Kumho's Or Avons?

[Darrell O'Neill]

Ok guys, come on then, lets have your thoughts.... which are best and why?

I can't decide which choice to make for the forthcoming season.

A couple of seasons ago Matt Seabrook used the kumho's to good effect and gave good reports, last season our championship winner swopped from A048's to ZZR's in A24 compound and found a fantastic improvement. I ran A048's on the fronts and 888's on the rear, both in soft compound, but the championship winner found a good 3-5 tenths on me just in the 64ft times having previously been matching me on the A048's. The ZZR's seem to hold heat between corners than anything else.

I have kinda decided i'll shift away from the Yoko's but cant choose between the ZZR's or the kumho's, whats everyone's opinion? we dont get too much comparrison down here in the SW so Im having difficulty in choosing.... PM me if you wanna keep your choices secret

[Darrell O'Neill]

Forgot to add, it'll be mostly for the Hiils, as we seemed to have lost our sprint venue for this season...

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

Both are pretty much alike. Choose based on your gearing and rim widths. The Kuhmos are smaller diameter and fit wider rims. The Avons are larger diameter and fit on slightly narrower rims

[davidgh]

Darrell

The softest compounds from Kumho (for the V70A) and Avon (for the ZZR (radial) or ACB10 (X-ply)) are generally the choice of the serious sprinters who need a road-legal tyre -- not really much to choose between them, so down to rim size, availability, etc.

There will be a reason why few of the top sprinters choose Yoko or Toyo, but you'll work that out for yourself.

HTH

[Darrell O'Neill]

Thanks guys.

im currently running 13inch 7inch rims so i have a good choice in either the Avons or Kumho's.

[Matt Seabrook]

Darrell if I was back in it I would be going ZZR. Off the line I never could get close to the sort of times Andy got off the line. I know my car had more BHP but Andy's car is quite a bit lighter over the rear axle than my old sprint car.

[Darrell O'Neill]

As you know matt ZZR's are my first choice, but having read a few comments here and else where, i was wondering if anyone had tried both and what people's thoughts were.

Andy's car is lighter than both our car's (pies and burgers might have something to do eith it ) but it was interesting to see the time gain by the seop from 48's to the Avons.

[Matt Seabrook]

Thats my point 64 foot time for a good one would normally need a little more weight over the rear wheels to get good traction. Andy's car is very light as he is about 9 stone wet through.

[Annie]

> Ok guys, come on then, lets have your thoughts.... which are best and why?

I'm not a guy but I'll do my best. For the last two seasons I have run 048s (205/15 front, 225/16 rear) and, although I have been into the 2.2s for 64ft, by the end of last year it was clear that the Avons and Kuhmos were clearly quicker over a run. My choice of new tyres was, however, limited to Kuhmos by my wheel sizes and everyone should be aware that the 13" Avon is a very different tyre (compond, even tread pattern) from the ZZRs available for larger rim sizes. FWIW I have K12 front compound and K22 rear. We did talk about swapping to 13" wheels and running 215/13 ZZRs all round (some Catertingvans have apparently gone this route) but you can buy an awful lot of shoes for an equivalent cost.

It's the Loton test weekend in a couple of weeks and it will be interesting to see the effect on both 64ft and overall times.

Grannie Annie.

[stewart pickles]

Thats my point 64 foot time for a good one would normally need a little more weight over the rear wheels to get good traction. Andy's car is very light as he is about 9 stone wet through and thats after one of my bbq's

fixed that for you pasty muncher

as for tyres i will be on zzr's from cof bmtr cof ,i believe they have a 1 off compound in 13"

however if you can still run acb 10's (we can't) thats what i would go for,they are very light compared to radials the only problem is the price

[gixermark]

I really rate acb10s if you are allowed them in your series.... Zzr's look and seem very good too.. The kumho's are without a doubt great tyres for a very god price, in my limited experience though, you'd need a range of the supersoft and softs available on rims to pick th best compound per corner for your car on the day.

I reckon the rubber on the avon's are just more durable as well as great grip... Maybe the kumho's are as a good or better IF you can get the right compound for the right day? The avons are maybe not that expensive if you consider they do well cold or warm, and will not tear.." whereas the the kumho's definately will tear/grain quickly if you are too soft on the wrong day

[davidgh]

Softest compound on the ACB10 (A24 IIRC) is also available in ZZRs -- but, as Annie mentions, only in 13". I did a couple of seasons on V70As, followed by a couple on ACB10s, and now I'm on ZZRS. The last change was only because some sprint organisers are really prissy about X-plies (gods alone know why). All are really fast. Point to note though: the ACB10 is by far the lightest tyre.

HTH

[Flakey Racer]

May be slightly different on a Westy but I chose kuhmos when replacing the tyres on my second VX, really excellent value for money. They were great for every day use, fast road and track. In fact when I used them on a time trials event at Northweald in 2010, my lap times were faster than 80% of the Vx Turbo owners (extra 50-100 bhp over mine).

Certainly won't be a bad choice though I can't say anything negative about the Avons on my bike either so I think it's a safe bet either way.

[Paul Aspden]

Having had the privilege of trying both Avon & Kumho on the same car on the same day, I think the Avon is a much more forgiving & communicative tyre than the Kumho, but the Kumho was slightly quicker...or was that me?

The other factor is weight, the avon is 2.5kgs/corner lighter than the Kumho (both in 215 width)

That said, I have Kumhos on my car, so when David H beats me I can blame the rubber!!

[Darrell O'Neill]

Some great info here, thanks guys (and girls )

Looks like its ZZR's or ACB10's for me then