Quote:
Originally Posted by 7thgear
140 tread... I wonder if THEY will adjust for next year?
|
Danny Kao has been in contact with Federal's marketing and it sounds as though their primary market focus is Europe and they don't have an interest in trying to break into the US market so it is not likely. Federal is aware of the 200 rating change and what it means to us.
I ran the Federals most of the year. They are best on lower grip surfaces such as asphalt as they have very good longitudinal grip. My 60's at the Pro were regularly a tenth better with them over the Hankooks or Z2's. They also wear well and IMO could easily be considered a 200 treadwear tire. They are also VERY inexpensive. Lastly, they seem to work really well in cool temps. The bad of them is they are heavy, get poor MPG...about 3MPG on average. They have a tread splice issue which Federal is aware of and working on. The splice looks bad at first but has not gotten worse on any of my tires and not significant enough to effect performance. They collect more OPR than the Hankook but it doesn't seem to effect the performance like the BFG's. They eventually seem to heat cycle out a bit but not bad. My 150 run, few thousand street mile set that is at 2/32nd's has fallen off a few tenths or so.
I ran both the Federals and Hankooks at the Pro. I ran the Federals all day Saturday and switched to the Hankooks on Sunday AM as the car was pushy and I am still on stock shocks so adjustment changes are not easy. I immediately dropped .5 seconds on the Hankooks and managed a dirty run that was 1 second faster on the right course. The lateral grip of the Hankook is definitely superior IMO as long as heat is sufficient. On surfaces such as Lincoln with courses that are not Pro like, I would choose the Hankook over the Federal after my experience at the Pro. I think they would have been a bit closer had I been able to tune shocks to get the car to rotate though.