CStewTAMU

Has anyone run both? Which did you like better?

I am looking into getting some autocross tires. The Nittos seem to be significantly cheaper but the reviews I've read are overwhelmingly positive. The club president in our vette club told me to stay away from Hoosiers as they are more expensive and don't last as long (he runs kumhos after a bad experience with Hoosiers).

I am new to autocross so I am open to other brands. I am looking for the best bang for the buck.

My car is a 94, and I'm thinking of running 275s on all four corners .

JRL

The 710's or Hoosiers will be much quicker than the Nittos.
I used to get about 120-130 autox runs on 710's.
Hoosier A6's I would get about 90 runs, but are quicker than the 710's.

710's are best bang for the buck, Hoosier A6 the fastest tire, period.

YMMV,

John

Solofast

The best bang for the buck is the stickiest tires you can buy...

After you spend all of the money it costs to do this, tires aren't the biggest expense. Moreover, you hate to get out there and say "well, I got beat, but he had better tires".. You still got beat...

The Nitto isn't nearly as fast as the V710. That's a fact. The V710 isn't as fast a a Hoosier. Period. Absolute fact..

Now, if you are in a stock class, the car is a C4, so you are camber challenged, then a 710 might make sense, since they don't wear on the edges as badly as the Hoosiers. Since they aren't horribly slower, you could go 710's and not feel like a rolling chicane.

But remember, even though the tread isn't worn out the 710's will start to get slippery after about 60 or so runs. The Hoosier will be shot, start to show cord, and you will be done with it too. You can milk a few more events out of the V710's, and if you dope them maybe a couple of more, but after 75 runs the V710's are going to be shot.

That is just the cost of admission. I wish it wasn't that way, but that's pretty much what you get right now. Budget about $20 a run for tire expenses and you are in the ball park. To spend less you will be slower and that's not much fun either.

Solofast

Our test data showed a decrease in grip that was not only noticeable but very measurable after 60 runs. We were down almost 3/4's of a second on a 50 second course after 60 runs. Nobody running V710 on a national level that I know of runs them for more for more than that. After they harden up we use them for testing and for warmup events, but they are markedly slower. One thing also, once they were hot the balance stayed pretty even, so you could get them hot, and use them for tuning and testing, but at the end of the test session you went out on the Hoosiers and did a retest to verify the results that you got on the V710's. We were suprised that the balance didn't change a lot since the last thing you want to do is be chasing a setup on tires that were junk.

After that they can still stick, but you need to get them pretty hot to work, and that isn't going to happen at a big time event unless you have two drivers and are willing to throw the first runs out since you will be sliding around like you are running on greased owl$#1t. If you are in SoCal, and it's 90 degrees out, maybe you can get away with it, but if you can't get them hot first, you are hosed.

froggy47

IIRC every SS trophy place at nat's last year went to Hoosiers.

I run 710 to get a few more runs per set, but if anyone starts to get close on my local class, a6's go on.

bse53

You can prevent the edge cording by flipping the tires midway through the season. If you don't you will cord the edges with plenty of tread left on the tire.

Locally, you can probably do quite well on V710s, depending on what everyone else is running.

Brian

NASCAR314

Since you are new to autocross, I would stay with a cheaper, longer lasting tire. Once you get competitive, way down the road, then you could think about switching to higher cost, yet stickier Hoosiers. I think you learn to drive better on slicker tires (just my opinion )

Kumho makes a V700 VictoRacer that is low cost and works well on a C4 with 275's on all corners so you can rotate them easily. It's an older design with less grip than Hoosier A6's, but a ton more grip than any street tire. Great entry level tire for a C4

trackdayc5

Sigh....

What Bob fails to mention here is that at the Nationals in A Stock, the winning car last year (an '89 C4 Corvette) was on V710's. And so was the winning SS car the year before that, BTW. The difference in speed is much closer than most people seem to think. As for wear, again, he's talking the C4, which in stock form likes to kill the outside edge of the front tires, unlike the C5Z/C6Z. On this car the V710 will last quite a bit longer, while providing competitive grip that the Nitto will not.

BTW, the Victoracer compound changed several years ago to be very similar to the V710, so nearly as fast (the construction is not as advanced), and even cheaper yet.

vettehardt

I still run the Victoracers on my C3. It is still a good tire and I only use about 1 set a year running in Indiana region of NCCC. I am thinking of going to the V710s this year since tire rack has droped the price of my size down to with in $3 of the Victoracers. I might even just for kicks run the Victoracers and the V710s back to back to see what kind of difference they make. We will see how well they do!

eschantra

The A6 seems to work better on Super Stock cars because the sizes for Corvettes are better. If I had a B-stock C4 I would probably try 295/40-17 V710s all the way around. That said, on my C5Z I ran V710s last year before picking up some old A6s, and I like my old A6s better than my new V710s.

OP, if you ever find yourelf in our area, stop by and run a SASCA or a Spokes event. Between the two clubs, there are a lot of national level drivers, from which I know I've learned a lot.

rikhek

I've never figured out why the BFG R1 is not included in the conversation. I turn faster laps with the BFG's than R6's.

Last a long time and are cheaper. Google it and you'll see a lot of people agree with me but the tires are never included in the discussions.

However, for autocross I don't think you'll get either the R6 or any other road course tire hot enough to benefit. The A6 is the way to go for autocross.

Rick

jabrun

I think Kuhmo V710's are awesome when they're new but like others have said they really lose grip long before they cord. I wish I could afford to always have new ones when I autocross and after they get 25 passes or so replace them but I don't have deep enough pockets.

555ss

What tire sizes do you guys recomend for R1 bfg or hoosier R6 on stock c5 and stock c5 zo6 wheels for hpde events? we have 2 cars 1 z and 1 coupe. thanks for any help.