I received one of my two new Hoosiers yesterday. They are way different than my MTs. My first impression is that they're so light and thin I worry whether they'll last very long. I took some photos of them side-by-side and did a little Googling to see what others think about the Hoosier DOT slicks. Photos and comparison follow.
I'd appreciate any input from racers who have experience with the Hoosier slicks in general and DOT slicks specifically. I also have a few questions below.
1. How many passes do you get on your Hoosiers (size tire, wheel/rim width & height, approx weight of car, 60 ft, ET, etc.)
2. Do you put any tire protectant on your sidewalls?
Hoosier 17345 DR2 DOT Slick at Jegs $253.99 ea (free shipping)
My Tires:
Code:
MT Street S/S: (old)
SECT. TREAD APX.
TIRE SIZE / MEAS RIM O.D. WIDTH WIDTH WT.
EQUIV. SIZE (+- 1") IN. IN. IN. CIRC. COMPND LBS. MATL # PART #
P345/35R18
28X13.50R18 12.0 27.8 13.5 12.4 87.3 R2 38 90000024573 3483
Hoosier DR2 (PDF) (new)
Item Tire Tread Approx Approx Meas Sec WT.
Number Size Width Dia Circ Rim Width LBS Compound
17345DR2 P335/30R18 12.2 25.9 81.3 12 13.4 26 DR2
Side-by-side facing tread. It's easy to see the difference in size and tread.
Tread-to-tread you can see that the Hoosier tread appears to be a bit wider.
Comparing sidewalls you can see how much less sidewall the Hoosier has.
I'd like to have had more that would require going to a 17" wheel.
[Tread Width]
Although the MTs are listed as 12.4" wide tread and Hoosiers are supposed to be 12.2", the Hoosiers look slightly wider. See photos above.
[Rubber Compounds]
The Hoosiers feel a lot softer and more "gooey" to the touch. Some of this could be due to the MT's age. They have 51 passes on them and 300 miles of street driving to/from the drag strip. My burnouts on the DRs have been mostly quick rolling burnouts but the first pass in each set of hot-laps usually gets a 5-8 sec line lock. Some on-line references say to just scuff up the Hoosiers rather than an extended burnout.
[Weight Difference]
First thing I noticed is how extemely light the Hoosiers are - a svelt 26 lbs. That's 12 lbs lighter per tire than my fat 38 lb MTs. The good part of that is that there's less rotational mass to rob energy from my launch. The bad part might be lifespan. It sure feels like there isn't much rubber on those 5 plies. It's so easy to push down on the unmounted tire. Feels like there's maybe 3/16" of total thickness. I'm wondering how many passes I'll get from them. Some Googling found a wide range of lifespans for Hoosier DOT slicks. Some claim over 150 passes while others get 40 if they're lucky.
[Height Difference]
The Hoosiers are 25.9" dia., almost 2" shorter than my 27.8" MTs. That was what I wanted to give me more power at higher revs out of the starting gate. Having the larger contact patch should keep me from spinning too much. With the DOT slick tread, virtually the entire 12.2" width is in contact with the surface. The MT has a street tread that reduces the effective contact patch by roughly 20-25% of its claimed 12.4" tread.
[Ordering and Shipping]
Jegs was real good about getting the Hoosiers ordered and shipped out quickly. I ordered them on the 8th and
one of them arrived on the 10th. Too bad FedEx fell on their ass again. I always seem to have trouble with FedEx packages. Jegs customer support is the best I've ever seen, though. When I called them today they answered in less than 1 min. She knew who I was and already had my order up on her screen. Within 2 min the rep had a tracer on my package and promised to call me in the morning with current status. They just guaranteed a repeat customer...
Hopefully I'll find out next weekend how well they work. We're in a rather soggy weather pattern here in Eastern NC lately but next Sunday looks like a fair weather window. I was hoping for 50s but low 60s will do if it stays dry.
--Cal