Anyone doing the hills on Kuhmo ecsta V700s?

[JekylandHyde]

Just looking for feedback.

Thanks,

[Roy]

Tony and I ran them on the swift for Duryea and Fall Weatherly. Compared to the A032R-H, they're awesome.

[JekylandHyde]

Thanks for the feedback, Roy. Are you going to be running them again this year?

I am hearing about problems with "chunking" and the "groove of death."
I ordered them already and I paid for the shaving & heat cycling which is suppose to help the tire last longer.

[Roy]

Chunking is a term that a lot of people use freely (and incorrectly). Chunking is when local parts of the tire heat up and litterally fall (or ar ripped) off. The tires do tend to "booger up", which some people call "chunking" (incorrectly), but this is a somewhat benign situation as far as tire wear is concerned. You will not (or maybe "should not")experiance chunking during a hillclimb... at least not a hillclimb in the PHA series. The track events is a different story.

The chunking (and resultant groove of death) is due to the tire overheating. The kumho exta v700 is kind of a cross between a track tire and an autocross tire (compound wise), so it doesn't handle heat as well as a dedicated track tire. This is why some roadracers experience chunking and the "groove of death". I think this intermediate compound is what makes it such a decent hillclimb tire... not quite as short as an autox, nowhere near as long as a 3-hr enduro. So if you pick any combination of the following things (heavy car, poor alignment, extended use), you may experience the above problems.

Personally, I'm driving a 1930lb car (including driver) with a decent alignment for really short periods.... hence the good grip and life.

Your milage may vary....

[JekylandHyde]

Well my car is just under 2900 lbs with me in it and I should be putting down over 400 rwhp for this year.

Think I will have problems?

... thanks for the insights.

[Joe B.]

Hey Jeff,
I ran them for 2 seasons on my Supras. The white car had 15's and the light blue has 14's. Never had any problems whatsoever with them.
I even street drove them back and forth to Giants Despair and Weatherly.

Joe Bartek

[JekylandHyde]

Excellent ... thanks guys

[Joe Sp]

FYI,
In this months news letter I announced that CJ's is now the distributor for the Hankook race tires. There are 3 different compounds and a couple different styles. DOT, slicks, rains and rally.

[Roy]

This is very interesting...

I would love to try out a set. Maybe even of the rally tires.

[Matt Rowe]

If the weather for this weekend turns out like the forecast I'll be able to give you my impressions of their rain tires. Then again, looking at the forecast I'm wondering if Hankook makes a snow race tire. Bloody weather!

[JekylandHyde]

Thanks for the heads up Joe, but I already purcjased rims & tires near the end of February. Maybe I can check out the Hankook tires the next time around. I'll be curious to see what people think of them.

Is CJ's gauranteeing improvement in hill climb times with these tires?