I recommend.....

....the Hoosiers. All the front runners in pro Solo and the National Tour are on them 275/40x17 front and 305/30 x 18 rear. They are lighter, sticky and effectively have a large contact patch due to their side wall construction (almost the same as 315's). The "A" tires warm up very quick, get stickier at lower temps and can be used for Solo I. You could classify them as "qualifying tires". The "R"'s don't heat up as fast.

I mounted mine on a set of CCW custom Chrome wheels that resemble the C5R BBS LeMans wheel. The car looks great as well as being fast.

I recommend you speak to Tom Reichel at Mid Atlantic Motorsports

www.midatlanticmotorsport.com

Check out his website. Ypou can get a look at the CCW's in his gallery there is a couple of C5's and C4's on the CCW's and Hoosiers there. Make sure you check out the Blue '70 L-88 on htem!!

Tell "Hoosier Tom" I sent you.

Don Williams

 

I fully agree with DJ.
I have seen people use the new Kumhos (285/18) on the rear with mixed results, (kind of narrow for the 10.5" wheels)
though, they are less expensive than the Hoosiers.
Kumho says "maybe" next year.

 

I have not seen the new Kuhmo's yet, but I can asure you that the Hoosiers are sticker in all other sizes and do not last as long!... but if its just down to tires... the Hoosiers win.

 

I have run Kuhmo and Hoosier on my C4. Hoosier in my opinion, is the faster tire. There is no question in my mind that the Hoosier, once warmed, provides a superior grip. I found them to be more sensitive to pressure changes in general and require higher pressures in general due to their light weight. The side walls depend on inflation pressure to provide some of the rigidity normally found on the much heavier Kuhmo. The Hoosier seemed to warm much more quickly. The Hoosier will not last as long in my experience. Winning in my area often comes down to .01 second, and fourth place is .6 off first place, tire selection counts. What is that worth? Tires are a seasonal investment. They harden with time and can become noncompetitive over the winter. Ideally, a set for me would last one season. Some do, some don't.

I found the Kuhmo to be a tire which required little to no special monitoring. Just air it to the pressure previously found to be most competitive and go race. The pressures didn't seem to elevate as quickly, and adjustments to pressure during an event were minimal. Of course this is likely due to the tire running cooler overall.

 

But don't forget.......

The Kuhmo tires have a steel belt.(Hoosiers don't)..which gives some puncture resistance if you're going to drive on your tires to the track or parking lot for AutoX. If you trailer your car or have alternative transport for the tires, hoosiers are the way to go. (faster/more grip)

If there's budget to consider, fyi...I get about 4-5 days out of the hoosiers, which breaks down to about $200-250 per day in tires. The Kuhmos last considerably longer...if driven right almost twice as long.

And consider that the Kuhmos (v/r 700s) are around $600 a set and last, lets say 8 days.....that's $75 a day....considerably less expensive....and you can drive em on the road w/ peace of mind. Be careful with the Ecsta V700. Although faster, than the VictorRacer, friends of mine have seen blistering, chunking, and tread separation on minimal use.

I saw a C4 this last weekend and he ran fast with the Yokos-A032r's....another choice if you're going 17's all around...about $800/set.

 

A rule of thumb is Kuhmo's are slightly better on black top and Hoosiers are better on concrete. All of the above answers tell about how long they last. Unfortunately if you run SCCA Hoosiers are the only way to go, if you run NCCC events, you can run the 17" Kuhmo's on Grand Sport rims and be in the same class as Hoosiers..(Group II)

 

Great feedback!! Thanks! I guess Hoosier is the only game in town.

I have another question. When are the Hoosiers their best, new, after a couple of heat cycles??

Thanks everyone!

 

Ditto for all from me. Keep in mind that running 17 all the way around may be a economical but it is illegal for SCCA Super Stock. Some get away with it but they can get protested. The 17 will bump you to Street Mod. 2 or A street prepared. Also, I have seen some run the Kumho 285/18 and I see one big problem. I was told by them that the car will not run with the Active Handling on. Do not know if it was a 01 or 02. Being that I live in New Orleans, we often run in the rain. It is hard to beat the Active Handling in the rain. Hoosier is the only good choice at this point.

 

All racing tires are at their best new or after the 1st heat cycle. Thats why sticker tires or scuffs are always run as qualifying tires and why NASCAR and F1 drivers save a set of scuffs for the last pit stop. Some Pro Solo drivers use new tires every weekend! Some every other weekend.

You can get older (used) tires to approach the grip of new tires by chemical means. The use of tire cleaners, tire softeners and grip enhancers is used quite frequently, but they will never approach the grip of new tires. There are no miracles in a can. Pro Blend a manufacturer in Winston Salem makes some good products. I use their Tire Cleaner and Victory Lap tire treatments

www.pro-blend.com

There are some other manufacturers of these "Hot Lap" or "Fast Lap" products.

Behrent's Race Shop sells a product. don't have the exact link but its in our "Links" section:
<---------------- over there.

BTW, You can also degrade or ruin a perfectly good set of tires if your not careful and don't know what your doing. Follow the manufacturer's directions explicitly. On new tires and scuffs, I only use the Tire Cleaner sparingly and lightly. I use the Victory Lap treatment only after the tire is worn, has a number of heat cycles in it and has hardened over time.

I have also found that using the Tire Cleaner and or Tire treatment on racing rain tires only provides a marginal improvement, however using these methods on a "Siped" rain tire increases their performance exponentially.

 

Thanks for the information! Good stuff.