The tires thread "So I need tires..."

[DavidL]

I have the star specs and have had great luck with them. Tons of grip in the dry, surprisingly good in the rain as well. As Kyle said the Kumhos are also rated up there with the Dunlops- it seems those are the top runners for autox right now. The Neova and RE01Rs have also gotten great reviews, but are much more $$ than the Kumhos and Dunlops.

[D_Eclipse9916]

From what ive been reading. If you want to win your time attack on 140+ treadwear rating tires. Its the AD08 Neova. If your not going for all out, the Dunlop Star Specs or Kumho XS is the way to go as they have 99% of the stickyness but last longer and are MUCH cheaper.

Apparently the Kumho XS actually have higher dry grip than the Star Specs, but have terrible feel and response, making them a harder autocross tire. They also sucks balls in the rain apparently.

Which is why it still seems the Star Spec is the "tire to have".

[xvxax]

RE-11 was fast last year too, but best overall doesn't matter since the Neovas and RE-11 are really expensive.

If you liked RT615s (which for the record, I hate) then you're going to love the Star Specs. Ignoring any other factors, if you're looking for the fastest street tire for the buck, I don't think you can touch 'em. Get 205s for the Koseis, but paint the Kosei's UG first.

[JustinG]

Yea getting star specs as well, seems to be the tire to have

[Evan]

Suggestions for a new set of summers? I have Azenis that have lasted me 10k miles between street use, 7 autocrosses, 2 touring lap sessions, and a weekend at Deal's Gap. They'll probably last another 2-3k but I want some ideas.

The car does need an alignment, that definitely contributed to the poor wear aside from my general fooling around on the Azenis. Since I'm picking up the Koseis from Navin, I'm now looking for a 15" tire, probably 195 or 205.

I could do another set of Azenis. Also considering the Direzza Star Specs. I want the max summer tire for the lowest price.

are you autoXing or doing track days? If not, miatas are a lot more fun to drive with less grip

[Goodspeed]

are you autoXing or doing track days? If not, miatas are a lot more fun to drive with less grip

This is true...one of my best Miata moments was riding in Shea's car just after he got it, hooning around on cheapie all seasons.

I'm looking at new tires for the ride sometime by spring/summer. Thoughts on a 225/7 inch rim width combo? (That was OEM on the Supra, but looking for optimal specs on a NB). Strongly looking at RS3's.

[Jake]

Well I'll be autoXing so I want a good set of tires on there. BUT... until I can afford them I'll be focusing on burning up the Azenis on the Kosei wheels and on my stock wheels. They are both around 20% tread life so that'll make for some good clean fun sometime

[HAULN-SS]

Not entirely relevant to this thread - but the hankook optimos on my malibu are finally giving up the ghost after 85k miles. I am really impressed with them, whereas before I probably wouldnt have given them a shot. They are pretty cheap too, 112$ each from tirerack. On a side note, I went to sears this weekend to buy new tires, and I think they are doing a pretty big sale next weekend. I am getting a set of goodyear eagle gt's for 107$, buy 3 get one free. If anyone else is needing tires soon, might be worth checking out what they have.

[D_Eclipse9916]

From what ive been reading. If you want to win your time attack on 140+ treadwear rating tires. Its the AD08 Neova. If your not going for all out, the Dunlop Star Specs or Kumho XS is the way to go as they have 99% of the stickyness but last longer and are MUCH cheaper.

Apparently the Kumho XS actually have higher dry grip than the Star Specs, but have terrible feel and response, making them a harder autocross tire. They also sucks balls in the rain apparently.

Which is why it still seems the Star Spec is the "tire to have".

Ive been reading up a ton and finally decided on the Star Specs because of the longevity and price. I would have easily picked the AD08 or RE-11, but at $70 a tire difference, so $280 it was too much for not much gain, especially with how fast I go through tires. The new RS3s were a contender but after my RS2s heatcycled out incredibly quick, and reviews of the RS3 were that they as well wore out/heatcycled out quicky, I was pushed away.

The last remainder was the 615K and XS. The 615K did not change tread design, but instead went with a new compound. Seems as if this compound just made it softer, and therefore greases up a lot quiker than the others. Finally, the XS had amazing lateral grip, but had vague feel, and horizontal grip (braking and acceleration), it was very weak on and with RWD I need all the help I can get launching out the autox gates

Official review wil be this weekend as ill get em mounted up this week and then use em this weekend for a points autocross..

[Jake]

So my friend just asked me if I could recommend a set of tires. They're for a 93 Cherokee, and he wants something moderately aggressive that will do well on wet/rocky/gravel mountain roads but also be good around town/on the highway. It sees far more road time than mountain road time, so the ideal bias would be toward a better road tire that has good off-road abilities here and there.

Suggestions? Figured with all the Jeeps we have floating around MM right now, someone would know what shoes to put on 'em.

[HAULN-SS]

I have Michelin LTX on my Cherokee which I drive mostly in the winter. I never had a bit of problem this winter with all that snow on the ground. They seem reasonably quiet on the road as well

[Ryan T]

We went through 2 sets of Michelin LTX on my Dodge and they were good tires for the highway. Low noise and last forever. Both of my jeeps have had BFG All-Terrains and I love them as well if you like some off-roading. They are the perfect mix of streetability and off-road utility.

[Steve85]

Can you drive on the street, say from Winchester to SP on Proxes R888s? How far is too far?

The offers coming in for CCWs have all been lowballs so I'm going to order two outers and swap inners fr to rr to have square or at least within .5" of square setup. I want throw some DOT r-comps on for fun days and be able to drive to and from the track with them on.

The great thing about a big race tire is that the rich guys use them for a few laps on their C6PorscheViper and then dump them on eBay and various forums cheap.

And a side discussion, when is someone "ready" for r-comps? I don't want to use them so I can win HPDE, The car is too much for a typical street tire and these used r-comps are 1/4 the price of some fancy street tire. The only thing I've read is that they can mask a lot of errors and that's not really good for learning purposes. Any other real downside? Is the "limit" too high for beginners?

[D_Eclipse9916]

I ran r-comps on the gsx and I dont discount them cause its nice that they dont get greasy, but good god does it cover a lot of mistakes and especially makes the limits higher. Think about it, I can go through this corner with 10-15mph faster, that also means you can hit the wall 10-15mph faster, and in a car thats huge! I think its completely up to you, remember youll blow through those used r-comps faster than a "fancy" street tire.

[Maengelito]

Driving R-comps on the street isn't going to heat them up very much so I doubt they'd wear very quickly. I drove to and from the track on RA-1s a bunch of times until I got caught in a pretty heavy rain storm coming back from VIR. Thats when I decided to get a little tire trailer for the Miata. Also, if its really cold out or early in the morning for an early spring or late fall event, be careful since the tires will be really cold. Basically, if you're going to drive to and from the track on R-comps, just be mindful of the weather and temperature.

As far as when you're "ready" for R-comps on track, its my personal opinion that you can start using them when you are able to put in consistant lap after lap of being smooth, threshold braking and clipping apexes. The jump to R-comps will make the car behave pretty differently so I view it as not only a way to go faster but also something new and different to try after you feel like you're comfortable with a certain skill set. That being said, I don't think its ever a bad idea to use a street tire. Sure it'll be slower but its still a challenge to push the limits without getting into trouble.

[Mike]

I drove on the highway with r-comps a few times as well. Aside from them being horribly unbalanced to to track worms, they worked fine. However, I'd have to think that sustained cruising could do anything good for the life of the rubber. I'm not talking wear, but instead heat cycling.

[Steve85]

Good points. I was thinking I didn't have to go faster just because the tires would allow, that there was still plenty to learn. I'm really not in any hurry to go faster for any other reason than I'm getting better. And along the lines of what Brian is saying, the challenge, and learning moments, come at the limit. Better to stick with streets for now.

I have two tires that can be reused with the new rim widths so I'll look for a couple lightly used tires to round out the set. It's good to know that when the time comes though, it's no problem to drive them to the track. Oh well, maybe I can find the right street tires for the $100/piece, and less, I'm finding the r's for.

[D_Eclipse9916]

I have Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo's on my F-150 and love them. They grip in pretty much anything. Great dry traction, great wet, great in the mud, great in sand, and about as good as it gets in snow. Plus they use Uni-T tire wearing technology so they don't harden up as fast as most tires. They're a little over $150 ea for 285/75/16's.

How ya liking them?? I will probably need tires for mine in the next year and just started looking around, I dont need something with off-road capabilities, the most it gets "off-road" will be either a wet boat-ramp or muddy grass field, if that. Rather have quiet, long-lasting, and the best fuel economy (not that I care ALL that much).

[D_Eclipse9916]

I also forgot to mention ill be towing a trailer with a vehicle on it pretty routinely.

[ScottyB]

we're really pleased with our Wrangler Silent Armor's on our Xterra. 265/75-16. they wear forever and have a pretty nice highway ride. we've been up to the floorboard in snow and they dig right out. they're also pretty freakin tough. my wife blasted over a piece of shrapnel years ago in Charlotte that was sharp enough to punch a hole into the cabin but didn't puncture the tire although the tread was cut up a bit.

my only complaint has been that they don't hold a balance well. they were on the car when we bought it used so it may be a case of previous owner neglect and we couldn't re-balance them enough to offset the wear that was already in place.