Looking for an alternative to Star Specs for our Chumpcar racer...
According to this:
http://www.sportscartire.com/dunlop_pdf/sp_sport_8000.pdf
They come in 245/50-15. Hmmm interesting size.
The first two places I've called acted like they don't actually exist in that size. Anyone know otherwise?
mw
HalfDork
3/22/12 6:37 p.m.
Why not star specs? I have some sp9000's and they are no where as near as sticky as star specs. I would assume with 1000 less sp's, those sp8000's would be pretty hard. They were oem on an audi a8 which to me says touring tire.
They still make those? I remember them being one of the hot tires of the moment about 10 years ago.
The SP8000 was a good tire, I've run them on my car for over 10 years. However, they've been discontinued for a year or two, and only a few sizes are still available - you can go to The Tire Rack site and see which sizes they still have. I would imagine their stock has been sitting on the shelf for a while, too.
Ian F
UltraDork
3/22/12 7:33 p.m.
I run them as summer tires on my TDi, mainly because they were dirt cheap in 205/55-16. Like $75 each. Which is about the same price I paid for my first set of them... About 5 years ago. When I bought the second set last spring tire rack only had a few sizes left.
Not a bad tire, but they are no star spec, regardless of having the same 200 TW rating. Not that great in the rain either, which is why these will be the last set I buy.
They're a good street tire from before the Street Touring classes came out and inspired the creation of modern "street tires" that are basically race tires that meet the ST rules. In other words, a great summer tire for street driving, but no match for any modern high performance street tire (like the Star Specs), and a design old enough that they came on my first Miata I got in in 2000.