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Kumhos and oversizing

To: autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Kumhos and oversizing
From: Brian Priebe <priebe.4@osu.edu>
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 08:09:32 -0400
>ConeChasr@aol.com wrote:
>
>> *My* solution?  Run narrower Kumhos or run BFGs.

>I'm running 225x50x15 Kumhos on a 6"x15" rim, and find I need 55# front

>pressure to keep the tires stable enough to work.

>I had started at 42# to 44#, and the wear characteristics were not good

 >- very heavy on the outside half (this car is rear drive, with a
limited
>camber front end, -.8' camber).

>IMHO, Kumhos do not like narrow rim situations.

Kumhos don't like being oversized due to sidewall shape.  BFGs because
of shape like being oversized, and it has made us think an oversized
tire is better.  The BFG feels numb-er and makes it more driveable on
the edge when over sized!!  The Kumho does not need this.  Oversizing is
another nieve way of thinking, "more rubber means faster times" and that
is not necessarily true.  Just as a softer compound is faster is not
necessarly true.  A softer compund could be faster for the first few
turns, but after one run a tire is us to temp anyway.

Case in point.  One run on a 230 and one run on a Hoosier, guess which
tire had more temp at the end of a run?
the 230, and I think we will all agree which tire was softer
it comes from construction, their is a lot to construction of a tire
that makes more of a difference than compound and sizing

In most any professional series do you see oversized tires on the rims,
no!!

I have seen it a few times that running the correct size tire on the rim
for Kumhos is faster than oversizing, so my recommendation would be to
try a set of 205s!!

--Brian (on much narrower tires than most the competition, but it
worked) Priebe
even if I ran the MR2 next season, and Kumho had a 225/50/14 out in the
current V700, I would have only put it on the rear of the car.


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