At 05:35 PM 7/2/99 , Loren Williams wrote:
>Here's the question. Only those who have actually driven their car on
>these tires need reply. I know they're noisy. But my only experience
>with them has been to notice that they were loud in passing... and that
>was a fairly wide (245? Wide for a Saturn!) tire. So, are they that
>noisy in the narrower widths? (205) Do they get quieter as the tread
>wears down? Any other observations? Relative competitiveness is not an
>issue, I just want something that's better than a street tire for
>autocross yet can still be driven on the street for 6 months/8,000
>miles.
>
>I know the Kumhos would work, but I'd feel more comfortable with some
>rain grooves for my drive to work.
The A032R's are noisy and are only a little better than street tires in
autox. They are much better in track events where they have more time
to warm up. Their large tread should avoid hydroplaning really well,
but I never got to drive them in a good hard rain. They will continue
to have a good tread pattern until they are gone.
The Kumho's are _much_ stickier and much stiffer sidewalls; much better
for autox'ing as they are sticky even when cold. The Kumho's ride quiet.
They are great in the wet, as long as their is not standing water. With
standing water, they start hydroplaning at about 45-50 when a full tread
hi-performance won't start hydroplaning until 60-65. The Kumho tread
pattern largely vanishes early, leaving just some concentric grooves.
The Kumho's stickiness will pick up every bit of dirt, gravel, debris
off the road and toss them up into your wheel wells... thus, on a dirty
road, they actually get noisy. The A032R did not do that at all, even
when hot.
>
>PS: I know Toyos are another option, but I don't want to have to search
>for them, and I don't feel there's enough "customer feedback" available
>on them yet.
I've gotten a lot of feedback from happy Toyo users. They seem to be
stickier than A032R's for autox'ing, but not as sticky as the big 3.
And they appear to last 2-4 times longer than Kumho's on the street.
And they are relatively quiet but have a street tire like tread pattern.
They may be the best compromise... and a previous posting said you
can get them from CUT Inc.
HTH,
Brian
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