Tirerack doesn't seem to have the Ecstas V700 in my size (anymore?) but was interested in hearing what others have to say.

Also noticed this:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/michel..._sport_cup.jsp

Are these new? 80 treadwear. More $$ than Victoracers. Couldn't find any info on michelin's site, of course.


-allen

 

Hmm, never even knew these existed. But for those prices (more expensive than Hoosiers??!!) they better be damn good!

 

well they do have a higher treadwear rating than the Yok A032's, maybe they last longer? Who knows.... or maybe just overpriced like all michelin tires

 

If this is for autocrossing...you should make sure SCCA has even approved the use of these. I have never heard of these either and have not seen anything about them in fasttracks, so my guess is they have not been approved for use in Stock or Street Prepared.

Besides, it is carzy how much $$$$$$ they want for them. Ad people were complaining about Hoosiers....


[Modified by Crosser, 8:22 AM 2/24/2002]

 

Im also curious as to the differences in the two Kumho V700's. Can anyone shed some light on the pros/cons

 

The victoracer has been produced for the past few years.... the ecsta v700 is new, and is supposed to be lighter, softer, and stickier than the victoracer.... more like the hoosier AS303 radial, however the verdict is still out on these tires.... i may try them this year.

RJ

 

basically. the ecsta v700's are faster than the original v700's because of a softer compound, lighter construction and stiffer sidewall. they'll be like a bfg r1 with predictable grip loss. but they won't be a hoosier a3s03.
hope that helps

 

My understanding is that as long as the tire is readily available in more than 6??? sizes and it is DOT approved and it is available before April 1 then it is ok for SOLO II competition. The SCCA does not maintain an "approved" list only an exclusion list. There are currently no tires on the exclusion list. Tires that don't meet the availability criteria may be approved as well. This happened last year to the Ecsta 700 during the early summer months but when Kumho could not ship enough tires the "approval" was withdrawn.

 

What is the treadwear for the ecsta v700's ?

 

These should be no problem for SCCA stock and street prep since as someone mentioned they are 1) DOT approved, 2) Made in the minimum number of sizes and 3) Are availible by the required date. The treadwear rating will automatically exclude them from STS and STX, so don't even try it anyone.

At those prices they better be good. I mean *real* damn good. $200 for a 205/50/15??? Holy bank account, Batman!

 

The Ecsta V700 is actually less than the Victoracer. 205-50-15 is $110 and the Victoracers are still $115. I just ordered the Victoracers because I don't like what I 'm hearing about the Ecstas..

 

What have you heard?

 

>>What have you heard?<<

I've heard a few questionable comments too.

What I've seen is a different story. After one autox this year, I was pretty darned impressed with the new Khumos. 2-time HS national champ was there running on the V700's and he was pretty happy with them. His times (as usual) were unbelievably fast in that tired old 89 hatch. A friend with a Honda in SM was also running the 235/45/13's on a set of 9"f and 8"r wheels. After one rather slippery run, his times got pretty fast. The surface was old asphalt BTW. Both of these guys were satisfied with the tires, and they both have past experience with Hoosiers. The only downer I could see about the Khumos relative to Hoosiers was weight. But $200 savings per tire set "weighs" a lot too...

Now we just have to see if they last a awhile.

 

The closest comparison I can come up with was a test and tune down here up on the asphalt at Palm Bay. I was on brand new full-tread 225/50/16 EV700s, the WRX wagon there was on worn 245 V700s. I had 0 camber in the front, he had -1.1 degrees. Toe settings seemed to be the same. I blew his times away. I don't know if that was the tires, or just the fact that I was driving in a huge cloud of red mist due to a grudge match against another driver in the class He'd been on the V700s for a while and seemed to be a pretty competent driver. It also may have been that I managed to set up my tire pressures better than him. But that was my experience. The tires do feel squirmy when new, I'll have to see how they are once they scrub off a bit more tread.

 

This is a copy of a post today I had at SCCAforums.com (where there are about 10 threads on Ecstas vs. Victoracers ):

Never ran any other R-compound tire on my Lightning, though, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I've put almost 60 runs on a set of 285/30/18s Ecsta V700s and done more than an hour on VIR's full course, and there's still tread left. However, I did more than half those autox runs with very little negative camber in front (-0.7L, -0.4R), and the outer 1/4 of the tires wore down excessively. Now have -1.1 degrees on either side, and that seems to have stopped the bleeding.

They might be camber sensitive, but keep in mind the Lightning is fairly nose heavy. Not sure how they'd fare on camber-challenged vehicles that are a bit lighter (like a Camaro).

They grip fairly well -- they were a bit skatey when I first ran them (full tread, not heat-cycled) but were more predictable after the first event. Turn-in sucks, but I think that's more of the truck than anything.

I just wish the Ecstas came in a 305/35/18 or something like that. The tires look like rubber bands (although a legal 2" drop in a stock class isn't all that bad ), and I know the guy who mounted them was cussing me. The Ecsta 285's are also a bit skinnier than the Lightning's stock 295/45/18 Goodyear F1's.

I also have a set of Ecsta V700's for my racecar -- 225/50/14's for the front, 195/55/14's for the back -- but haven't run them yet.



[Modified by slowSER, 8:29 PM 3/7/2002]

 

I am curious as to how the EV700 perform on track vs VV700. Most of the reports I have read were from AutoXers. Nice thing about the EV700 is the 225/45/15 size vs 225/50/15 of the VictoRacer.

 

My first track weekend starts March 23 at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, and although I don't have any previous experience with the Victos, I'll post my thoughts and opinions about the Ecstas. That is if Tirerack can send me my fronts heatcycled by the 23rd.

But I will say that I expect them to rock. I'll post my temperatures, pressures and maybe some pix too.


[Modified by Ponyboy, 6:15 PM 3/7/2002]

 

Well, the comments are read were FROM sccaforums.com. I had done a search and came up with 25 different threads in a dozen different topics/forums. The following (copy/paste) seems to be what many people agree on the Ecsta V700:

195 50 14
205 50 15
own a set of each size.
When it came time to replace the 205's we went back to the V's. I personally do not like the feel of the E's, and haven't spoken to anyone else that have used both that prefer the E's for AX. I think the deep diagonal cuts in the edges were a serious mistake, the tires feel "squirmy" and unsettled for most of their treadlife. It's obvious that Kumho did not use Hoosier as a benchmark or model for the Es.

Another guy wrote:
Squirmy or unsettled is the best way I know how to describe the feeling. Others I've talked to describe it in similar terms. The 205's were one of the original test sets, that we received after they had been shaved and run on track. They were mounted on the Celica. That set felt good, but not any grippier than the V's. We bought the 195's new from the first shipment TR received for the Miata. They received our usual highway heat treatment/ scuff. The first event we ran on them, The car felt like it was dancing around rather than "planted", even on relatively straight sections. That feeling continued thru the next three events we used them in to finish out the season (granted it was fairly cool at those events).
Examining the tires, I noticed a pronounced sine wave wear pattern on each of the outside edge tread blocks, which is why I think the blocks are moving around, giving that feeling of instability. The E's were a common topic at Ft Myers, and the consensis seemed to be that the squirming doesn't start going away until they are worn down significantly, and that there was no appreciable increase in grip over the V's, which meant they were still no match for the Hoosiers. They may be a good track tire after shaving, but we have gone back to the V's as our rain/practice tire, and Hoosiers when it counts. We really WANTED to like the E's...

(this is me vteconly writing again It also seems that many people agree the EV700s wearing faster than the V700s. Many people also discussed how the ES700s took longer to heat up than the V700s and that for auto-x the V700 should be a little better because they warm up quicker. Sure there were a couple of people that said they liked them, but most of them had no experience with the V700. I 'm mainly auto-x. So it the EV700 takes long to warm up and get sticky than that's not the tire for me. There were also others that bought the V700s (like me) instead of trying this new tire out. What also bothers me is that Tirerack lists the 205-50-15 (my size) EV700 price as $10 cheaper than the V700. Why is that? If this tire performs better, shouldn't it cost at least the same? I guess time will tell. The unsettling & squirmish/mushy feeling everyone is talking about doesn't make me want to go and buy this tire. My new V700s will be in tomorrow. I 'm curious to see how my competition will do against me with their EV700s in the next few weeks.. If they 're kicking my butt this year, but weren't last year, then I 'll have to try the EV700 next, but when I saw that National champ last Novemeber on them, I was not impressed. Granted it was ~50-55deg, but hey my Kumhos were sliding all over the place too and were on the wear indicators and steel belts were showing but I managed to get closer to his times than ever before. Don't know. My belief is the best case scenario is that the EV700 is just as good as the V700 but we know from many reports that the V700 lasts longer and that's good enough for me because I do at least 20 auto-x events/year + Evolution school!

 

for the research.

I just went with the Victoracers also (225f/205r). They're new to me. I was also a little scared that the store would order Ecsta 712s instead of Ecsta V700s. Big difference.


-allen