Anybody driving with GY eagle billboard tires?

[Hal Copple]

I have about 130K or more on my car, have had the speedo disconnected for several years, reading 99,248 miles. Intend to pull it and keep it one of these days. About 3000 track miles. I have had on the street and on the track the GY GTII's, shaved and full tread Avids in several sizes, Hoosier slicks, 17 inch Michelin PS2's, and full treaded Goodyear "billboard" tires.

On the track, the bias Goodyears, are fun. They drift with lots of control and warning. I wore out the left rear quickly, replaced it. The both front and rear feather the tread quickly, which makes for interesting hard braking from 120+ mph. The car moves around a lot, disconcerting at first, untill you just hold on, don't make corrections, just let the car wander with the nose down hard. I think it is due to the feathering of the tread ridges. My car brakes hard straight as an arrow with absolute control with the Michelin's and the Hoosiers.

Being Bias ply, while they look very fat, they actually don't put down all that much rubber, if you do a tread contact patch test, only about half of the trad actually contacts the road. The Michelin's put down the whole thing.

The Avid's get hot and greasy, esp if you overdrive their slip angle, but then that is fun too, sliding all around corners. They are cheap and wear well.

The bias Goodyears are very sensitive to tire pressure, mine needed a bump from 26 to 28 rear psi to keep the sidewalls from folding over in a turn. The bias Goodyears don't have any anti aging material in the rubber, they are just rubber over canvas i guess, so are really only good for a season, as they aren't designed for the ozone and such. I think they would puncture or sustain street driving impact damage easily as they have a very thin carcass. I got a puncture on the track.

I got the bias Goodyears since i don't have a trailer and need to drive to the track, and often have rain here in SC. Needed a treaded tire for safe travel to the track. I think the Goodyears would be very expensive for a season of track driving. The PS2's wear much better, and while very very expensive, will last a lot longer on the track conditions.

i found they tendency for the fat Goodyears to "hunt" dangerously on the street. ONce, when i ran into some truck rutting on a rural asphalt road, they climbed so fast on the raised part of the pavement, i was almost flipped into the trees on the side of the road. I guess if you only drive on smooth concrete, and never run on rutted roads, it wouldn't be a problem, but if you were to hit such a road at night or when unprepared, it really could flip you instantly off the road. For this reason, i firmly believe them to be very dangerous except on the track.

The problem with driving on a track, of course, (and i run with the local Porsche club generally), is that irresistable need to go just a bit faster, to catch the M3 or 911 or Z06.

The best solution is to get spare rim sets, i have two in 15 and one in 17 inch. When my Avids wear out, have a spare set, i may get the Avon's, although, when i drive in the rain, i really like the fully treaded Avids over what looks like a pretty flat Avon tread. I am having a 3.08 installed, to bring down the rpm at cruise on the 17's.

Chris and I drove about 800 miles to and from the Rolex at Daytona two weeks ago, i chose to put the 15 inch Avids on, for less rpm and for the potential rain. Plus, the ride is nicer than on the 17's.

I know people talk all the time about a high performance 15 inch tire, which is now available with the expensive Avons, but then really, how fast are you really going to push it on the street anyway. I do that on the safety of the track. I am very conservative on the street, so the Avids are fine with me.

I one doesn't have to worry about rain, and wants the most cost effective street and track set up, get a nice 15 inch tire, there are several, and a set of Bias slicks on another set of 15 rims.

Or just learn to drive on what you have.

If you show, use the goodyears's, if you drive, get a 17 or an inexpensive 15 tire.

I don't think many of us, including me, are really capable of pulling all the performance out of our cars no matter what tires we run on.

all the best..