Hoosier vs. Goodyear


Cyclenirvana

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 7, 2006
596
Winston-Salem, NC
Well, it is about time to replace my tires. I will probably get one more track day out of my Goodyear OEM tires. I have noticed that a few people not only track the Hoosier R6 tires but drive them on the street as well. They appear to be DOT legal even though Hoosier posts all sorts of warnings!! For those who have driven both:
1) How do the Hoosiers compare to the Goodyears? Significantly better on the track? I know they lower the front end by about 0.5"
2) How are the Hoosiers for driving around town? Obviously avoiding rainy days.
3) One alternative is to buy a second set of wheels?...but I don't have the storage space right now. That may change.
Just interested in your thoughts.
Thanks!
 

DanQ

GT Owner
Aug 18, 2005
336
Lake Zurich, IL
I haven't run the hoosiers on my GT yet, but I have run them on other cars. Very sticky tire! Much more of a race tire than the goodyear. Unless you put very low miles on the street, I don't think I'd recommend them for everyday driving. They pick up every piece of gravel and junk off the road and spit them on your fenders. They make you feel like a God when driving on the track compared to street tires! I'm sure in a typical 1 1/2 mile track you'd cut 3-5 seconds off of your lap time.

I think they are OK to drive to the track for a track day, however. I have a separate set of wheels and when one set of goodyears wear out, hoosiers will be going on the extra set of wheels.

one opinion.
Dan
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
8,006
ma.
hoosiers are great track tires.In fact the best dot tire!! They suck in rain and will wear out quickly on the street.buy track rims for the hoosiers
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,853
NorCal
no comparison

I use Hoosiers on my stock rims for both track driving & regular street driving. I can squeeze 2000 hard miles of use out of the Hoosiers. Most of the wear is from my 1.75 -2 degree neg camber. If you're racking up big miles on your GT then you may want another set of rims.

There is absolutely no comparison between the OEM Goodyear Supercar tires & the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers are sticky beyond belief! I don't notice debris being flung at the wheel wells. On the street, off & on ramps are rail city! Straight line accleration with my Whipple is less wheel spin & more g's!

Ed
 

tmcphail

GT Owner/Vendor
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 24, 2006
4,102
St Augustine, Florida
I got 5000 miles out of a set. At least on my car and Joe's for that matter you can get away with 700whp in first and around 1000+ in second on up for straight line traction. Are they a million times better then the Goodyear's oh yeah. It all depends on your end goal. Do not get caught out in the rain though.
 

ByeEnzo

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Dec 10, 2005
2,283
Fort Worth, TX
I'm going to get a set of stock rims and put them on my car with the Goodyears. Then I'm gonna use the lightweight BBS wheels with a set of Hoosier's for track use.
 

Gulf GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 9, 2006
1,539
California
My Hoosier's just came in, and next week I will be putting them on the car for all my driving (street & track). I've had the Whipple on my car for a few months now, and it's obvious to me that I can't really make use of all that power without it, and I agree with a previous post that the Goodyear's are downright dangerous with this much horse on tap.
 

tmcphail

GT Owner/Vendor
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 24, 2006
4,102
St Augustine, Florida
Your in for a real treat then when you get those puppies mounted up:biggrin :biggrin
 

TEXAS GT

2006 Twin Turbo
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Do you run the stock front tires or replace all 4? And where is the best place to buy the Hoosiers?
 

tmcphail

GT Owner/Vendor
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 24, 2006
4,102
St Augustine, Florida
Rear only right now. I will have them on all corners shortly once the stock goodyears are gone.

I get them from the tire rack
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,853
NorCal
Hoosiers are cool

Another cool feature on the Hoosiers are they are non-directional. With lots of negative camber on the street the insides wear faster so I'll just remove the tires & flip them around to even out the wear.

Ed
 

Cyclenirvana

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 7, 2006
596
Winston-Salem, NC
Ok, so the sentiment appears to be Hoosiers all the way. So, I have 2 options...less expensive option is to replace my Goodyears with Hoosiers. The more expensive option is to obtain another set of wheels, and then just change the wheels for track events. Pros and cons???
 

cobrar1339

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 2, 2006
956
Diamond Bar, Ca
I kinda like to preserve the race tires for race. If local enough ( 30 - 50 miles) I would just mount the race wheels and tires and drive on them.

A DOT race tire, be it Hoosier, Kuhmo, Goodyear etc, all have a life cycle. They are called heat cycles. This is the number of times the tire can be brought to race temp and back down. Call the tech lines and you will learn.

After so many cycles (6-12) the tire become less effective on the race track. On the street you don't notice as much difference as you rarely will get them full race temps that way. They kinda become a PSC2 on thier own.

I know a 2,000-3,000 street mile Hoosier would not be as effective at the track ( still better than goodyear). If used as a dedicated tire I believe you will be able to get 3 weekends out of a set if you are lucky. That's way those race cars always pit for tires. We are no different when we push it. Bag the tires/wheels and stack them without air, laying down ,in between track days. They will last longer.

Send an Email to Nitto!!! ( Toyo same co.), Some of us already have. They have the street and "drive to the track "compound we need for our cars. Tell them to build a tire in our size and we will buy it. The R2 is an excellent street / track day compound that you can get 8,000 street miles on. Think of it as an AMLS rain tire. You can have them shaved for closer to Hoosier performance. This is splitting the diff between Goodyear and Hoosier ( tilted toward Hoosier).
 

cobrar1339

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 2, 2006
956
Diamond Bar, Ca
I kinda like to preserve the race tires for race. If local enough ( 30 - 50 miles) I would just mount the race wheels and tires and drive on them.

A DOT race tire, be it Hoosier, Kuhmo, Goodyear etc, all have a life cycle. They are called heat cycles. This is the number of times the tire can be brought to race temp and back down. Call the tech lines and you will learn.

After so many cycles (6-12), the tire become less effective on the race track. On the street you don't notice as much difference as you rarely will get them full race temps that way. They kinda become a PSC2 on thier own.

I know a 2,000-3,000 street mile Hoosier would not be as effective at the track ( still better than goodyear). If used as a dedicated tire I believe you will be able to get 3 weekends out of a set if you are lucky. That's way those race cars always pit for tires. We are no different when we push it. Bag the tires/wheels and stack them without air, laying down ,in between track days. They will last longer.

Send an Email to Nitto!!! ( Toyo same co.), Some of us already have. They have the street and "drive to the track "compound we need for our cars. Tell them to build a tire in our size and we will buy it. The R2 is an excellent street / track day compound that you can get 8,000 street miles on. Think of it as an AMLS rain tire. You can have them shaved for closer to Hoosier performance. This is splitting the diff between Goodyear and Hoosier ( tilted toward Hoosier).
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,853
NorCal
Hoosier, Goodyear, Nitto,...

I couldn't get my stock Goodyears to go 5000 miles! Especially the rears. Hard driving & track time.

I have 4 track days on my Hoosiers & almost 2000 street miles with more to go! I'm driving from Sacramento to Buttonwillow Raceway (over 500 street miles round trip) for a June 23 open track - all on the Hoosiers on the stock rims.

Saving them only for the track makes the most sense, but the stick on the street is too sweet! Luv it.

Ed
 

cobrar1339

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Feb 2, 2006
956
Diamond Bar, Ca
With that monster Whipple I would do whatever I could to get her to hook. It sounds like the newer R6 is lasting a lot longer than the old compounds I have run. Makes me wonder about the thread depth.

My experience comes from running them on Mustangs, Vets, Vipers. So you would be the long term test for the GT and Hoosier expert for the GT on this board. There may be something to say for the light front end in the GT when it comes to tire wear as compared to cars I have run before. What cold psi have you had the most luck with so far?. I hear the R6 does not need as high a pressure as before.
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
8,006
ma.
Ed ,
God forbid if you ever try slicks!!!! SLICKS= CRACK
I went from racing in a stock class on Hoosiers to a cup car that runs Dunlop slicks ,all I can say is yahoooo!
 

MDT

GT Owner
Jun 24, 2006
209
I could only get one weekend on hoosiers on my viper. And there is nothing worse then showing up Saturday morning and your tires have no grip. Once their done, they have no grip even if plenty of tread left. Dangerous driving to the track (I did) but I had to put the spare on at least twice as the tread was gone and the threads were showing, then bulging....
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,853
NorCal
Hoosiers

Cobra R 1339 - I am running the recommended tire pressures from Jeff at Hoosier for the GT. Cold front/rear = 28/30 psi. It seems to work well at the tracks I have been to so far. I'll see you next weekend at Buttonwillow!

Geez - less than one day on the Hoosiers! That has to be a record. Almost like a Nascar race!

Ed
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,853
NorCal
Hoosier problem

MDT - How many hours did you get on the track with the Hoosiers? Were they the R6 compound? How many hours did you drive on the Hoosiers to get to the track? I'll let Jeff at Hoosier know about this because the more I think about it the more I think something was way wrong. What is your alignment specs? Where on the tire did it cord at? What were your cold pressures? I know open trackers with Hoosiers on their Vipers with thousands of street miles & plenty of track time on a single set!

Ed