2024: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...iscussion.html

2025 is here! Actually has been here for some time

I haven't actually autocrossed yet this year. Was planning on going to Nationals but life/work/etc have so far slowed down my schedule. So it will just depend whether I can knock enough rust off between now and then.

 

More relevant - has anyone tried anything besides the Yoks, Stones, etc? Namely the Vitours. The general vibe I've seen from previous discussions is that for a single driver it's probably still the A052s, but I have zero firsthand experience (and generally have hated the Vitour marketing strategy).

 

Chris Bartley/Summer Johnson (XA) seem to be doing well with those Vitours

 

I think one of those 3 are probably still the best. Have not tried the Vitour since its not clear it’s faster in autocross environment

 

Has anyone had issue with the brake pedal feeling soft? Tried bleeding a bunch of times and it still feels mushy

 

There are several threads with similar issues. Did you ever let the fluid level get low enough to introduce air into the master cylinder while doing a brake bleed?

 

Chris hates them. We ditched them too. A tire that changes run to run just isnt what we want. And its 100% useless in the cold or wet. A052 and Bstones we've had great luck with. Some have had issues with RE71rs's heat cycling out but we put something like 120-130 runs on a set of 295s in the blue tesla and it was fast till the cords. I think A052s are faster till 50-70 runs but after that they seem to fall off more than the REs did.

 

lots of folks selling their vitours now, good thing my car was down when the vitours came out

 

I've read a couple reports from people who claim the Vitours are good but require very different car setup, but few are willing to share what worked.

Vitour did a great job of offering the tire in every size imaginable. They're also doing contingency and offering loaner tire/wheel sets for people to try, which is cool. I just don't think they're everything they were hyped up to be. Still good to have more competition in the space.

 

Well, found out it wasn’t the brakes. The left front wheel bearing was toast

 

I have ran on the Vitours for multiple events. The downside is most of the events have been between 40-60 degrees, which was absolutely painful.

I tell people, if you are going to buy these Vitours, you best have another set of wheels with either Yokes/Stones on them ready to roll for wet/cool conditions. Else you will question why you even tried competing.

This year - I've only had 1 event at 70 degrees plus out/sunny/no wind. Any cooler than that, I won't even consider running them unless I have no other tires available. This time I was single driven, but used blankets on my 1st 3 runs. Even the 1st run out didn't feel as far off the pace at that outside temp, than it did in the cooler conditions. I'm still eager to try these when we start hitting 90-100 degree plus conditions.

This event I was on Vitour front/Stone rear. Enough to keep within the noise of Riley H., who has been destroying in DST. (Overall Top pax in both the Lincoln pro and Tour):

https://dl.motorsportreg.com/d0a7537...-e62e22b3dd44/

 

We ran year old, half season used RE71rs swapped on the tesla after pulling off the vitours. The car was indescribably better. I have decided there are 3 reasons to use them,

1. Its the only tire in the size you need.
2. You are class or car limited on wheel or tire width.
3. You plan on spending more time on track than AutoX.

For anything else, I'll stick with A052 or RE71rs for now.

 

not even good for days you would normally water down your tires?

 

Nope, because I can run my fast run on my first run. 305s on the Tesla at crows in ~80deg weather still felt like it needed the 2nd run to get up to temp but still felt like it was changing each run. On the lighter Evo with 315s, the rears would be a disaster. Now if I was stuck on 255s that would be a different story.

 

thanks. yeah that sounds complicated. if I ever felt my car is finally "dialed in" I want to revisit the A052. I dont think I would have the bandwidth to feel out the vitours for myself.