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Goodyear Tire prices

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539
687
Exp. Type
Time Attack
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3-5 Years
SoCal
I can't recommend the ECF enough. I have tried most of the 200tw tires and although the ECF's are a consistent 1-2s behind the front runners of the 200tw group, the longevity they have has made up for it when I look at the grand scheme of things. It's the longest lasting tire I have ever ran.


For reference, I got 10 events out of my NT01's before they chorded (this tire is held to a gold standard for wear, especially on this website), 9 events out of my RS4's, 6 events out of RT660's and 12 events out of my ECF's. I average ~3.75 heat cycles (sessions) per event.


IMO, unless you are fast enough to truly extract the performance of the "fastest" 200tw tires, you are simply wasting money by buying anything but the ECF.

I present everyone with the scenario I run in my head......

Two identical cars, each with their own driver. One driver is on "slower" $1500 tires, the other is on "faster" $2500 Hoosiers. Both cars achieve the same lap time. What does this mean? It means Hoosier guy is quite literally throwing money away. His driving skills are not there to extract the extra performance the Hoosiers offer.

This is an expensive hobby, tires are by far the most expensive part of it. If I can lower my consumables cost by hundreds of dollars per event, still get the lap times I need, and still have fun, why wouldn't I?
To be fair, one could argue that "Hoosier guy" should be much slower than "$1500 tire guy" due to his significant skill deficit but his Hoosiers made up the difference to get him matching lap times, thereby still benefitting him.

That being said, I completely agree. If someone sets a faster lap time than me with a slower car, my reaction is "I need more practice and coaching" not "I need faster tires"
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
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Blair, Nebraska
But E, the problem is most of the guys on Hoosiers seem to be highly competitive and they want that advantage , me included. When others are on the similar rubber and you have drivers in close competition, you realize that often it is the best and fastest tire that wins the race/time trial/event. But, all that said, sometimes one has to drop down to the silver standard because their horde of gold is very small or even non existent, ha.
 
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Well.. all the above is true, but tires are still the #1 most important item on a competition vehicle.
I remember a tire test in Sebring 8 or so years ago when the engineer kept putting new tires on the car to " show how his tuning improved the car", well stickers will mask a ton of handling issues, it is why there are qualifying pressures and race pressures. Finally the team owner told me to go hide the rest of the sticker tires so the engineer can't find them.
I'll take a decent driver on stickers over a good driver on scuffs any day. This is why we try to limit qualifying tires ( which we have to start the race on) to an out lap, an in lap, and three hot laps.
If you are that competitive then you will have to budget accordingly, because there is no cheap way around it. If you are doing HPDE, then just bolt on some 200TW tires and have fun.
The most graphic example of this is what @flyhalf did at Daytona 2 years ago.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
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Blair, Nebraska
So true BS1, and the crux of the situation is highly competitive drivers in TTs or W2W are looking for the little edge and the easiest one out there is rubber. The reason one has to really pay attention is there are constant changes , both in price and in compounding. A tire many were not overly impressed with ( Nankang ) now has a new compound and it appears to be one at the top of the running, now, for TTs. The trick is you have to request or find the new code on the tire. There is constant changing of compounds, often within the same year, and then you also have tires specifically designed for new areas of interest. WRL and other Endurance racing prompted Continental to build the Extreme Force and bingo it is already a winner for those type of events and is proving a really solid HPDE black air filled donut as well.

Staying super constant on tires is very difficult and using resources like Grassroots Motorsports, Tire Rack testing, etc. is good to help one assess changes in the current Tire Wars. Lastly you come down to observation , which includes outside temperature , type of usage and in my opinion another very important factor, track or autocross surface.

There are tires that do better on asphalt than concrete , ones that do better where it is cool than hot, and ones that come in super quickly , but will not remain consistent but for a few laps, or even an entire autocross session. These are areas where one must stay aware and analyze what works for them.

I keep coming back to our member DaveW, who took his CAMC Mustang on an old airport surface ( similar to the surface at the Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Ne. ) and crushed the entire field running on the new RE71RSs, not the A052s he had that are regarded as the current " Cone King " tire. What shocked everyone was that he was running on 295/30/18s because there were no 315s available yet. These are the kinds of things folks need to take notice of in addition to all the tests and it is another reason why checking in at TMO you can often get info on what is happening, tire wise, in the discipline you are running in.
 
539
687
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
SoCal
But E, the problem is most of the guys on Hoosiers seem to be highly competitive and they want that advantage , me included. When others are on the similar rubber and you have drivers in close competition, you realize that often it is the best and fastest tire that wins the race/time trial/event. But, all that said, sometimes one has to drop down to the silver standard because their horde of gold is very small or even non existent, ha.
Not all of us can afford to be addicted to the purple crack 😆
I see your and @blacksheep-1 's point. Fast laps are highly dependent on fast tires.
 
70
47
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Wisconsin
Posting here so I don't make another tire thread and bc I got the rec for the Ecsta's here.

Currently have 285/35/19 GY SC3's down to the wear bars on the outer halves of the tires. Only running ~2° negative camber. Can't do more without different hardware, not changing that for now. Wheels are apex 19x10s. Tires have ~13 heat cycles on them. I beat the heck out of them first 2 times out.

Looking at tires for HPDEs, 2 best options seems to be thr Ecsta 730s at $318 / tire only available in 275/35/19s and the continental ECF's in 295/30/19 at $387.

Questions:
1) How far do you personally usually wear down tires before you change them out purely from a safety on a dry track standpoint. Rain + tire tread rules for regular driving I get. Basically trying to figure out if I can squeeze another few days out of the SC3s. Pics below, should have done the coin thing but this was before I put her away for the winter.

2) Ecsta's for the price seem like the option but I'm still new at this. I assume something like a Firehawk Indy500 wouldn't hold up on track. Any recs would be appreciated in terms of bang for the buck. Could I even squeeze the Continental ECF 295s on a 10" wheel?
20220922_144916.jpg20220922_093119.jpg20220920_185122.jpg

Thanks!
 
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Posting here so I don't make another tire thread and bc I got the rec for the Ecsta's here.

Currently have 285/35/19 GY SC3's down to the wear bars on the outer halves of the tires. Only running ~2° negative camber. Can't do more without different hardware, not changing that for now. Wheels are apex 19x11s. Tires have ~13 heat cycles on them. I beat the heck out of them first 2 times out.

Looking at tires for HPDEs, 2 best options seems to be thr Ecsta 730s at $318 / tire only available in 275/35/19s and the continental ECF's in 295/30/19 at $387.

Questions:
1) How far do you personally usually wear down tires before you change them out purely from a safety on a dry track standpoint. Rain + tire tread rules for regular driving I get. Basically trying to figure out if I can squeeze another few days out of the SC3s. Pics below, should have done the coin thing but this was before I put her away for the winter.

2) Ecsta's for the price seem like the option but I'm still new at this. I assume something like a Firehawk Indy500 wouldn't hold up on track. Any recs would be appreciated in terms of bang for the buck. Could I even squeeze the Continental ECF 295s on an 11" wheel?
View attachment 84790View attachment 84791View attachment 84792

Thanks!
I run those until the cord is showing. We dont care about those wear bars on track, thats just for street. You have days left on those tires.
 
70
47
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Wisconsin

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,350
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
No worries TDL , the Extreme Force is not only a great choice for HPDEs , a 295 should fit just fine on your wheels. In my humble opinion it is far superior to the Kumhos and there are some other distinct advantages for the tire --- availability is one. Solid choice for those doing Endurance Racing, also, and if you are doing NASA HPDEs, there are ways to get discounts on future tires from Continental too. Feel free to drop me a PM.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,350
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
No problem S550AZ since the entire concept behind the Extreme Force Continental was to design an Endurance Tire with advantages like the RS-4 ---- and both are also solid for running HPDEs. The Continentals are a "Great " choice and they will be making those round rubber donuts for 23 and beyond.
 
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