I want to have a little fun on the road course with my 05 Z51. I would like to know who sells race tires for my stock wheels. I would be using these tires strictly for the road course. Thanks.

 

Good question to ask over under the "General - Corvette - Autocross & Roadrace" forum. That is where all the road race, autocross and other track rats cruze and bench race.

 

I may stand corrected but I think you may have to go with an 18" rim in the rear. Haven't seen 19s. I know kumho V710s are available.

 

Hossier tire company is making 19 inch rear DOT approved race rubber. I think you should see these in a month or two. They will have corvette sizes!

Randy

 

Send a PM to "Alex Levy". He'll prob recommend Misch PS2 but there may be Race Only tires that R Mo Betta

 

Well I want you all to know I just put Nitto 555RII 305 rear 285 frt. Yesterday I was cruising down a straight road at 55 and the car turned 45 deg left hydro. Nothing I could do, I drifted and next thing I know I woke up with airbags and car parts in my lap. Short time in hospital after extracted from car but I am OK, these tires are deadly for rain! I don't have estimate yet but I bet 15-20K to put my C6 back together, please be careful of these tires!!!

 

Those tires are street legal but I would not want to drive in rain with them. Possibly rear only, definitely not on front. Best bet is 2 sets of wheels and tires. Track the Nitto's and street tires when done. I hope everyting is OK.

 

....Hoosier - always worth waiting for.

 

There are several road race tires out there and plenty of performnace tires. DOT R and R compounds are racing tires and Neither should be driven on the street as they are too thin.

On the left are Hoosier R tires and on the right are Mich PS.

Notice the difference??


Racing tires dont get many miles out of a set. Useage is measured in Heat cycles, not miles. a Heat cycle is each time the tire is up to running temperature. The first few Heat cycles, 1-3 the grip is excellent, from 4 to 10 the grip is ok, from 11-15 the grip is fair. So for 3 sessions per day and 2 days on the track per weekend that is 6 heat cycles per weekend.

So getting 2 weekends out of a set of R compounds is about average. Maybe 3 weekends if your lucky.

Vs Performance tires are measured in Mileage, plus heat cycles. Not tread depth. The Mich PS in the picture above have 10 weekends on or 40 heat cycles. The grip is long gone for any performance driving, even though the tread depth is very very good. I only use those wheels to bed in new brake pads or rotors or on a once in a while occation drive the car into town.

IF a street or performance tires is older then 1 year, its grip for track use is almost if not gone. But for street use or street performance it should be OK.

DOT R or R compounds should not be drive to and from the track. These should be mounted at the track, so as some one mentioned TWO sets of wheels are in order.

Good Luck

 

The only exception to this rule is the Nitto R2, which is perfectly streetable. They will of course wear faster, but they are as tough as a standard tire. Got 4K miles out of my set with zero problems/punctures. By contrast, I have already had three punctures on my Z51 tires in less than 5K miles; the F1 SC runflats.

 

If you are driving to the track on your r-compound tires and stop for breakfast, you have just put a second heat cycle into the tires (in the 30 minutes it takes to order and eat)!

 

It is pretty hard to get R compound tires up to their operating temp on the street. If I remember right it is about 170. So driving to the track really isn't the same heat cycle as a track session.

If we are talking about recreational track use, the degradation of grip after a lot of heat cycles won't really be that big of a deal IMHO. Even when they are cooked the R compound tires will be better than the EMTs. The tire compound just gets harder as it heat cycles but it is still a lot softer than street tires.

When I first started racing I ran on other peoples' take offs because I couldn't afford new tires. I did pretty well with "worn out" tires.