Miata Mailing List: July 1993, Message #114
sponsored by



     


   From: Andy Poling 
Subject: How I spent my summer vacation
   Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 10:15:29 -0400


Well... actually this is about how I spent my summer vacation MONEY.

After I started another round of the tire wars on the list, I thought it
only fair to report back what I finally did and what (if any) difference it
made.

A quick review of my basic requirements:
- must be sticky so I can at least be somewhat competitive at
auto-x events
- must be useable as road tires to get me to events since I can't
yet afford a second set of alloy wheels

After much pencil chewing deliberation I decided to go with the 205/55 Yoko
A008RS.  I talked to the guy I was buying them from and he recommended the
RS over the RS-II since I would be driving on the road.  He said they're
very similar, but the RS's will handle extended distances better.  I think
he's right.

I went down to Silver Spring on Friday July 2 to a place called Radial
Tire Company, bought em and had em mounted. I HIGHLY recommend these guys
to anyone in the Baltimore/DC area - they beat Tire Rack's prices, sell
mostly to racers, and appear to have an excellent inventory.  They really
move the cars through too... I stuck the old tires in the car using one of
the creative methods recently described on the list and headed home in the
rain.  Yes, rain...  of all things, it had to rain the first day I had my
new racin' tires. :-( I could immediately feel a tremendous increase in
grip and feedback - even in the wet.  My wet weather confidence factor
went up about an order of magnitude.  No problems with hydroplaning either
- even at 70mph on I-95.

Saturday and Sunday I had pre-registered in two heats each day in hopes of
learning the new tires quickly.  Driving to the event I was reminded that
wider tires ar more sensitive to camber changes - the lousy crowned
surface of I-83 in Pennsylvania caused a significant tendancy to climb the
crown if I didn't keep her exactly centered.  Very high levels of grip
were evident on timid on-ramp scampers.

At the auto-x event I learned that I indeed had alot more grip: even
redline-it-and-sidestep-the-clutch starts were insufficient to break the
new tires loose for long.  About four hops of the rear axle before they
hooked up, the engine bogged, and I trundled sedately away from the
starting line belying all the sound and fury with which I started.  :-)
Every start I got harder on it and just couldn't get them to break loose.
The guy working the starting line started backing off - I dunno if he
expected me to grenade the engine or go completely sideways.  :-)
I'm sure he was disapointed...

On Saturday, I had a hard time getting used to tires that can suddenly
generate lots of grip.  I started an enviable pylon collection (the first
cones I have EVER hit since I started auto-xing).  I was having
big-time trouble getting used to the new grip levels and characteristics.
I wuz also playing with tire pressures which probably didn't help any.

Saturday night I went home and thought long and hard about whta I had done
wrong that day, hoping I could do better Sunday.

I did.  Sunday I remembered everything I had thought about and right away
I cut 4 seconds off my times on the Dunlop D89s.  It was a blast.  I am
now knocking on the door in C stock.

In summary, they require more muscle at the wheel but provide better
feedback.  They have astounding grip.  They look pretty good too...

I haven't had any problem as far as heat cycling, but I really don't drive
much at all aside from driving to events.  It is kinda entertaining to
hear the plinka-plinka of your tires picking up stones and gravel.  On the
other hand, I think I'm gonna have to get some mud-flaps - between the
increased width and the increased stickyness I think the paint behind the
wheel wells is gonna take a beating.

-Andy

PS: Some slime-sucking scum stole the old tires out of my garage last
night.  Dammit... now I'm gonna have to buy new tires for the winter.  I
WAS planning on re-mounting the old tires for snow duty...

Andy Poling                              Internet: andy@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu
UNIX Systems Programmer                  Bitnet: ANDY@JHUNIX
Homewood Academic Computing              Voice: (410)516-8096
Johns Hopkins University                 UUCP: uunet!mimsy!aplcen!jhunix!andy