(2015) 200+ Treadwear Autocross Street Tire Thread
 

I'm trying to shop for Auto-x tires for this season (my first time ever trying to run a full season) and right now early in 2015, the list of available tires is changing rapidly. So I figured I would start a thread of whats out there for this year and whats coming soon, feel free to add your input and correct anything if need be:


Hankook Ventus R-S3 (Version 2) - The go-to tire recently due to price and dry grip, but availability can vary depending on your size, and the new compound may have compromised performance with the competition.

Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Specs - Another go-to tire, but pretty stiff for daily driving supposedly. Good in the wet, plenty are available currently.

Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R - Replacement for the RE-11A. Price is competitive with the rest, also early events are showing this tire is very competitive with the Dunlops and Hankooks. Might wear rather quickly. Not much info for street driving yet.


BFGoodrich g-Force Rival S - New Rival replacement. Early word is that its much stickier, but no real info as yet.

BFGoodrich g-Force Rival - Had issues with lack of feedback to the driver, fast tire in certain conditions. (Currently on closeout on Tirerack)

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11A - More of a daily-driver tire, comfortable for daily use but loud on the track and not as competitive (Just went closeout on Tirerack, probably switching over to just RE-11's from now on)

Kumho V720 - New tire, replacing the XS and should be over 200 treadwear. Looking at a spring release like a few of the other tires listed here, no other info.

Toyo Proxes R1R - Certain sizes are having their ratings changed to 200tw currently on Tirerack, mixed reviews out there but might be a competitor.

GT Radial Champiro SX2 - These tires actually have a contingency! Less total grip than some of the best in this class, but doesn't overheat quickly and has good predictability.

Falken Azenis RT615K - Been around a long time. Usually issues with overheating quickly, not up to par with the current crop but that may have changed.

Nitto NT05 - Another old tire. Probably not up to snuff either.



So basically, right now there are AT LEAST 3 new tires on the way and not much of any info on how everything is stacking up...

Pretty interesting time to be trying to buy tires for sure :iono:

Let me know if I forgot anything...

I have tried both the Rivals and the Dunlop ZII star spec and the Dunlop is way better than the Rivals. They are noisy on the road though.

What is wrong with the Rivals?

I'll be using up my RE11As in CS this year as well as a couple track days. I agree with your previous statement, they are basically 0.5 to 1 step above the Michelin Pilot Super Sports but just off the others.

The Rivals would not work well for auto x as they needed time to heat up. Also on the road race track after lap 7 they would fall of the cliff and lose grip unless you completely back off and let them cool. Another thing I didn't like about them is that after multiple heat cycles (30-40) they became very hard.

Though rumors suggested a tread compound change, TireRack is suggesting Toyo hasn't changed anything but the TW rating on the R1R. From what I've gathered, this means they're just not going to perform well for us (except maybe the 235/40/17 size,) assuming we don't all go shave the tires to whatever the magic number is.

My opinion isn't worth much as I've never run ANY of these tires - last time I actively AutoX'd there was just one tire to have. Just adding some noise to the discussion based on what I'd been reading, since I am trying to decide what tire to run this year. Timing is likely to be huge.

I have been a ZII man for several seasons now and love them. Around here we have a fair amount of cold/wet events. The Rs3 V2's thought are "supposed" to be the tire to have this year, and I thought about trying them, but the availability is a bit of a challenge. The Star Spec ZII i.e. the newest one is supposed to be improved, so I may stick in that camp. I am running 245/40/17's in an STX prepped car.

How are the AD08R's? Early tests looked promising on them, but I wasn't following how they actually worked out through the summer.

They have a 200 rated version? I've only seen 180.

They are not 200 treadwear and thus not useable this season, and not relevant to this thread.

Added the Kumho V720 to the list, looks like another spring release tire.

I ran Rivals last season. They were certainly easy to drive, but were not the fastest out there. My money is on the New Z2, but I am going to wait to see some reviews and comparos first.

The same could be said for the RS3s. The Version 1 required A LOT of heat to work, but it was the tire to have. Ther Version 2 requires less heat work, but still require more heat than the Rivals. I believe the issue with the Rivals is they picked up OPR at Lincoln (if someone wants to correct me on that, please do). The Rivals is still good a autox tire, though.

I really do hope that's true. I've been hearing rumors about the V720 for a very long time now.

as a fellow competitor once put it "they're fastest when they're trying to kill you"


but overall this tire has gotten the most mixed reviews out of all them.