Hey all, I'm soon to be in need of new tires for Huntley. Obviously, I'm looking for something handy on the track. I looked at tirerack and all they have are the Pirelli run flats and the Yokohama Sdrive, which I have now and am ok with. Any suggestions? Oh, and they're 205/40/18s Thanks!
I strongly second that, However just a key tip with the tire rack, they generally are hugely conservative when it comes to wheel choice size and what they will suggest as "allowable" However if you know what your looking for Say a 215/45/18 like your car has you can search by size and the type of performance tire that suits you. Hope that helps I also like some of the Yokohama tires as well as Dunlop Starspecs just keep in mind they are somewhat loud. Also it depends on what wheel your looking for. If your thinking about tracking and putting a separate set of wheels on it I suggest 949 6UL wheels. as well as Kosei K1 and the Motegi Track lites.
Along with 205/40-18 you might want to look at 215/40-18. About what treadwear rating do you want? How long would you like the tire to last for street driving? How many track days do you do each year? Do you also Auto-X the car? It is all a compromise between wear and stickiness.
Well, I'm thinking that I need to set the GP up with an extra set of track/AutoX tires. I plan on doing 3-4 track days, 10 or so autoX and whatever group runs we come up with. The fact that the Yokohamas have lasted about 5k and 1 track day make me cringe. They weren't brand new when I bought the car, but about 90%. So I'm thinking super sticky track set and performance fun street set. Thanks for the tips!
Here is a Grassroots Motorsports article on tires that might interest you for track/auto-x plus you can drive on the street, such as to an event. If you are going to two sets of wheels/tires you might consider full race tires for one set and good performance tires for the other set. Top Tires: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Articles
Not at all, I hate them. My Yokohamas are normal tires. Thanks for the article, I'll continue with my research. New wheels are eating into my track time budget :frown2: But I think it'll be the most cost effective way to go in the long run.
If you want to set up the car for the track..........email Ian or myself and I will help you get the proper wheel/tire combo's with spacer measurements for your car as I have them from my GP:devil:
Another great track wheel are the Konig Feathers. Nice and light and very well made and best of all CHEAP. My suggestion would be to go for some dedicated track tire/wheels and then some nice daily driver tire/wheels. You can fit the 4 tires in the back easily when going for a track day. Oh....and the best way to shop for tires is to simply search for the size you want. Most websites are going to limit you to a very small choice if you search for tires using your car as the starting point.
Thanks for the tips, I think I'm going to go smaller 17s for the track, and then a good DD tire. Still researching. I really like the motegi rims, they seem light and well priced, and sharp. Any thoughts?
Re: tires, I'm a big fan of the Star Specs. They heat up fast but you can drive the snot out of them all day long and they'll hold up well and drive consistently. Full depth they're really quick in the rain, too. I'm on my third set for a DE/DD car.
The Yokohama Neova ADO8 has worked great for me as my DE tire. Trick to them is tire pressure, they don't like as much pressure as other tires I've used, believe that is due to a stiffer sidewall. But get the pressure right and they go very well! 2cents
I had the s drives and was not too impressed. They got really noisy over time as well. Got a set of Bridgestone RE760 Sports from Tire Rack and have been really happy with them. Never been on the track with them.
I like the Falken RT615s for the DEs I take [usually2-3 over the Summer]. In early Spring and/or late Fall [1-2], I usually run Kumho ASX all seasons, because at Mid Ohio or Putnam Park [at that time of year], you never know what kind of weather to expect. Besides, the ASX tires are cheap, so if they don't last more than a coupla years, it's not such a biggie.
I'm tempted, and some of the autoX group have run 15s on their GPs. But one of the forums said that there isn't enough airflow to cool the brakes for HPDE. I don't really want to catch the brake on fire, as much fun as Ian has doing it :cornut: The other issue is ground clearance, how much lower is the car with 15s? I already had to have the trailer redesigned to get the GP on it.