Pontiac Solstice Forum - View Single Post - are "r" compounds that much better?

And Charles just reiterated every r-compound myth of the last 5-7 years.

I'll start on price - The hot street tire is the Bridgestone @ 245ea. Hoosiers are 282ea. and Kumhos are 286. So for $160 more of $1000 in tires, you can have R-compounds. Street tires are not a lot cheaper. You also must add to that getting the street tires shaved at $30-$50each. Otherwise the tread will chunk. So the hot street tires end up costing the same as the r-compounds.

Wear - Sure, spins will do a number on tires but how many spins do you really do? 4-5 on a set of tires? ABS takes care of flat spots because of brake lock-up (and what car doesn't have ABS nowadays - that's how old that myth is). Wear was a major issue about 5 years back when tires would only last 40 runs or so. My co-driver and I were still very high in PAX in the Philadelphia region on 100+ run Hoosier A6s. And again, the 'stones will heat cycle out after about that many runs too. The difference is that the 'stones will still have tread left giving the illusion of lasting longer but they will not be sticky anymore.

Less forgiving - The tires do not give you much warning when you are approaching the limit of adhesion, so what? You have to learn where that limit is whether you buy the tires now or next year. The longer you spend on street tires, the deeper ingrained the lower limit will be when you want to change them.

The whole suspension upgrade isn't exactly true. You should get a $60 aggressive alignment. But even that is not going to stop you from getting the increased grip from an r-compound. I'll make an analogy to putting 300hp drivetrain in a Civic. It will go faster than a stock Civic but there are other things that you could do to make use of that much more power.

Where KK has it right is the need for support of some kind - a tire trailer or such to carry the extra tires and tools.

Last edited by RobL : 05-30-2008 at 08:30 PM.

	RobL Member Join Date: Jul 2006	And Charles just reiterated every r-compound myth of the last 5-7 years. I'll start on price - The hot street tire is the Bridgestone @ 245ea. Hoosiers are 282ea. and Kumhos are 286. So for $160 more of $1000 in tires, you can have R-compounds. Street tires are not a lot cheaper. You also must add to that getting the street tires shaved at $30-$50each. Otherwise the tread will chunk. So the hot street tires end up costing the same as the r-compounds. Wear - Sure, spins will do a number on tires but how many spins do you really do? 4-5 on a set of tires? ABS takes care of flat spots because of brake lock-up (and what car doesn't have ABS nowadays - that's how old that myth is). Wear was a major issue about 5 years back when tires would only last 40 runs or so. My co-driver and I were still very high in PAX in the Philadelphia region on 100+ run Hoosier A6s. And again, the 'stones will heat cycle out after about that many runs too. The difference is that the 'stones will still have tread left giving the illusion of lasting longer but they will not be sticky anymore. Less forgiving - The tires do not give you much warning when you are approaching the limit of adhesion, so what? You have to learn where that limit is whether you buy the tires now or next year. The longer you spend on street tires, the deeper ingrained the lower limit will be when you want to change them. The whole suspension upgrade isn't exactly true. You should get a $60 aggressive alignment. But even that is not going to stop you from getting the increased grip from an r-compound. I'll make an analogy to putting 300hp drivetrain in a Civic. It will go faster than a stock Civic but there are other things that you could do to make use of that much more power. Where KK has it right is the need for support of some kind - a tire trailer or such to carry the extra tires and tools. Last edited by RobL : 05-30-2008 at 08:30 PM.