Track-only Race Compound Tires recommendations & Q's. On stock wheels.
 

Can you recommend me some nice race compound track-only tires that would work the best on the stock wheels?

I assume the stock 7" wheel would work best with something like a 225, correct?

Also, a good question: Would a "Race/track-only" tire in 225 on a 7", out perform a "Street" tire in 245 on a 9" wheel (ie: like a DD setup of RPF1 9" wheels with PSS/D2/RS3/RE11 Street tires)?? Asking, because if the 225 Race tire is only just a tad better than a 245 Street tire, or if the 245 Street tire is almost as good or better than a 225 Race tire, then I would most likely not even bother having nor using an extra set of track-only tires on stock wheels (and will just slang them stock wheels). But, if them 225 race tires are much better and worth it for the track, then of course I will use them :)

Obviously, I will most likely just run them on nice sunny days at the track (for fun/hobby). Button Willow and Willow Springs.

That said, recommendations for track/only race tires/slicks/etc. that will fit and work nicely on the stock wheels very welcome
:burnrubber:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38865

These guys know what's up. Look at the more popular tracks to see the well-tuned setups.

If you've thoroughly pushed the limits of a normal sized "street" tire like an RS3 or ZII, then the upgrade to 225 Hoosiers will be appreciated in dry conditions. Wider tires do give you more final grip, but there's a cost. To me, they feel a bit scrubby, numb, noisy, and under-utilized. Just my 2 cents.

I don't plan on being the fastest guy out there, but there's plenty of fun to be had with a light and simple setup like mine (215/45-17 Dunlop ZII's and 17x7 Enkei RPF1's). Whatever configuration lets you enjoy the experience.

Depends on how much money you want to spend and what kind of longevity you want.

Hoosier A6 is probably the easiest option, and 225 is a good size. It will easily be faster than a 245 street tire. True slicks it's kind of hard to say.

I guess people have been using 245 A6's on stock 7" wheels with great success and is the preferred tire width (since I read the A6's have stiff sidewalls and are really designed and okay to be used with slim/skinny/thin wheels)
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...3&postcount=27


245 A6 tires + W7/XP12/999 pads sounds like a great weekend track setup, a bit more "serious" than street/dd tires&pads and at the same time not super expensive/impossible to get.

I just put on NT01's (215/45R17) on my stock wheels, and there is a TON of grip in that size and compound with stock power levels. I love the setup.

Your original post seemed to indicate you're only interested in track days, so if you're sticking with 17x7" wheels, I really think you'll be better off with 225/45 A6s (or another tire in that size). I've used 245 Hoosier A6s on stock sized 17x7" wheels for AutoX and they perform great for AutoX, but I really don't think it will be ideal for you on a road course.

Another thing you should consider is that a set of A6s barely last for 80-100, 60 second AutoX runs. If you run a couple full-day track sessions on A6s, those things will be done in a hurry. I think R6s would be a better choice for track days and will last longer. They will tolerate longer sessions without getting "greasy" and once they're up-to-temp, the grip will still be close to an A6.

Serious race compound? 195 or 205 width Hoosier A6, or Hankook C91

Don't try to street drive on them.

Btw: what's the shelf-life of these A6 and R6 tires? 1, 2, 3 years? And, how should they be stored when not in use? ie: in the garage (never outside) and also covered in towels or trashbags. Just asking because I read once upon a quick research, that they tend to dry, dry rot and crack if they are more than 2-3 years old in storage and should be thrown away. Idk if that's true though. If they really do have a super short shelf life, I may just opt out and just stick with street tires...as I don't really want to spend +1k on race tires just to find out they turned into dust after a year or two, after maybe taking an unforeseen/unexpected short break from racing and not using them for a little bit (I move around a lot).

Are those NT01s decent and considerably better than the usual PSS/Z2/RE11/RS3/AD08 street tires? Those look kind of street'y too and have a high wear rating of 100 just like street tires as well.

What's your experience like? I would try either some really nice street tires (RS3 for instance) or an R compound (NT-01) before going straight to slicks if you've never driven on them before.

And yes, the NT-01 is a huge step up from a street tire.

n00b/nil road coarse track experience.

I didn't realize you didn't have any road course experience. In that case, I'd stay away from any r-compound or "race slicks". It just won't be worth the money. A nice "extreme" performance tire in 215 or 225 will be great and will provide all the performance you can handle for many track sessions. Plus you can drive them to and from the track, where you wouldn't want to do that on race slicks or r-compounds.

Reading smbstyle's build track car thread...nice.

I plan on getting 17x9 rpf1's (or maybe a diff wheel) with 245 street tires for my DD (most likely Z2, or PSS, RE11, AD08, etc....which are "extreme" street tires already I know). But, I just wanted to save the stock wheels specifically for track days and lace them up with something better than my DD setup.

So..just sayin, it'd be pointless to wrap my stock wheels with a similar extreme street tire to those on my 17x9s DD setup (and at the same time, they would be an even skinnier 7" stock wheel and skinnier 215-225 street tires than my DD setup...basically, it'd be worse than my DD setup), might as well just use my DD setup for the track.

I'll prolly look into the NT01's more..since they seem a bit more n00b friendly, have a longer life, and not as hardcore as the A6 slicks.

Oh okay, I hear you on that. Funny thing is, my setup is the exact opposite. I have 215/45 Michelin PSS mounted on the stock wheels for daily driving and then I have separate 17x9 wheels with 245/40 ZIIs for AutoX and track. I know the stock wheels aren't "sexy" around town, but from a practicality standpoint it works for me.

Anyway, good luck with your decision. R-compounds are certainly a lot of fun!

Ah...yes that makes perfect sense if you're more serious about racing than just looking good around town :)

Given your experience (or lack of), I'd recommend you use your stock tires, or RE-11A

Shelf life is relevant, and most people will get a new set of slicks every season (if they last that long).

The heat cycling is an equally big deal. If you're driving like a drift king, they may overheat or unevenly heat. If you watch your tire temps closely and maintain reasonable levels and good distribution, you'll get alot more cycles. According to these guys, they saw anywhere from 6 - 30 heat cycles:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...R6-Heat-Cycles

That said, if you go for serious rubber, get a pyrometer and a lawn sprayer (or thermal blankets if you go for 255's (lol)).

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61655

new thread I started with some pretttty unique racing tires :)

Actually the RE-11A's on stock wheels is a great idea. TONS of grip for that tire, but still enough to learn on, and you can drive to and from the event on them, AND run them on track in the rain.

The thing is with NT01s or any R-comp or slick, you are running on the ragged edge before they break away. When they do break away, mid-corner, you're carrying so much speed vs. a street tire that there is barely any margin for error, and by the time the grip breaks away, it's already too late. You should be at the skill level that you are giving the car inputs BEFORE grip breaks away, as you can already feel what the car is ABOUT to do, before you start running R-comps or slicks. That skill level comes with seat time, and usually includes a few spins or tank slappers while exploring the limits of the car. But that's just my opinion.

Here's a video to demonstrate that; mid corner with my PSS I can feel the car is about to step out, and give it a bit of opposite input as well as maintain throttle to set the back end, BEFORE it even begins to step out. If I didn't have the seat time, and reacted after it began to step out, I would have probably eaten the outside wall. Even with that little input, I maybe had 6 inches to spare on that outer wall at track out. Like I said before, not much room for error when you are carrying lots of speed through the corners.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nsSspwIZJ8"]Getting Loose in Turn 17 at Sebring - YouTube[/ame]

Thanks for that link. Seems like most on there are running A6 and ZII street tires, as well as RS3 and a few RE11a.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions... I will just use my future DD wheel/tire setup for those occasional track days; and it should be more than sufficient enough for my beginner levels. ZII or the RE11a sounds awesome for both DD and track. It will be a while anyways, until I will really be able to push the limits of all these great street tires; and, for now it will just be for fun/learning anyways. So, until then, I'll just run street tires...then maybe in the future, if I ever "graduate" and am able to push the car and these extreme street tires outside of their boundaries, want to get a bit more serious and need more grip, then I will get some Hoosiers ...but for now, them sexy ZII's and RE11a's will do.

I know the Z1's were always a great dual duty tire for a lot of people I knew who tracked their dailies. They do get greasy though when they get hot. The RS3 is what most people I know used before they graduated to R compounds or higher.

Basically if you want better dry performance the RS3 is where it's at. If you want better wet performance I believe the ZII will be the better choice (in my opinion).

Honestly just get some good track pads and change out your brake fluid and go out there and have fun. You'll learn a ton about the car and high performance driving and you'll appreciate better tires that much more when you do upgrade.

Iirc, I had the old Z1's or very similar Dunlops on my S13 around 1999-2001. Never tracked it... only went on aggressive canyon runs and a few light drift events (weeee lol).

Most likely going to get ZIIs. About greasing...I keep reading that PSS grease even more easily at the track when it gets hot, more so than any other of the top extreme tires (the ZII, RS3, etc.). I was really close to getting PSS from all the rave reviews about its' good dry/wet/dd grip...but I bet I would be disappointed with them during a good full day at the track and keep reading bad things about them during tracking (so the PSS are off my list I think). I read the ZII's are better at the track and less likely to grease as quick and lose traction than PSS, correct? I will def look into the RS3 too. As for the RE11a...not really reading too many reviews on them, maybe theyre new?? How do the RE11a stack up to the ZII and RS3?

So far my top choices are ZII, maybe RS3, absolutely not PSS (keep reading it greases up quick and loses a lot of traction on a full track day)...wondering if I should include the RE11a to the list and how they stack up to the ZII/RS3 for track.

Of course, there are already several extreme street tire threads, so I don't mean to resurrect the same ole question and I have read almost all of them, multiple times (but of course, still get lost as it can be very subjective and also mixed in with wet traction/wear/noise characteristics).

Many of those tire threads take into account added DD'ability, wet traction, noise, etc...BUT, if I were to toss out All concern of road noise, DD'ability, wear, wet traction, etc ..how would you rank them based purely on Dry traction, best heat distribution, least amount of greasing, just plain best track'ability ...basically can you give me a ranking of the best dry traction of the following street tires purely for the track (F wear/wet/DD characteristics): ZII, RS3, PSS, AD08, RE11a

thanks ;)

for TRACK and not auto-x use.... RS3 by far, out of those choices, in terms of grippiest tire that can take heat and abuse, with the PSS at the very bottom of that list.

MPSS are certainly greasy when you overdrive them at the track. A truly smooth driver could probably keep the temps down enough to stick like glue. On the street, they're amazing.

What would be the longest lasting stock-wheel tire a person could get for the track? I want something that won't compromise performance so badly that the brakes overheat with huge braking distances.

Ya...that's what I assumed - PSS dead last for track use.

What about the ZII, AD08 and RE11a..where do they rank in that list? I assume ZII or AD08 would prolly be 2nd place after the RS3?

Just in case if you haven't seen @CSG Mike experimentation of tires for the past few years. He has gone through multiple sets of each tire compound to give you some comparison...

http://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/8391...-z2-vs-rivals/

Cornering, by definition, heats up the tires...

In order of grip, for the FRS (this changes with platforms):

RS3 > Z2 > AD08R = RE11A

Thanks Mike, made it much easier in the easiest of posts :)

...I've seen your s2ki link before and only brushed through it. I'll read it more in depth soon.