Dunlop Star Specs vs Hankook Ventus R-S3

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Its about time to get some new tires for the car and although I have thoroughly enjoyed my Star Specs, the Hankooks are looking very interesting. I can't find any direct comparisons on the web but it sounds like the Kooks are stickier but with less stiff sidewalls. Looking at the Lincoln results, there seem to be many more Hankooks than Dunlops but that may be due to contingency prizes. The other major factor is that, in my size, the Hankooks are about $30 less per tire.

Does anyone have experience with the two tires and/or recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

Lee

Kevin Allen · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:42 pm **Posts:** 3479

Look at GRM. They just tested those and others dry & wet. I'm thinking the hankooks were fastest at something.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:20 pm

This is on a stiffly sprung STR NC with double wishbone suspension and boat loads of camber where a stiff sidewall was not as necessary but yes the RS3 was the fastest out of SS, RE11,ADO8,XS,R1R in the dry and the star spec was fastest (by a LOT) in the wet (from the August GRM street tire shootout).

Lee, how much camber are you running up front and how stiffly sprung is the 328? With enough camber and spring and/or front bar, you can probably get away with running the RS3. I think Marcus said he was not a big fan of the Kooks though.

I'm not sure there are many ST* cars with struts that runs RS3s though at the national scene. I think Chris Cline tried them out on the 325 and did not like them at all relative to the star specs.

EDIT: A few STU Evos ran kooks without much success but a few e36s and WRXs gave them a try in STX.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:34 pm

Anyone interested in a set of 275/35-18 Star Specs with about 5 to 6/32s left? They're coming off this week, and I'll sell them cheap for a local pickup: $125 for all four.

I also have one close to new (have to measure it) 255/35-18 Star Spec if interested.

JohnByers · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:08 pm

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

Anyone interested in a set of 275/35-18 Star Specs with about 5 to 6/32s left? They're coming off this week, and I'll sell them cheap for a local pickup: $125 for all four.

I also have one close to new (have to measure it) 255/35-18 Star Spec if interested.

Hmm, wonder if these would fit the RX8?

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Fwiw, I asked chris cline the same question about two months ago and he said he still preferred the dunlops. He was running hankooks at the time, but wanted his dunlops back.

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Thanks Kevin. It does look like the Hankooks are better on the Civic but on a car that is a bit beefier, stiff sidewalls are a plus.

JamesShort wrote:

Lee, how much camber are you running up front and how stiffly sprung is the 328? With enough camber and spring and/or front bar, you can probably get away with running the RS3. I think Marcus said he was not a big fan of the Kooks though.

James, I'm running about 3 degrees of negative camber (maybe a bit more) up front and the car is pretty stiffly sprung. 440 in the front I think and a big front bar.

I didn't realize that Marcus had tried them. And Chris Cline didn't like them? Wonder why he was running them at Nats.. also wonder why he was not much closer to the top as he is one helluva driver.

Leaning back towards the Star Specs now given what others have said and that they are a known quantity to me, but still not quite ready to pull the trigger. Thanks for all the input guys.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:09 pm

Lee Williams wrote:

Thanks Kevin. It does look like the Hankooks are better on the Civic but on a car that is a bit beefier, stiff sidewalls are a plus.

JamesShort wrote:

Lee, how much camber are you running up front and how stiffly sprung is the 328? With enough camber and spring and/or front bar, you can probably get away with running the RS3. I think Marcus said he was not a big fan of the Kooks though.

James, I'm running about 3 degrees of negative camber (maybe a bit more) up front and the car is pretty stiffly sprung. 440 in the front I think and a big front bar.

I didn't realize that Marcus had tried them. And Chris Cline didn't like them? Wonder why he was running them at Nats.. also wonder why he was not much closer to the top as he is one helluva driver.

Leaning back towards the Star Specs now given what others have said and that they are a known quantity to me, but still not quite ready to pull the trigger. Thanks for all the input guys.

Hmmm, maybe you should give them a shot then. However, as a warning, they *might* be just another excuse for Rodney to use

.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:55 pm

I liked them a little bit more at the last event. I used 3-4 lbs more pressure than what I had been running. They were less greasy and more consistent on my 4th run. Split run groups may have helped more than the tire pressure but they seemed more predictable.

If price is a major factor you should seriously consider them. They aren't "bad" tires.

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:39 pm

Lee Williams wrote:

And Chris Cline didn't like them? Wonder why he was running them at Nats.. also wonder why he was not much closer to the top as he is one helluva driver.

Leaning back towards the Star Specs now given what others have said and that they are a known quantity to me, but still not quite ready to pull the trigger. Thanks for all the input guys.

Lee, for what it's worth, I did contingency for STR. There were more Hankooks being run on than Dunlop and Toyo combined.

Also, as a side bar, Chris Cline had suspension problems and I believe even ended up borrowing shocks from another driver, so, as far as I know, his problems weren't derived from the rubber bolted on the car.

JohnByers · **Posted:** Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:45 pm

<-- watching this thread for his *occasional* STX drives in 2012...

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:58 am

Pep Boy Futuras :stick:

Also, don't forget that most likely your car will be classed in STX next year. Opens up some larger sizes that ST excluded.

Lee Williams · **Joined:** Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:22 pm **Posts:** 75

Ryan Holton wrote:

Also, don't forget that most likely your car will be classed in STX next year. Opens up some larger sizes that ST excluded.

Ryan, the way I read the proposed change is that ST will be targeted for "bigger FWD cars" by excluding the Civic Si (moves to STS) along with a few others but no mention of my car (or many others). The proposal did mention that there would be a list of included cars but I haven't followed any of the discussions on the forums so I am not sure where it is headed.

I have thought about moving to STX anyway but would like to add an LSD and that's just not in the budget right now... and bigger tires, yeah, that would be fun. Oh well, the car is not competitive with the Civics now and if moved, won't be competitive with the big guns in that class. Its all about having fun anyway isn't it?

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:48 pm

Lee Williams wrote:

Ryan Holton wrote:

Also, don't forget that most likely your car will be classed in STX next year. Opens up some larger sizes that ST excluded.

Ryan, the way I read the proposed change is that ST will be targeted for "bigger FWD cars" by excluding the Civic Si (moves to STS) along with a few others but no mention of my car (or many others). The proposal did mention that there would be a list of included cars but I haven't followed any of the discussions on the forums so I am not sure where it is headed.

I have thought about moving to STX anyway but would like to add an LSD and that's just not in the budget right now... and bigger tires, yeah, that would be fun. Oh well, the car is not competitive with the Civics now and if moved, won't be competitive with the big guns in that class. Its all about having fun anyway isn't it?

That was proposed version 1 of the rules change, here is proposed version 2

http://www.scca.com/documents/Fastrack/ ... y-solo.pdf

Basically creates a new slower ST class for smaller, new cars. Keeps the CRX and Miata away from the Civic and pushes all E36's to STX.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:51 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

That was proposed version 1 of the rules change, here is proposed version 2

http://www.scca.com/documents/Fastrack/ ... y-solo.pdf

Basically creates a new slower ST class for smaller, new cars. Keeps the CRX and Miata away from the Civic and pushes all E36's to STX.

This in simplest terms this is going to suck. Now we have to spend more bucks to stay competitive. I assume in reading this text, it removes the basic ST class where the car mods were minimal. While this opens up options, this also forces open the wallet. However, I have always wanted to upgrade the brakes on the e36…. It may be possible that the existing ST class stays as is, but I didn’t see it expressly listed in the STx reorg.

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Dunlop Star Specs vs Hankook Ventus R-S3

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