New sneakers (Billboards) on the way
 

After careful deliberation, admittedly bordering on paralysis by analysis, I ordered a set of Billbords today, one of the final finishing touches on a 17 year journey to get this car done. It's mechanically finished, all it needs to finally call it done is for the interior work to be finished and mount the tires. It goes into the interior shop in 2 weeks. They say it'll be done two weeks after that, but interior shops are like paint shops - they never meet the stated delivery date. It'll be done when it's done.

The Billboard decision was tough. You hear great reviews on them, and just as many bad ones. Of course nothing looks as good as them. It came down to Billboards, Cooper Cobras, M/T ST's, Avons and Billboards.

Avons were easy to eliminate. To me, the price is rediculous. They have world class tire pricing for a tire that is far from world class. I know others disagree, and that's fine. To me they're just the best of a marginal group. And it has nothing at all to do with being able to pay, and the somewhat pompous argument of "If you can't afford the tires you can't afford the car" has nothing at all to do with it. It's as simple as "Are they up to the performance standards of tires in other sizes that cost that much". The answer is they're not even close. Avons were out.

Next up are the Coopers and the M/T's. From everything I have read they're essentially the same tire, both made by Cooper. From most reviews I have read they're good but not great, adequate for street use of the car. I was very seriously considering these, mainly because of some of the negative reviews I have read on the Billboards. However for every negative review I have read on the Billboards I have read a positive one as well. It's sort of maddening.

What swayed me to the Billboards was a conversation I had with my friend Jon, known as "Saltshaker" on this forum. He loves them. He says his Billboards don't hunt at all, they balanced up just fine, and other than picking up more stones than he would prefer, they perform beautifully. He owns a CCX just as I do, and if they work for him I'm hopeful that they'll work for me too.

My remaining concern is durability. We have a large yearly Cobra meet down here in San Marcos, TX. That's about a 4 hour highway ride for me each way. I hope they're up to driving like that. I worry because when I lift them up they're so lightweight, I do have concerns about their durability. I guess we'll just see about that. Do any of you guys running them have tear or puncture issues?

Hopefully they work out well. Time will tell.

What is your expectation for usable lifespan of the BB's?

I honestly don't know what the lifespan will be. Given that it's not an everyday driver, my guess is they'll likely age out rather than wear out. Time will tell.

You will be fine, my rears are 5yrs now and I'll change most likely change next season.
I've driven as far as NJ, been around Indy, raced at Pittsburgh and daily driving alot.
I am a fan of the BB and never had a failure.
If your car is aligned right, they are fine. Plus I live in New England so roads are bad, the tries work with the car's suspension. Just simple alignment = no issues.

Congrats Doug!

That's been my experience. I discard them at 5 years with 80% or more tread still available, because sidewall cracks become obvious. Now on the 3rd set, the 4th set is 2 years from now.

i've got almost 9,000 miles on my front Billboards in two years. The rears lasted 1 year/5,000 miles. On 2nd pair of rear 26.5x10.0-15s go figure ;)

I just switched from Billboards which came on the MK2 I recently purchased to Cooper Cobras. I had no issues with the Billboards ride or hunting ie tramlining. To me it simply came down to them not being DOT approved for street use and not wanting to deal with the consequences of an accident caused by me or someone else.

I do prefer the Cooper Cobra ride quality and stiffer sidewalls but comparing a modern radial tire to bias ply race tires is apples and oranges.

I just had a 4 wheel alignment done on the car. I had them set it at 1/8 toe in, 1/2 degree negative camber, and 3 to 5 degrees positive caster. Hopefully thos eare good settings for the Billboards. I forget what we set the rear to. Great to hear from you Jeff. Thanks for the input.

Good info, thanks.

Thanks Bob. Blair Patrick built me a 520" 744HP beast of a FE under the hood. I suppose I'll have to learn to keep my right foot out of it or they won't last too long in the back on mine either. I guess a good problem for us to have?:LOL:

How would you compare the ride quality and handling differences in descriptive terms? Too late now to change but just curious.

Billboards
 

Doug, your going to like them. I have the same alignment and the car tracks straight and it doesn’t hunt. I’m running 26 front and 24 back
Jon

Thanks Jon. Appreciate all the advice.

I had terrible luck with other tires, did you ever consider the Avons, mine are great are track straight and no vibrations up to 120mph.

I've used 303 Aerospace Protectant on my 2nd and 3rd sets of tires and it has helped defer the appearance of sidewall cracking. I apply it 4-5 times a year, both sides of the tires, very liberally.

You noted how light these tires are. I get a good flat footprint running 22 psi front, 20 rear. I saw tread 'rounding' at higher pressures.

Years ago I saw Dennis Olthoff at VIR, and I asked his opinion regarding tire pressure for my Goodyears. His felt the correct pressure was achieved when tread scuffing was noticed about halfway around the tread's edge radius. The 22 front/20 rear showed that type scuffing on my tires...when on a road race course.

Thanks, I'll pick up some of that protectant. I have noticed with my old Billboard tires and with those on other cars, they seem to be much more susceptable to significant sidewall cracking than most tires. I wonder why that is.

THE BB's don't have the additives/preservatives that DOT tires have. It's my understanding ozone is a big detriment to the BB's. These tires are made for racing, wearing out quickly and then discarded.

Another thought...if you consider the Avons to have a useful life of approx. 8 years, then the annual cost of Avons is nearly the same as BB's at 5 years.

I still like the BB's appearance more.

Regarding pressure, I see:

Jon runs.............26 front, 24 rear.
HTM101 runs .....22 front, 20 rear.

Those are lower pressures than I would have guessed.

Jeff, what did you run?

I feel like the Coopers are a little leass floaty if that makes sense primarily on corners. The Billboards have virtually no sidewall firmess to speak of, kind of like riding on balloons. But great looking race car ballons :)

Below is the BB mounted on my 15" Halibrands and the Coopers awaiting install. I have 245 and 295 Coopers chosen for closet to tread width of the BBs. Gives you some idea of how much the side wall of the BBs balloons out.

One other thing I forgot to mention - I know a lot of guys get their Billboards from Roger Kraus Racing, and I believe one other similar source. I ordered mine right from the Summit catalog. Only $309 each and free shipping. I believe through Kraus they're $323 each PLUS shipping. They were at my door two days after I ordered them. Couldn't have been easier.