Other Competition tires?

[Verik]

Right now I have a set of Yokohama Advan A032R's Soft Compound in 4x 255/40/17R. My question is since the A032R's are now unfortunately discontinued (or just impossible to find), what other competition tires are out there that are on par with this performance. I need to find another set of comp tires I can run in the same sizes at a reasonable cost (looking for under 200/tire). I've looked at the A048R from yokohama and those are too expensive in my book. I looked at most of the comp tires listed on tire rack and i dunno..... none seemed to be what I was really looking for. I just looked at the Falken RT-615... anyone have any track exp w/ these? They come in the sizes I am looking for and it seems like the reviews are decent. Haven't looked up any prices yet though ><.

Any opinions from people with track (autox or road course) exp with other comp tires out there?

[Verik]

bump, anyone?

[StraightSix]

Comparing the Azenis and Yokos is an apple and oranges kind of affair. The tires you're looking to replace are a DOT R-comp, whereas the RT-615 is a sticky street tire. If you're competing in STS or something, the RT-615 is a decent choice.

To stay in the same class of tire, you should be looking for R-comps, as those are more likely to give you a similar level of performance. The Toyo RA-1 is one example and Edge Racing is selling those for about $170/ea.

[Congogrey]

I do not race on DOT-R compound tires in my class. But, a lot of the guys that I know who do run the Kuhmo (sp?) V710.

[Verik]

V710 is a lil too "slick" for my use but i am looking at the v700 and that may work just need to find pricing now..

edit: meh looked at sizing.... only comes in a 245 and 275 meaning i'd have to run a staggered setup. Something I was really trying to avoid plus the 245 is a bit of a stretch for my tastes on a 9.5 inch rim.

[Wal-Mart]

Pirelli P-Zero Corsa.... great tires.

Thought about the Toyo RA-1??

[Verik]

yeah i'm still checking diff ones out. so far on my list and in my price range:

Toyo RA-1
Kuhmo V700 (possiby 710 for those days at RA)


the problem with the pirelli p-zero is the same as the Advan A048R... it costs about 100$ more per tire than I want to spend (looking for the 150 range... give or take some). Honestly if I had it I'd have a set of 48r's and not have made this thread but here i am.

And straight six if i compete in any scca event I will be under the SM class automatically bc of my "power adders".... bleh .

[StraightSix]

Since you're autocrossing in SM, then you could go with the V710s. But, my guess is going to be that you're looking for a tire to serve as both a street tire and competition tire.

FWIW, one of our guys has a SM EF Civic, the Kumhos were a second faster than some Hankooks C30s.

IIRC, the RA-1 is a newer design than the V700. So, there may be some benefit from newer technology there, but that's purely speculation.

[Verik]

yeah i want some streetability out of these ><


its hard to choose. based on price its really down to just the v700's and the ra-1's. I dunno really what to make this decision on other than price atm (which means the v700's). I guess I'm just going to have to get a set of RA-1's to see how it goes without staggering. If high 300 whp turns out to be too much for the small 255 i may stagger 255 front w/ ra-1's and 275 rear with the v700's. I dunno..... this will be in the next couple weeks so i guess i have time to think about it.

[PacoX]

I wouldn't really want to drive any R comps on the street. Most of them work best with a lot of heat so street straightline grip won't be that great. If you're set on them, RA1s are a good deal and will last longer than the others. They're regarded as one of the most resilient and streetable R comps, as well as a great bang for the buck. Nitto NT01s are quicker and supposedly last just as long. If you don't drive on the street much at all, R comps could be okay, but I'd still prefer to have a set of street tires for driving on the street and a set of track wheels for the R comps to avoid heat cycling and wearing them to death.

I have a setup similar to yours and run Kumho MXs for track and street for now, as well as Fuzion HRis on stock SE wheels for street sometimes (Chicago potholes). When the MXs die I'll either get something similar or some NT01s, if R comps seem worth the added expenditure. But then I would run all seasons on the street. Or get a second car (much less likely).

In terms of sizing, 275/40 is pretty tall and will affect your gearing as well as maybe not heating up enough on the track (my friend had this happen with Kumho MXs in that size on his S13). I think 255/40 is a nice size for tracking these cars casually. 285/30/18 and 315/30 stagger woiuld be nice for max lap times with a fully developed chassis.

[Verik]

erm.. by street use that means maybe once a weekend. It's not a daily warrior.

As far as all seasons i do have a set of wheels and ziex 512's but i'm prolly going to be selling those soon. This is becoming less and less a daily, and more and more a weekend warrior.

275/40 is the only option i've seen for a 275 in the rear on a 17 inch rim in the r comps section. I'm not too concerned with it "messing up the gearing" (only problem with running a taller tire will be the speedo will underread my actual speed).

[Congogrey]

I can not speak for track days but you will want to consider gearing with Auto-x. The tracks are very small and 1-2% difference can keep you from being competitive (esp. in SM where cars are much more developed).

[Verik]

I can not speak for track days but you will want to consider gearing with Auto-x. The tracks are very small and 1-2% difference can keep you from being competitive (esp. in SM where cars are much more developed).

Thanks for the heads up on SM. I've heard quite a bit that SM is extremely competitive for the scca poitns series but honestly I'm not really interested in competing heavily in autox.... My neighbor is a qualified instructor at RA so I'm going to be hopefully out there quite a bit to get some track hours and this season I really would like to attend the last half of the south east nasa tt series.... though I dunno what class i qualify in yet bc of the online form is down.

[Big Baller]

Don't run V700s on the street. The extra heat cycles will basically kill the tire.

If you really want to be competative then you need a dedicated set of track tires.

Oh and a parking lot is not a track. I'm not being a smartass there is a diffrence. If you want to win at an autocross buy Hoosier A6s

Matt

[Black R]

everything Matt said is right - except for the part where he got spanked at autox. :P

ra1's are pretty good for road course. the new nitto's are supposed to be decent too.

www.edgeracing.com has some good prices on a few tires.

i love hoosiers, but they don't seem to last as long as say kumho's - you just have to decide between ultimate grip or getting a couple extra laps (or even events) out of them.....

if you like the ao32's, then you should look into the ao38's and ao48's... you can get them from a cdn importer - often at quite a discount, and they are quite sticky.....

[StraightSix]

My neighbor is a qualified instructor at RA so I'm going to be hopefully out there quite a bit to get some track hours and this season I really would like to attend the last half of the south east nasa tt series.... though I dunno what class i qualify in yet bc of the online form is down.

If you're really serious about running TT with NASA, lmk, I'll put you in contact with the people you need to talk to about competing.