +/- a pound or two depending on how the car was handling that day. never had any issues with shoulder wear or anything. just seems to be another way the two tires differ in design.

how did you like the setup you had on the 17s? if i go 17s (with either tire) itll either be 315/335 or 315/315. what did you think about the stager? any rubbing issues?

TedDBere

I ran the S05s at 36/32 and the A6s run at 31/27. FWIW YRMV

ltborg

and thats exactly why im asking here. if i may ask, what camber were you running. im finding some info on being able to run lower pressures if you run high camber...

TommyBoy72

With that said, the V710 is perfect for you. You will get much longer life and the faded performance after the first 60 runs probably will not effect you much.

I can't help you with the 17 vs 18 debate too much as I haven't done recent pricing/performance comparison. In the past the 17's were a better bang for the buck.