Hankook tire production

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OUBob

New member
TireRack has been out of the 13" C51 compound for sixish months. Is this a discontinued product? Or do the tire companies just turn on the tire makin machine, run tires for a day and say "come get 'em!" and thats all there is?
 
Hankook out of inventory? Huh, who'da thunk it...?

Hankook is a Korean company, tires are made in Korea and shipped over in containers. Hankook USA is infamously bad at supply chain and inventory management; looks like they have not improved that in the five years since I depended on them last.

Call Phil Phillips at Phil's Tire Service and see if you can get on his "good graces" list. He'll give you the scoop on those tires and when you may be able to get some. If at all.

- GA, big fan of Indiana - you know, right here in the USA? - and the purple crack.
 
I too liked the Kooks but got sick of hearing "they should be going on the boat soon and arriving in, errr, a couple of months hopefully." If you really want to run them, when they eventually do arrive you better buy your seasons supply.

Hoosier on the other hand are in supply as Greg mentioned.
 
Phil's tire has always come thru for me with the hankooks! (14 is what I run on the civic). The 13 may be harder to find.... The Hoosier is obviously a great choice, just much more expensive. (I buy 5 hankooks for the price of 4 Hoosiers. (Kind of like a built in contingency program - buy 4 get 1 free!). :)
 
I contacted Phils in Oct, no supply for 13"s. I didnt shake them down for info though. Looks like every other size is available, even the autox compound in 13s. I guess Im not in a hurry, from the wear Im seeing on the Hoosiers, Id assume Id get 6-8 weekends out of a set, which likely means thats 3 years for me. Figured Id see if anyone on here had the inside scoop. Ill hit up Phil if I get desperate.

Until then the r6s on the car have a couple of sessions left (been saying that for the last three events) and some takeoffs from Hardison.
 
Did I mention the Hohos are $400 more? Id buy them if they were 2 seconds a lap faster.

Maybe Ill just go to WallyWorld and see whats on sale! :dead_horse:
 
I hate the idea of going from 13" wheels to 15" wheels*...but Hoosier SM7s, which are higher-durability 205/50-15s, cost about $165 each (call for exact price).

- GA

* You can get Hoosier Dirt Stockers in 13", and they are the best raining-to-beat-the-band rain tire. But they're only available in 13". Also, a 15" wheel and tire will be heavier and have a larger polar moment of inertia than a 15". And a taller tire will mess with your final drive ratio.

But if it saves you several hundred dollars a year in tire costs.... :shrug:
 
The 21 in tire will be a lot faster than the 22.5in tire. Lots of things change, Roll out (IPR), but at least as important, the roll centers move with ride height.
With the The short tires, most cars have more front grip. Must be due to a lower front CG.
Going to larger tires may require more rear bar or spring. ( to match the lower front grip) Or my favorite add 10# air pressure.

The 21s may be 2 sec faster than the 22s. @60.
I thought that Hoe makes the 13x21s still .
 
OUBob said:
...I guess Im not in a hurry, from the wear Im seeing on the Hoosiers, Id assume Id get 6-8 weekends out of a set, which likely means thats 3 years for me...
Click to expand...

You should be able to get 5-6 weekends on a set of Hankooks, more if you are careful. What we found on the 13" was that the outside edge of the tire doesn't have as much sticky rubber than we are used to. So the tire looks great, lots of rubber on it, big fat lines down the middle, but the tire WILL NOT STICK. When they reach that point you can't even put them on the back. What we think is that when stretched on the 6" wheel, the tire doesn't sit as well as Hoosiers or Kumhos. I don't think anyone has yet figured out when the flip the tires, or if it really helps with life. Again, the tires look so good, you think you are fine, and then you go out and can't even keep the car on the track. Still the life is similar or better than Hoosier and the price is better, so we're hooked. Assuming they show up.

You can make up your own mind about the speed. Here's the data point that tipped our hands: Carl bought a set just to make it thru the year at the end of 2012. He slapped them on, didn't change anything and set a new pro course record at MO. Now, Carl's the man and he can outdrive any of us when he sets his mind to it, but still, new tires, no ideas on pressures, no changes to the car, bam. Combine that with lower prices and we haven't looked back. Well, until it comes time to order some.
 
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