ceboyd

Many here were curious about what I thought about the A048 so I wanted to post here as well:





So today was 88 degrees and sunny and my first experience with the A048s!


They started out brand new (NOT heat cycled and I have never shaved a tire and don't even know if these are optioned to be shaved anyway)...


So far I'm very pleased with them!


What I immediately liked:

It started out 66 degrees this morning... only my 1st lap was 'new mold greasy' (granted I did drive 80 miles to get to the track) but by my 2nd lap I already got a really decent laptime and then got consistant 1:24s all day long at Blackhawk farms. (Now I used to get consistant 1:23s all day long with my DSSRs BUT I also had my 100 cell sport cats and ECU reprogrammed by Steve which are now both gone) so I'm pretty pleased! My record laptime was 1:22 at blackhawk farms but again that was when I had the 100cell sport cats, ECU retuned and DSSRs and of course a different day... different track conditions, etc.

Anyway, what I really like about these tires is:

- no need to wait for them to warm up -- they stick right away! (ahem - not the case with MPSC)

- They 'talk to you' and are very consistant/predictable

- They are available in proper 993 sizes and not odd sized like the Toyo RA1s

- They are readily available from TireRack (where I prefer to order since South Bend, IN is NOT that far from Chicago which makes for cheaper ship costs)

- They have deep cut tread meaning they can be driven to/from the track in rain without extreme worry like with RA1s after just 3 track days. (Eric has already put 3 track days on his A048s and the tread is still very much there unlike his RA1s sitting removed with 2 ever-so-slight lines visible now -- aka no rain day tire now and may as well be a hoosier the way they look without tread)

- They cost less than RA1s and less than MPSC



What I don't like about these tires so far:

- They are very noisy in the street... noisier than DSSRs, MPSC or Toyo RA1s (....so I turned up the tunes on my kenwood HU/Sirius SAT radio and problem solved)

- I don't know yet how many days they will last compared to other's like MPSC, DSSR or RA1 (...not necessarily a negative but an unknown at this point)

- They aren't as cheap as the DSSRs were. (then again, nothing else is)

ceboyd

so 3 days at Mid-Ohio and I'm LOVING these A048s


I have so much predictability. I'm at a point now where I like them MORE than the DSSRs


...oh, and the long drive from Chicago to Mid-Ohio (including a monsoon-type downpour with ZERO visibility) yielded no white knuckle driving due to tires (just white knuckle due to visibility issues)... so mission accomplished... an R compound tire good in rain driving to/from the track..


Nice thing to add was that they are the best WET track tire I've ever used other than normal street tires (but again, I have never tried the mighty Hoosier Rain tire either)

DGaunt

my first set of 048s last year seemed to need a couple of laps to warm up or they could bite you unlike the previous 032rs.

maybe mine were early production orsomething, but i forgot about it once and wet 4 off at turn 5 @ T. Tremblant, with my student in the car! VERY embarrasing but no harm.

Other than that I love them for all the reasons listed above.

ceboyd

well, what I did notice was that they did still need some time to get the air pressure up to perform properly... so no matter what I take it easy a bit that 1st lap... but they are NOTHING like the MPSCs when it comes to warm up need...

ceboyd

o.k. another day at Blackhawk.. and all is still well with these tires!

so far I have 6 DE days on them and no worries of being close to cording YET!!!!
...still plenty sticky too!

ceboyd

I got 2 more days at Blackhawk on these (so 8 days total) and yesterday inspected them to find I actually have more wear in the middle than on the sides (so I gotta go even lower than 28 pounds hot apparently)

I'll be at Road America for 2 days with them and expect them to be done after that (but that means 10 days total which I'm very happy with overall!)

This is the first set of R compounds I will have had that did NOT wear out prematurely on the edges (corners) so it leads me to believe that the 993 really works well with the A048 medium-hard compound (at least in the midwest)

earlyapex

Thanks for the updates. I've got some decisions to make about tires for next year.

SundayDriver

This sounds great. However, do not be so quick to assume that higher center wear means overinflation with low profile tires. Sometimes a low pressure causes the tire to run in sort of a double S shape and extra middle wear can happen with underinflation. 28 hot sounds pretty low for these tires. If you can get to a pyro, you could measure 5 places across the tire and see what pressure gets you a good pattern.

ceboyd

o.k. interesting observation.. I was going by 'feel' and rollover wear (or lack of it) thinking I had too much air... AND I had heard from a few others that these like very low HOT pressures for whatever reason...

I'll see if someone else at the track has a pyro I can borrow one session to check in the hot pits....

JJayB

ceboyd

Nice write up. Can you share how much camber your running? Thanks

Jimmy

Terry L

The A048 is the stock tire for the Lotus Elise with sport pack. I ran them last year. I could not avoid wearing them out in the centers - the same deal with A032s. 28 lbs hot is about right. The tires begin to slide a lot when the stick disappears and the change is pretty sudden. Badly worn A048s on a wet track provide one of the scariest experiences you will ever have.

ceboyd

sure, I have -2.85 in front and -2.55 in the rear

ceboyd

thanks for that insight.. good to know on the 'stick' wear out factor... I'll have to watch out for that then!