Was thinking of trying the Conti G5000 Slicks

[Mad Hatter]

The price for the G5000 contis at Hoosiers sale section is calling me like a Siren. I have 18x10 drifts with Dunlop DZ03 semislicks in 295/30-18. Would a 285/645-18 G5000 give me that much better performance over the wider semis?? They would put me up from a class where I am very competative to a "Pro" class where the cars are much faster....

Would the 18x10 wheels give me about the same rubber on the road for both tires?? I kind of like the short gearing the small tires give as it makes third useful in the tight corners and 5th on the straights

I tried the GT-I contis in 305/660-18 and they where slightly slower then the Dunlops with less then half the life.

 

[Grant 302]

Do it!!!

You know you're just looking for a reason to get them! ;D

Slightly narrower but stickier rubber should be better IMO. Sidewall control should be much better compared to the 305s.

JMO, as I haven't used any of the tires in question. But this is what I want to do after I burn down my current Pirelli 305s.

 

[Mad Hatter]

My family might be planning a intervention and here you are enabling my addiction.....

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[Fabman]

Anybody try these tires yet?

 

[Mad Hatter]

They are supposed to have the same rubber compound as the R7. But have not heard how the do yet.....

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[Fabman]

I'm ready for new rubber.....been using the Hankook Z214's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+Z214
Thinking of going to the BFG R1's but they are pretty pricey: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+R1
R7's are way pricey and from what I hear cycle out quickly....
Sure would love to see a thread on track day tires with some real world testing....

 

[VoodooBoss]

I'm ready for new rubber.....been using the Hankook Z214's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+Z214
Thinking of going to the BFG R1's but they are pretty pricey: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+R1
R7's are way pricey and from what I hear cycle out quickly....
Sure would love to see a thread on track day tires with some real world testing....

There are many threads on TMO about track tires. To summarize if you want to go fast in a Mustang strap on the largest R7's you can find.

 

[Fabman]

Thanks, I've been finding them here and there.
A track tire shootout would be awesome...or direct comparison all in one thread....

 

[steveespo]

I have run the 285 Conti G5000s and they are not a bad tire, especially for the clearance price at hoosiertire.com. That being said they are very grippy for the first 3-4 cycles and then drop off 1.5-2 seconds a lap before they wear out. Wear is typically 22-24 cycles for the front and 26-28 cycles for rears. Decent buy for the money but 305 WC Pirelli takeoffs are 1.5-2.0 seconds faster than sticker Contis and I will find out this weekend how much quicker R7s are.
Steve

 

[Mad Hatter]

Thats what I am worried about. I helped my friends get R7's in 295/30-19 and 315/30-19 for several Zl1's and GT's. If I try to compete with them on the Contis I am afraid I will be out of the running. Might save my cash and go for the 295/30-18 R7's next season

I found the Conti GT-I tires also fell of very fast. One event I was trying to qualify for a place in the final and had to put my PS2 on the front. Actually improved my time that day. A 275/35-19 Street tire faster then slick with 24 cycles....

 

[Fabman]

How about the R7 vs BFG R1?
I am hearing from some the R7 cycles out quickly but the R1 is more consistent and some say faster than the R7.
Anybody have experience with the R1?

 

[Mad Hatter]

A trackbuddy has a 370Z all tricked out for track and he has the R1's. They cycled out quite quickly as well. I get the impression that the R7 is faster.

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[blacksheep-1]

I can tell you everything you want to know about the Contis vs Pirellis....
and the Contis you can get a lot cheaper than the Pirellis, through Hoosier.

 

[Fabman]

I would appreciate your input.....

 

[blacksheep-1]

The Contis are far more consistent across their useful life, the Pirellis drop off precipitously, as with any tire, the first 5 laps will always be the fastest, so if you plan to run them for awhile, break them in a few laps at a time, no more than 5, and let them cool. If you shock them, like a qualifying run, then they will not last as long. The main issue we had with the Contis is that we could only run 275x18 where the Pirellis were 305x660 and 305x680 on the rear. IMO the best combination would be the 305s with the Contis. The Pirellis will be faster over all, but it is a shorter "over all", than the Contis. The G5000 Contis are not the same as the R7, but they might be close. as I recall, the Contis we used in IMSA were an older stock car compound from several years ago. The G5000 is normally used on a bank track and we, along with others had issues at the SCCA runoffs blistering and blowing R7 tires (we didn't actually blow them, but we came darn close)the T2 car didn't have any problems, but as I recall we ran scuffs on both the T2 and the T1 mustangs at Daytona. When everyone has to run the same tire, the manufacturer can concentrate on building a better more consistent tire. The Pirellis, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure changed composition, or manufacturing process last year, and again this year, now they say there is no change in the tire..but who knows, they absolutely changed compounds in the european series last year, in the middle of the season.
Hot pressures should be about 28 on the Pirellis,...maybe 30 on the Contis

Here's what AJ had to say about the difference..
Hard question to answer.

The GTS car has a lot more go fast bits on it. Splitter, wing, the new rear axle. spherical in place of the bushings. Setup varied massively between the 2 but that was mostly due to tires. The splitter and wing didn't create a massive difference spring wise.

In general the tires made the most difference. The Conti's don't have much grip and are small, but they are more consistent. The Pirelli's have a lot of grip, but the sizes we ran caused a lot of setup challenges and the front tires would only last a one session. When running in club racing with the GTS car on Hoosiers we used a spring setup very close to the GS car. Again the staggered Pirelli setup was not fun.

A car setup to the GTS class on Hoosiers A7/R7 with square 315's is a fast car that doesn't need a goofy setup to make work and is fun to drive.

 

[Fabman]

So, for a track day car where is the smart money spent?
214 Hankook, conti 5000 or 6000, R7's or BFG R1 or something else?

I have a heavy, very powerful car so good tires are important, but we aren't actually racing so a nice balance of fast and consistent would be nice. You know, cake and eat it too sort of thing.....

So far I have only run the Hankook Z214's on the Mustang, but I've run a gaggle of brands and compounds in a bunch of other racing disciplines. I'd just like to shorten the learning curve as much as possible with some help from my friends.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I think Blacksheep summoned it up! The Hossier R7/A7 tires are going to give you good results with what ever suspension you have!

 

[blacksheep-1]

What you might try, is digging through Hoosier's website for some Continental series slicks, they occasionally have some relatively cheap and with free shipping. That compound is pretty hard, but your car is heavier and they will be consistent. The problem you/us/ we have is burning the fronts off the car, in order to fix this you need massive amounts of camber (5 or more) on a competition car, basically, you need to transfer as much weight to the rear, as much as possible, at every opportunity, which is why most mustangs run a tiny. or no, rear bar and light springs in back.

 

[Fabman]

I think Blacksheep summoned it up! The Hossier R7/A7 tires are going to give you good results with what ever suspension you have!

Lots of good information, for sure, but fast and smart are two different things.
Hoosier is almost always the fastest tire in most racing disciplines, but they typically have short lives.
As a decades long Hoosier customer I was quite surprised when a 275 M/T on my drag car was both faster and lasted longer than the 325 Hoosiers I had been running and without all the melted rubber on the fenders.
In Stock cars we ran Hoosiers, Goodyears and Mc Crearys. Hoosiers were a tick faster but you only had 4 heat cycles.
The Mc Crearys were good almost to the last drop while the Goodyears were somewhere in between.

As I mentioned, it's not real racing so the fastest tire isn't necessarily the smartest tire for my use.
A reasonably fast tire that lasts and is consistent is what I'm after. Doesn't have to be the fastest.

Doesn't sound like many here favor the BFG's, I actually had high expectations for those.
Doesn't sound like many Hankook fans here either, another track website called them the best track day tire.

So I am collecting opinions.....

 

[Mad Hatter]

I was looking around and found this article..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=83