Got a track related question? I'll try to answer.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Uplink

Wow, 17" sizes are horribly limited. 215 or 255 only... and $350/ea at that! Pass.

Have you guys looked at the Rival S's? Half the price and can pull triple duty (track/ax/street). I'd say Kumho XS for 180tw but it looks like those have gone the way of the buffalo.
For shorter sessions, the RE71-R's have been making a good name for themselves. No real data on 30+minute sessions though.

This discussion is in the context of the European market (price and availability are totally different) and the Rival S and RE71R are specifically designed for AutoX competition, BFG and Bridgestone would probably recommend the regular Rival and the old RE-11 for track duty as they're more durable and designed for multiple sustained heat cycles.

[Uplink]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

This discussion is in the context of the European market (price and availability are totally different) and the Rival S and RE71R are specifically designed for AutoX competition, BFG and Bridgestone would probably recommend the regular Rival and the old RE-11 for track duty as they're more durable and designed for multiple sustained heat cycles.

Oh, my bad, I thought Euro was almost 2:1 to the dollar. Just checked and they're taking a beating @1.1:1. So yes, @~$180ea they are the normal price we'd pay here. Still limited to stock or way oversized meaning suspension mods to run the larger size.

Most of the e30/e36 M3 guys that I run with use Rival S to pull double duty. It depends on how much 'extra' driving you do on them, ie. daily tire will cycle out far quicker. The main thing that suffers though is cool/wet grip. On a hot/dry day they still get plenty grippy.

I guess it comes down to exactly what he's looking for in the tires. A set for TT to throw down a few faster than fast laps (I think he said only 10-15 min sessions), or something to have fun with an entire season and not change when getting to the track.

[Tokay444]

Having run the RE71R this season, for daily driving and track days, I must say, I look forward to those cooler damp mornings, to get some of the flickability back, that it had on the stock tires, without having to really push them hard.
The whole purpose of buying them was to trip from Ontario Canada, to Tail of the Dragon with my son over the summer. I had every intent of pitching them after that, figuring they'd be finished. To my my surprise they've lasted a whole track day, and many thousands of kilometers of daily driving. I'll likely get another set. At the price they are in stock size, they're tuff to beat.

[brzest]

Thanks for all the replies.
Sorry, should have posted USD prices, so roughly the prices here are:

215/45/17 - plan to run stock wheels at the track, so perfect for me, for now.

R888R $250
A048 $295
Cup 2 $175

So if the Cup2 is the best tire and WAAAY cheaper, I think my decision might be made.

Sadly alot of the tires you guys speak of are not really available in Europe.

Out of the tires you guys suggested:

-Can't find any reference of the RE071R (or RE-11 for that matter) on the European official Bridgestone sites.
-Didn't think BFG was even in the EU market, turns out they are but list only 5 "daily/winter" tires, nothing sporty at all in their selection here.
-Kumho XS KU36 is available and at a pretty good price (~$105/tire), how do they compare to the Cup 2's?

I am open to other options though, IF I can find them here (also depends on the price, as you can see from the above prices, some tires can be half the price and others twice the price when compared to the US).

The plan is to use them for trackdays only (MAYBE also to drive to the track, but definitely not as a daily tire). I only do trackdays (no autox scene here at all), allthough sometimes we might go to kart tracks, so that's a little more like autox, I guess (allthough we still do several laps at a time, just on a slower and tighter track), but mostly it's still 'big' tracks and I try to do max 10-15 min sessions to save the brakes (went through a set of brand new CL RC6's in a day doing 20-25 min sessions). It's usually an open pitlane here, so don't have to worry about session length and getting the most out of 1 session.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

[MaximeT]

KU36 are supposed to be road tires like the ado8r that are very good at the track and work in the rain.

Not as fast as the semis your talking about.

[juliog]

Federal 595 RSR are available in Europe and are good value, specially when learning. Decent grip and good longevity. I believe you can get sets for ~ EUR 400 in 215/225.. maybe even under that, depending where you are located. Rental shops like RSR Nurburg mount those in most of their cars..

Dunlop Direzza (known as ZII in the US) is another option, overall better but a bit more expensive. Again, they will also last rather long on the street.

I would only consider Cup 2 once you've outgrown the value track tires, like the RSR.

[juliog]

Originally Posted by brzest

I just checked tirerack and was amazed at the prices in the US, the cup2's are more than double, what they are here, and R888R's are basically half of what they are here...

Shipping and import taxes! Michelins are french, so they're always going to be much cheaper in Europe

[MaximeT]

Originally Posted by juliog

Shipping and import taxes! Michelins are french, so they're always going to be much cheaper in Europe

I wish CL brakes would follow that logic :/

[Bramick]

PSS is being replaced http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111364

[kch]

I noticed some odd streaking on my brakes after this past weekend's event. AP Sprint Kit, XP10s, passenger front, inside of rotor. Track is very hard on passenger front. Any ideas why this happened?

Edit: outside looked fine, driver side looked fine.

[GSpeed]

Looks like they're getting too hot. Are you running any sort of ducting?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by kch

I noticed some odd streaking on my brakes after this past weekend's event. AP Sprint Kit, XP10s, passenger front, inside of rotor. Track is very hard on passenger front. Any ideas why this happened?

Edit: outside looked fine, driver side looked fine.

They're smearing, inside only.

Get some ducting, and/or the Porsche air guides and/or step up the pads.

[kch]

Originally Posted by GSpeed

Looks like they're getting too hot. Are you running any sort of ducting?

Nope. I didn't think I'd be able to overheat this setup, so I was mostly concerned with whether there was a problem with my brakes. If it's just getting too hot, that's an easy fix.

I'll probably go back to Cobalt XR2s and see if that fixes the problem.

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

They're smearing, inside only.

Get some ducting, and/or the Porsche air guides and/or step up the pads.

Is it normal for it to only smear on one side like this, though?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by kch

Nope. I didn't think I'd be able to overheat this setup, so I was mostly concerned with whether there was a problem with my brakes. If it's just getting too hot, that's an easy fix.

I'll probably go back to Cobalt XR2s and see if that fixes the problem.



Is it normal for it to only smear on one side like this, though?

Without brake ducts, and slight overheating yes. If you were massively overheating, you'd smear both sides, but you're right at the cusp where the inside is just barely over the limit of the pads, and the outside is not.