This upcoming Sunday (20th) is the auto x of the season and living in CT there is a good chance that the day time high could only be like 55-65 degrees. Is this too cold to run the Hooisers? Would I be better driving on my stockers? Thanks!

 

Hoosiers
Stockers
Don't make it too obvious, but before you line up,
spin 'em, then launch a little harder for more heat.
I wouldn't think a stocker would ever be better than
a R compound, except in the rain.

 

Nah, that's not too cold. From my experience, anything below 50's suck's for traction.

 

uh, that won't do **** for you.

R compounds still own street tires, even in rain... until you start encountering standing water.

D

 

I ran mine in a 55 degree and RAINY Autocross today... They are at the end of their life with almost non-existant grooves but, still good enough for my last 2 events...

Guess what? They are Exactly what D said. Grippy as Hell and still better than Road tires, UNTIL you hit any Standing water IE pooling water or puddles... DOn't get me wrong, they slip and slide away but, are alot grippier than road rubber at the limit.

Had an awesome time watching and competing. Oversteer was Bliss and I was still able to post decent times...

As per spinning them? Just a slight revolution once or twice while launching to warm them up was good, NOT a 1/4 mile Drag burn out needed at all... In the water they Spin twice as fast off the line but Stick ALOT better than I Ever thought they would... As did all of the other R compounds I saw today.


A.


[Modified by 1GreyTeg, 5:10 PM 10/13/2002]

 

I have Hoosier slicks, 20x9.5 in front. Spinning them a little gets the cold hard **** off of them, I'm not talking about making them smoke. Ever hear of Dirt Stockers, they look like my daily driver 175/ 70s. Running a slick in any water, doesn't work. Fast street tired cars can outrun the faster R compound when it rains. But thats in my neighborhood, last year's Nat'l sts champ, this years runner up, and the ITR stx guys. The proof is there, but running in the rain SUCKS anyways, so who cares?

 

I'd say below 50 is too cold. 55-60 should be fine. I run my pressures a little lower than normal when its below 60 so that heat builds a little more quickly in the tire. I usually do a big wheel-spinning launch on my first run for extra heat on cool days.

 

...after just completing a frustrating autox on a cloudy, windy, mid 50's day, on Hoosiers....

Obviously, there is a reduction in performance, but I think it is proportionally more so with Hoosiers than say Falken's for example. Yesterday, all the STS (mainly Falken clad) people were running "disturbingly" close to the race tire clad cars. I was frankly shocked at the time differences compared to an event at the same location just 2 weeks ago with temps in the high 70's - low 80's and sun. Cars that I took 4-5 seconds out of were now breathing down my neck.

I know this sounds weird but it almost seemed "Falken specific". All the Falken clad cars were really hauling ***. I've heard that Falkens don't like much heat, but Hoosiers need heat for optimum performance. So, maybe on a cold day performance between the two tires would be fairly similar. Thank goodness I live in TX...