Quote:
Originally Posted by turbocat
I also agree with you both.
I ran all last season's local Auto-X on Hankook RS3s 225/45/17. Grippy but they hid a lot of my bad driving. It felt good but I wasn't learning as much as I should.
I just went to this season's first event. I was lazy and left my stock Michelin Primacy tires on for this event. Although the car was slower/less grip, it wasn't a tail happy drift machine either. It was very predictable and controllable. I had my air pressure up to 40PSI all around and the corner block wear was running true with the guide marks. IMHO the stock tires only lose grip when you aren't giving smooth inputs to the car. It sounds obvious but it isn't to most people. Not once was the car drifting with the tires ablaze rounding a corner. Sure they protested a little, but nothing that I couldn't correct and keep on line. Some car control education goes a long way. Its very eye opening to drive the stock tires on the limit in a safe environment.  |
I agree with the point you're making, and track and autox my car with less-than-ideal Sumitomo HTR ZIII for that reason, but I think it's important when people say "stock" tires to distinguish between summer Primacy's and AS Turanzas.
Orthojoe did some testing on track and found the stock Primacys were very close to MPSS in overall peak grip on an otherwise stock Twin, with slightly faster breakaway characteristics. So the stock Primacys might actually be just a shade below true summer performance tires in terms of peak grip.
The other "stock" tire (AS Turanza EL400-02) isn't going to come anywhere near that level of performance. So it might be a different story for people with that stock tire.