New Hoosier R7/A7

[jonb94118]

Any feedback from those who have run these?

How do they compare to the 6's?

Do they stay consistent any longer as claimed by Hoosier?

Do they require different setup - camber, air pressures, etc?

I have heard mixed reviews so far, but I am guessing that more folks ran them at the NASA Eastern States Nationals and was hoping for some more feedback.

[slipstream]

I ran the R7's last weekend at Sonoma for a total of 8 sessions in TT and GTS. So far I'm not seeing the same performance as the R6's. My first session at 8am in 65-70 degree ambiant temps yielded my best time of the weekend at 1:51.3, which is consistent with the R6's. The next session dropped that time by about a second and then fell off more where the best times I was running were 1:54's throughout the rest of the weekend. The only thing I changed on the car was I had to add spacers to account for the increased width of the tire. I kept my pressures the same as I would with the R6's so that I could baseline them to see how they compare.

I sent an email to Hoosier asking what the differences were between the R6 and R7 and their reply was "The mold in new, belt angle changed, the A compound is the same, the R compound is different - it is the same as what is used at the Conti Challenge tires."

I have to believe that Hoosier wouldn't release a poorer performing tire and that I have to adjust my setup to make them work.

[ScotcH]

Oh, if it's true that they are the same compound as the contis, then start stockpiling the r6, because the conti is absolute garbage tire. They have 5 good laps in them, then performance drops, and they become very unpredictable after that. By the 3rd session, they are totally useless and grease city.

- - - Updated - - -

For pressures, we tried all ranges, and on a well setup car with lots of camber, they're best at 33-35 hot. They will heat cycle well before they wear out

[jonb94118]

Kevin/Slipstream - thanks for the feedback. After hearing what you had to say at Sonoma last weekend, I started trying to look around for other feedback on the R7. There really isn't anything out there aside from some NASA TT thread where it's claimed they were tested and proven faster. I have a hard time believing that based on what I heard from you and knowing that you can consistently turn fast laps.

What Scotch is saying isn't making me feel much better about them either. Any other feedback from the folks at Nationals, or did people avoid using them?

[slipstream]

Another question I asked Hoosier is that NASA has claimed the R7 for TT as a +13 point tire (R6 was a +10 point tire) and the A7 as a +22 point tire (A6 was a +13 point tire) and where did they get those numbers. Their response was "NASA based their Points on a test Greg Greenbaum did at Buttonwillow in June. You can find Greg’s comments on the NASA forums." So maybe Greg knows how to run these tires. Greg Greenbaum is the National TT director for those who don't know. Greg knows what he's doing so I'll send him an email asking about his impression of the tires.

One thing I noticed was that the R7's did seem to wear well which corroborates what Scotch said. I didn't see any of the regular wear I would have expected at Sonoma and I left the tires on the same corners Saturday and Sunday just to see what would happen. Wear was flat across all tires and didn't look like 8 sessions. I want to run them at Thunderhill for a weekend and see what happens since Thunderhill puts a serious groove in the right front unless rotated frequently.

[EricH]

Another data point. They are wider. At least when comparing the R7 vs R6 245/40/17. The R7s now rub pretty bad on my Exige when I used to get no rubbing at all. Now I can't take passengers.. which is a good thing some times lol but it still rubs without it. I might have to step down to 225 because of this.. which means I have to re-set the ride height/rake, which means I need to re-corner balance the car. A spacer might make it rub on the outside vs inside. Sigh.

[CABimmer]

Any change in lap times?

[Z3racer701]

Kevin/Slipstream - thanks for the feedback. After hearing what you had to say at Sonoma last weekend, I started trying to look around for other feedback on the R7. There really isn't anything out there aside from some NASA TT thread where it's claimed they were tested and proven faster. I have a hard time believing that based on what I heard from you and knowing that you can consistently turn fast laps.

What Scotch is saying isn't making me feel much better about them either. Any other feedback from the folks at Nationals, or did people avoid using them?

I was talking to Jim Leithauser (Z4 3.0 coupe) on Saturday after our race (STU/T3). He said the R7's got went away about half way through the race. then he got stuck between me and Stephen Mullen's 328. I don't know what Hoosier David Daughtery's 370Z was on or Andrie Hartanto's S2000, but I suspect it may have been the A7's.

[DocWyte]

IMO the point penalty for the A6 before was laughable considering their grip levels. It needed to go up.

[jonb94118]

I ran them this past weekend and found them to be about the same as compared to the R6's. They are wider and their profile is flatter, so I think they may like more camber and they may feel a bit weird at first. As they wear, they will take on more of the profile of the R6 and will feel more the same. They do not come up to speed as quickly as the R6's - they take a bit longer to warm up. Overall, my lap times were consistent with the R6's I was running the day prior and they may be a little faster as I was dealing with some handling and other car issues that I had to drive around. As Scotch mentioned, I found them to be best around 33-35 hot. Scotch, how were your laptimes as compared to the R6's?

[Evice]

I have raced with them first time at Road Atlanta in the beginning of September. They do stay way more consistent regardless how much I banged on them. 1:39.777 at Road Atlanta pace. Then scroll to last weekend MidO, it was a DE / TnT weekend. Tried different setups all weekend. I was not faster than I have ever been before..... But Finally found the magic of them. For R7 tire pressures are critical. I was able to turn 1:38.6 club course, about 1 second faster just because of pressure change. So much grip gained.

[jonb94118]

I have raced with them first time at Road Atlanta in the beginning of September. They do stay way more consistent regardless how much I banged on them. 1:39.777 at Road Atlanta pace. Then scroll to last weekend MidO, it was a DE / TnT weekend. Tried different setups all weekend. I was not faster than I have ever been before..... But Finally found the magic of them. For R7 tire pressures are critical. I was able to turn 1:38.6 club course, about 1 second faster just because of pressure change. So much grip gained.

That is good to hear. What hot pressures were you running? Higher or lower than you had run on the R6's?

[Stuntman]

That is good to hear. What hot pressures were you running? Higher or lower than you had run on the R6's?

+1 ??

[Evice]

+1 ??

I don't think I'll share that info just yet. You guys should figure it out

[TC Design]

Watch out Billy(aka stuntman) he's coming after you ;-)

-tony

[Evice]

Billy....Billy...I couldn't remember him!

[jonb94118]

I don't think I'll share that info just yet. You guys should figure it out

Understood. Formula 1 might be doing some scouting in BMWCR and we don't want to ruin your shot at the title.

[Evice]

Understood. Formula 1 might be doing some scouting in BMWCR and we don't want to ruin your shot at the title.

Ahh good'ol dumbfcks of bf.c

[jonb94118]

Ahh good'ol dumbfcks of bf.c

Lighten up champ. I found the tire pressures that worked for me and I'm pretty sure Billy won't have too much of a problem doing the same. I guess we were both just curious if you found them to work lower or higher than you had on the R6's.

[bostonaudi]

Oh, if it's true that they are the same compound as the contis, then start stockpiling the r6, because the conti is absolute garbage tire. They have 5 good laps in them, then performance drops, and they become very unpredictable after that. By the 3rd session, they are totally useless and grease city.

- - - Updated - - -

For pressures, we tried all ranges, and on a well setup car with lots of camber, they're best at 33-35 hot. They will heat cycle well before they wear out

Not to deflect, but on the Conti's are you starting with new, or the used race tires sold on this board? The used ones still have great grip but do give it up quickly, I get about 6 additional 20 min DE sessions out of them before the grip fairy flies away, and this is typically with wear dots still showing. They seem to be sold at mid to late peak on the grip/heat cycle curve.

[ScotcH]

Not to deflect, but on the Conti's are you starting with new, or the used race tires sold on this board? The used ones still have great grip but do give it up quickly, I get about 6 additional 20 min DE sessions out of them before the grip fairy flies away, and this is typically with wear dots still showing. They seem to be sold at mid to late peak on the grip/heat cycle curve.

Brand new ... when we run in CTCC, it's the spec tire, 245/40/17 (very wide ... I assume exactly like the R7). All of us have the same experience. They are fastest brand new for 2-3 laps, then they are slower for the next 2 heat cycles, and after that they get progressively worse and totally unpredictable, to the point where you think the car is broken in the suspension or something. Put on new (or different) tires, and the car is perfect again. They still have tonnes of meat on them, just garbage to drive on.

If you only ever start with the used ones, you would not see this crazy change happen, as it's already happened. They are pretty steady after that initial drop, just much slower, until they get to the unpredictable stage. And for some unknown reason, some sets seem to last much better than others ... might be due to how they are initially heat cycled, I dunno. We ditched them after 3 sessions, so never really cared to find out.

[CP Louie]

I ran the R7s on my Cayman S at Road ATL (Lord no not a Pourcheee on the BFc!). Neither I nor my Pro coach (Cory Friedman) were overwhelmed. We shot for a 36-37 PSI hot temp.

Chris

[Zxc4]

Question for the tire experts: I may run the R7s for contingency reasons next season. According to the specs on Hoosiers site, the 17s have 9.0" tread width while the 16s have 8.8" tread width. Would the lighter wheel and tire combo of the 16s make up for the lack of .2" width?

[Stuntman]

I heard in the Time Attack world that the R7s are as fast as the A6 and A7s were impressive. I guess I'll find out for myself next month.

[jonb94118]

I ran both the R7's and the A7s this past weekend at the NASA Western States National event in GTS. I will say that I found them both to like even lower pressures than I previously mentioned. If I started them higher, they became very unpredictable after a few laps which I learned in the qualifying race on Saturday. Lower, the A7's worked great in a 45 minute race. It was about 80 degrees outside in Sonoma. The A7's were about a second faster than the R7's. I can't say how much faster the A7's are than the A6's as I never ran them.