Tire Comparison

[Cookies]

Looking to get some advice on what route i should go with my summer tires. I plan on tracking the car once or twice a year and previously had on the Nankang NS2R's. I really loved how the car felt with these on. The car cornered really well with the stiff sidewall and they lasted pretty long with some abuse.

Looking to drop up to $600 a bit more or less is fine. Was leaning towards getting another set of NS2R's but I wanted to see what else was out there. I hear Firehawk Indy 500's are also really good.

[Westen86]

What youre looking for is a 300 Treadwear (300TW) tire. Check reviews, do your research. I personally went with the Falken Azenis FK510. Although my #1 in that category is the Continental EC Sport. Cant beat in in grip and durability. Daily friendly, rain champion.

[Muskoka800]

Perhaps not in the same price range but I thoroughly enjoy my Conti ECS.
I bought them nearly new and have done one HPDE, several Lapping evenings and ~15,000kl of DD. Lots of tread remains for continued use. I would definitely choose the same when replacement time does come. They’re great wet or dry and basically rated a close #2 behind the PS4S which is considerably pricier.
In the meantime I am looking to assemble a dedicated tire/wheel package for track only.
Good luck and happy shopping!

[ZDan]

For street with some track, I'd definitely go 200TW/Extreme Performance category. RE71R are fantastic. Will have a shortish life though, if that is a concern Hankook RS4 would be a better bet.

That said I'm trying Conti ExtremeContact Sport this year, but that's based on classification points only. I'd have to add 150+ lb. of ballast to run 200tw Extreme Perf tires...

[fminicooper]

200TW/Extreme Performance category is more track oriented usage. For twice a year track usage I will go with 300TW.
In 200TW I d like the Falken 615, more budget friendly than RE71, a second (or two) slower the first weekend (2nd weekend same or better lap time )

[DarkPira7e]

I've been daily-ing the Falken Azenis RT-615K in any weather over 40 degrees F on many different cars for the past 11 years. While it's not the ONLY tire I've run, aside tire life, I don't see an issue. If you run a well designed 200tw tire, it'll handle rain and anything else exceptionally well. Read reviews on tires to see which ones are noisy or have rock hard sidewalls, as you may not like that feedback in a tire.

I will never run anything other than a 200TW tire on daily cars as long as I can afford to. I've tried running 400tw and 300tw tires, they just always seem to be compromising something and I don't like it. That's the fun with cars though, you find what you can and cannot deal with and make choices! My choice will forever by 200TW until winter.

[EndlessAzure]

I don't recommend running a 200TW tire if your car sees a lot of street miles. Depending on how aggressive your alignment is, the tires (even 300 TW ones) won't last long unless you really stay on top of rotating and flipping them. Obviously, flipping can only be done with directional tires, not inside-outside tires.

I compromise and daily a race alignment with a street wheels/tires. I swap out to track wheels/tires when I go to events.

For the street, I typically use 300 TW class with better water clearing characteristics. I've liked the Hankook Venuts V12 Evo2 for price and performance. I think they'll last me about 20k miles (32k km), after flipping them. When I had Michelin Pilot Super Sports, they only lasted me 12k miles (20k km) before the inside edge started to show cord. These could not be flipped.

I don't have much experience with 200 TW class tires for street use. I have an extra set of wheels for my track tires (Federal RS-RR). They last about 6 road racing events and about 5-10k miles of street use before they start cording, maybe 8 events if I minimize street usage. You get what you pay for in this realm. Federals are pretty inexpensive and handle decently, but once they cross a heat/wear peak they can become a little unpredictable. Definitely terrible in the rain.

[ZDan]

I'm with DarkPira7e, definitely prefer the handling characteristics of 200tw Extreme Perf tires on the street and of course at the track. I've gotten as much as 18k life out of Hankook RS3s on the S2000 on the street.

Running -3 to -3.2 front and -2.5 rear camber I got pretty even tire wear with RE71R and NT01s on the BRZ for street/track usage. I would rotate between track events to ensure that each tire got its share of abuse at the outside front. Never had any need to flip tires.

RE71R are definitely *very* good in the wet, and have very good hydroplaning resistance for the first half of their life. Beyond halfway as they become slicks, of course hydroplaning resistance goes away a bit more so than with 300+tw Max perf tires with greater void ratio.