Hankook R-S3 Track Use Info

[VoodooBoss]

One thing I forgot to mention was Custom Alignment was not able to get the road force within spec. I suffered some pretty bad vibrations at high speeds, above 100. I'm not 100% sure it was the tires, but all my other mods were pretty simple, springs, CC plates, LCA's. My plan was to slap the stock wheels and tires on when I got home to see if it went away. Plans change.

As a reference point and knowing what Andy just posted in advance I looked at the weights added to my wheels very closely. I told the shop to make sure they are balanced for 100-130 MPH for Thunderhill. I was surprised to see a huge variance on my rear wheels between the weights added. Like 14 on one and only 2 on the other. I hope I don't have vibration issues with them.

 

[moto]

I had the same wheel weight differential with many vs only a couple weights and it seems to be the tires as the same wheel always varies but absolutely no vibration at 100-130. Today was the 4th day on them and they are wearing well and still good grip.

 

[steveespo]

This may be insulting to tire techs (mine included) but do they spin the tires on the rims anymore to try and minimize the amount of weights needed to balance? That was the old method before road force etc came out. They should be trying to find the heavy side of the wheel and put the heavy side of the tire opposite and then run final balance. If my ideas are archaic let me know but I think they just slap them on and add weight to get them close.
Steve

 

[VoodooBoss]

I doubt my shop spun the tires on the wheels but they are pretty conscious and know what I'm using the tires for.

Ron good to hear the tires are wearing well. Are they holding up better than the 555R II's? If so how's the trade off between the two working for you?

Not to digress too far but the BFG Rival's should be an upgrade to these and are 10mm wider. I will try them next if they are available when I burn through these.

 

[moto]

I doubt my shop spun the tires on the wheels but they are pretty conscious and know what I'm using the tires for.

Ron good to hear the tires are wearing well. Are they holding up better than the 555R II's? If so how's the trade off between the two working for you?

Not to digress too far but the BFG Rival's should be an upgrade to these and are 10mm wider. I will try them next if they are available when I burn through these.

I looked at the wheel (enkei pf01) balance before putting the TPMS on and it was pretty good so not much of a heavy side on the wheel.
My RS3s are about half way to the wear tabs so I would say roughly double the life of the 555R2s it looks like. The grip is pretty close, maybe 10% less? The main issues I have with these is I get the dang TCS kicking back on when I push the tires hard which I never got with the 555r2 or slicks. It's worth the cost difference so far.
Additionally the outside edges are wearing more on front and rear but my buddy says that he is really extending tire life by swapping left to right side (or just flipping the tire mount for nondirectional) to swap the inside to outside. I plan to go have my tire guys remount them tomorrow.
I did do extensive temp testing yesterday and the inside/outside are running identical so I have that set well and front to rear looks the same . I think a hot tire pressure of about 38 is about right. The only thing I saw is they are only about 160F within 60-120 secs of getting off track so must be cooling off fast, or maybe I do need less air pressure?
I will look at the BFGs as I haven't heard about them.
I am calling Gary's tire guy tomorrow to see what Takeoffs he has ATM.

 

[steveespo]

I looked at the wheel (enkei pf01) balance before putting the TPMS on and it was pretty good so not much of a heavy side on the wheel.
My RS3s are about half way to the wear tabs so I would say roughly double the life of the 555R2s it looks like. The grip is pretty close, maybe 10% less? The main issues I have with these is I get the dang TCS kicking back on when I push the tires hard which I never got with the 555r2 or slicks. It's worth the cost difference so far.
Additionally the outside edges are wearing more on front and rear but my buddy says that he is really extending tire life by swapping left to right side (or just flipping the tire mount for nondirectional) to swap the inside to outside. I plan to go have my tire guys remount them tomorrow.
I did do extensive temp testing yesterday and the inside/outside are running identical so I have that set well and front to rear looks the same . I think a hot tire pressure of about 38 is about right. The only thing I saw is they are only about 160F within 60-120 secs of getting off track so must be cooling off fast, or maybe I do need less air pressure?
I will look at the BFGs as I haven't heard about them.
I am calling Gary's tire guy tomorrow to see what Takeoffs he has ATM.

Do you have tech data on what temps they are supposed to run? 160 surface temp with an IR thermometer is probably 15-20 degrees cooler than the carcass temp measured with a pyrometer. Check and see what Hankook suggests and adjust pressures from there.
Steve

 

[moto]

Ok hankook says optimum grip is 180-200F so if my IR temp is 15-20 deg cooler than I am just about right. I will try about .5 psi less pressure next time.

 

[BossJockey]

For what it is worth, I run these tires on my track car. I have found than any more than 38psi hot (after cool down lap and parking in the pits hot) and the tire will over heat and get greasy before the end of a 25min track session.

 

[VoodooBoss]

I was at Thunderhill on Monday for the first time with these tires and I really like them. They are a huge improvement over the stock Pirellis. I kept the tires at 38 and they seemed to be fine. This was my first time running with 18" wheels and tires that are quite a bit shorter than stock. The lower overall gearing really made the car feel very responsive but of course I was bouncing off the rev limiter more. I think the car handled better with the lowered center of gravity and also wonder if the wider track from the Enkei wheels had an effect. I'm using the 35mm front and 38mm rear offsets. On my way home I was thinking about how much better the car felt with the wheels and realized I never stiffened up my 18000-C dampers and used my street settings. It might feel even better with the dampers stiffened up more. I was also a bit concerned how the balance would be with less stagger but the car felt more balanced than with the stock stagger.

I noticed that Tire Rack has both 140 and 200 rated tread wear tires. Mine are the 140's but I'm curious if anyone is running the 200's? I didn't find any mention of this on the Hankook website.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+R-S3&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=835WR8Z222XL&tab=Specs

 

[HackBoss2901]

Rick, In late 2012 Hankook re-rated the RS3s from 140 to 200. There is no compound change as per comments posted on the Tire Rack website under the RS3 - Product Description tab. This was most likely done to meet 2014 and 2015 SCCA SOLO autocross rules changes. Enclosed below is a link to the web page as well as a partial quote.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+R-S3


"During 2012, Hankook Tire changed the Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) Treadwear rating of their Ventus R-S3 Z222 Extreme Performance Summer tire.

When the Ventus R-S3 Z222 was introduced in spring of 2009, Hankook assigned the 140 Treadwear rating to match the UTQG Treadwear rating required by existing competition rules. However subsequent Hankook wear data revealed the tire line provided equivalent wear to its predecessor (Ventus R-S2) and earned the same 200 Treadwear rating. This has also been supported by Tire Rack survey results and customer feedback that indicate Ventus R-S3 Z222 tires provide equivalent wear to other tires already featuring similar UTQG Treadwear ratings.

With some competition rules now requiring higher UTQG Treadwear ratings, Hankook decided it was time to officially change the Ventus R-S3 line’s rating to accurately reflect its capabilities.

Since 140- and 200-Treadwear rated tires are available*, both currently appear on NHTSA’s safercar.gov website for the Ventus R-S3 Z222 line.

No changes were made to tire compound or construction, so all Ventus R-S3 Z222 tire sizes continue to use the same by-size Hankook S-Code (part number). Both 140- and 200-Treadwear-rated tires are compatible with each other when put into service as singles, pairs or in combination."

 

[VoodooBoss]

Thanks for the info Hack.

 

[VoodooBoss]

I've been keeping mine at 40 in the pits after a cool down lap but after re reading this thread maybe I need to shoot for 38 and see how they feel. After three track days and 14 heat cycles they are holding up well. How many track days/heat cycles are others getting? My sixth track day with them will be at LS at the Do the Screw in Your 302 on August 25th. LS is 250 miles from my house so I'm wondering if I'll use them for that day or not. I'd hate to cord them that far from home.

 

[moto]

Mine have six days now on them and they still look pretty good. Lots more wear before getting to the wear pads. Maybe 1/3 tread left.
They are much better than the nittos wear wise. I did flip them on the rims after 4 days as the outsides both front and rear were wearing much faster. I will swap them after LS to the conti takeoffs for next time but I am thinking they will probably have wear left still.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Thanks Ron. I guess I'll hold off ordering the new Rival's for now.