village idiot

Anyone have any input on one vs the other and mixing and matching?

I only ask because Cups are on clearance, but I can't get a full set.

This is for dedicated track use (and driving to the track).

village idiot

bump

Ramler

I've been playing with cars for 50+years. IMO you only need to worry about keeping all the tires the same if you rotate. We don't. I've run different tires on the front many times with no problem. Maybe if you are a road racing expert you would feel a difference in front tires but I doubt it. I like Michelin AS3's and I would run them on the front any time I can find them. They last forever but they don't make them for the rear of GS/Z06.

village idiot

Eh, I'm not sure I want all seasons on the car.

CT Grand Sport CE

I don't know much "grippier" cup 2's are but I was looking at Blizzak winter tires for another car and Tire Rack said that you needed to run them on all 4 wheels even if the car was not AWD. Evidently they have such good traction that it messes with the traction & stability control and anti-skid? Again, not sure if that is applicable with the Cup tires but something to consider.

themonk

I don't know how much help this will be but my buddy has PS up front and Cup's out back of his 750 rwhp M5, now we haven't been to the track yet, maybe on Friday depending on the weather, so I can't say how the car handles on the track but as far as everyday driving you can't tell. He did it that way because Cup 2's weren't available in his size at the time when he bought the tires so he just went with PS.

Honestly, unless you're going to be doing some heavy duty tracking, I don't think it matters all that much.

torchredz51

When I upgraded from PSS to SC2, the difference was night and day. For the first few sessions, it seemed as if the tires were planted and I could go a lot faster. I'd say averaging about 5-10 mph faster through the turns.

I don't know how many tires you can get, but the ideal situation would be to buy whatever you can now, and then complete the set when you can and run on the full set.

If you ran with different tires (PSS in the front and SC2 in the back), that would probably be ok and you'd just have to adjust for that. You wouldn't get the full capability of the sc2, but have a lot more leeway before the back breaks free.

I personally wouldn't want to run at limit on mismatched tires on the same axel (e.g, PSS on the driver side and SC2 on the passenger). To me, that would be unpredictable at speed, and/or I would slow down to the limits of the PSS tire, making the added grip from the SC2 irrelevant.

Robert R1

I've done this at Thill and Sonoma. You'll be completely fine.

boxster99t

Everyone has their two cents worth and one poster in this thread says he has done it. I've not tracked my C7 but I have tracked my Porsches (I have over 10,000 on track miles at Porsche DE events). The Cup tires will be significantly more grippy than the two tires. That will affect turn in.

The one time I ran matched sets of tires but with new on the back and old tires on the front, was my 911 twin turbo. It really understeered and I did not like that. Hence, always from that point forward, I replaced tires in matched sets of 4. Put cup tires on the back end of your C7 for example, and others on the front end, and you're creating the same kind of situation but likely worse because of the relative difference in traction at various tempertures between different tire compounds--you may see similar understeering issues with the Cups out back, or if the Cups are up front, your back end may be sliding more. Not usually what you want at the track, when you're turning in at high rates of speed, late braking into corners, etc...

On the street you can get away with lots of things as far as mismatched tires go (although I for one always replace tires in sets of 4) simply because you generally won't be taking the tires close to the limit of their grip. On the track things like your tires, brakes, all of that make more of a difference. I won't go so far as "danger Will Robinson", but it may not be as much fun.

Robert R1

He's talking about pilot sport cup 1 and sport cup 2. There isn't much between them.

If he was talking about going with super sports and then cup's, then yeah that's a big difference. I would not recommend that if you're going for fast times.

rico750sxi

I'd like to know too because I've found Cup 1's for pretty cheap.

Racingswh

I would do it and not even think about it. The car will still work extremely well.

Cup 2's are marginally quicker than Super Sports. A good driver on Super Sports will smash an average driver on Cup's or Cup 2's.

We have literally put everything on everywhere on the car and never ever an issue. New R6's with one used A7 somewhere. Or the reverse etc. I always use the same size tires on each axle. That's about it. As far as brands and compound if the crds arent showing and we are in a pinch it goes on the car to get more seat time. Not setting lap records but still getting around and having fun!!

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village idiot

No way, ntot even close. Forget grip, PSS can't come near taking the abuse cup 2s can. They'll shred up. Grip is totally different level.

village idiot

make sure they're not more than ~2 years old. They're an old tire with PC2 out.

Bill Dearborn

I take it you are asking about the difference between the Pilot Sport Cup ZP and the Pilot Sport Cup2 ZP? That may be hard to get an answer. It depends on how each tire handles and the grip level of each tire. The Cup2 will probably have slightly more grip from the rubber compound used but the Cup tire may or may not handle better due to the construction of the tire body. You want the lowest overall performing tire in the front so you you have an understeer situation. If you have the lowest performing tire in the rear you will get into an oversteer situation that may be hard to work with. On the street, highway and drag strip the difference is probably moot but in a hard corner at speed where the tires are performing at max grip levels you really don't want the rear to slide before the front due to tire differences. Having it slide before the front due to on or off throttle situations is one thing but having added slippage from the tires at the same time as on or off throttle situations adds an unpredictable element to the equation that usually only shows up when tires are wearing and sends racers to the pits for a tire change.

Bill

village idiot

No, Pilot Cup and Pilot Cup 2.

Racingswh

On Super Sports. This lap time wins any TT in class at this track. They have more grip than ANYONE HERE knows how to use.


A session around NJMP Lightning on a Member day by Andrew Aquilante
Fastest Lap, 1:08.76
Car: Corvette C7 Z06, M7, Aero Level 1, stock alignment, stock pads/steel rotors, Pilot Super Sport



Again on Super Sports

pkincy

Thank you. Folks had forgotten the OP's question.

I currently have 2s on the rear and SCs on the front. Simply were bought during the changeover. Unfortunately I use them simply as summer tires so can't give you a 10/10ths comparison of heat and heat cycling with them. However they certainly are very similar on the street. Given the ability to get some cheap and with tires being a consumable on track days, I would certainly buy them and try it. Construction is very similar as is the tread compound.

BTW, all this assumes you mean the ZP front and rear just the earlier and than the later compound being mixed.

village idiot

I've run on SS and C2. The difference is huge and I can definitely use all grip in my SS. I can definitely brake later, turn harder, carry more corner speed and get on the gas way earlier and harder with cup2s.

My SS can barely stay together on a track that isn't hard on tires (but hell on brakes). They're one heck of a street tire, but they're not a track tire. They're a street tire that can barely survive on a track.

Racingswh

My point was YOU certainly can put either tire you're considering, Cups or Cup 2's, on the car and be fine. They are similar and you drive well.

My experience with Super Sports has been different than yours. I personally would run them at one end and Cups at the other if I had to and there wouldn't be any issues.

I was on Cup 2's a couple weekends ago driving my friends 991GT3RS at Pocono running the IMSA course. The tires were fine but grip was nothing special. The car slid all over way more than I expected it to. The car would hang the tail off every corner exit. Between that and the 8800 rpm shifts it was just awesome!!

Anyway I have never found the grip of Cup's or Cup 2's to be anything special. I just go straight to A7's on my Wife's car.