24 Hours of Lemons - Tire Question

#1

I have heard that there is a magic 200 treadwear tire for LeMons. Anyone know what it is? I am running my 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe in Lemons New Orleans in a month and need to get ordering.

#2

BigKeyserSoze wrote:

The Falken Azenis or Dunlop Star spec is a very good choice. If you are running a wheel bigger than 14" you have lots of options.

#3

I loved the falkens for autox but I haven’t used them in a few years. They had to be sprayed with water between runs because they couldn’t handle the heat. Maybe that was just the 615s I never sprayed my 215s but I’m not sure if they still make them. I run 225/45/17s on the turbo car and turner used to sell “lightly used” hoosier grand am cup tires in that size for cheap. You could probably get 4 sets of those for the price of a set of toyos. I’m not sure if there still is a hoosier grand am cup tire anymore though either.

#4

turbo329is wrote:

Can’t go below a 190 treadwear rating for LeMons. And they will mark the treadwear rating on all 4 tires at tech.

We’ve run 3 LeMons races on the Azenis without problem, but lots of people will argue the star spec is a better tire. I haven’t tried them. We run 14" wheels on our LeMons car and the star spec didn’t come in a 14" tire till this year.

The Azenis changed this year from the 615 to the 615K. I think the new compound is a huge improvement!! People still say the Azenis can’t handle the heat though.

I think guys spraying down tires between 40 second runs at an autoX makes about as much sense as a monkey f*cking a football. I’d argue that the problem isn’t that the tire can’t handle the heat of a 40 sec run but that in 40 sec. you never get the tire up to temp.

#5

I read a magazine article in one of the big 3 where the Kumho XS beat all other tires for dry grip including the 615s and Star Specs. I use them on my car currently, and I love the grip. I have surprised my instructors when they ask what tires I am on.

#6

dunlop direzza z1 star specs have a better tread pattern than the falken azenis rt615k for the rain, but otherwise they’re both neck and neck for the best “cheater” tires to run.

#7

The tire we are currently running is the Nitto NT05 (NOT the drag tire) and it is 200 tread ware and affordable. We have had the same set on the XJS we run in LeMons now for 3 Lemons races, one chump car and two NASA runs and they are still going strong and have great traction.

SS

#8

Interesting. The Bird’ runs a 225/xx/16 so we should have lots of choices. I think we can fit up to a 245 on the rim if needed. Will analyze this post further and make some choices. Since I’m ordering two sets, I might get one of each.

We are running a real deal straight 24 hours in New Orleans. Should be one hell of a fight.

-Scott