Street tire recommendations

[mhiscott]

It’s that time again to buy tires. I’m looking for some input on what to run this season as a street tire, capable of track use and autox.

My past tires have always been geared towards competitive autox use, RE11A, Star specs, RT615s, RS3s. If I was looking for a slalom only tire, I’d be buying RE71Rs.

This year, however, I’m looking for something that isn’t an autox killer tire. I won’t be racing competitively in slalom, and instead would prefer something more suitable for street use. I have Hoosier R7s to use at the track, and I won’t be shooting for top times in autox.

Initially, I was pretty well set on getting Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I’m not sure these will present me with the best value though. The cost to performance ratio might not be the best. I am fairly hard on my street tires, and slide the car quite a bit. I like a tire with predictable behaviour at the limit. Not a “grip grip grip, then suddenly no grip” tire.

Something in the ~ 340 treadwear area, that likes a decent bit of camber and has reasonable stiff sidewalls is what I’m looking for. I run ~ -3 fr/-2.5 rr, even on the street.

The car is a Scion FRS running 245/40r17s on 17x9 Wedsport TC105s.

Anyone have any input? Thanks in advance

Coles notes:
-Need tires
-Ideally cheaper than Pilot Super Sports which seem well suited to my needs
-No 180-200 treadwear autox tires
-Ability to hold grip without heat cycling out (lots of power on oversteer)
-Stiff sidewalls for good turn-in

[D_Thissen]

I have RE760s on my frs. They have a 340 treadwear (UHP), relatively stiff sidewall and found them fairly predictable even in the wet. Im not sure they would make a great track tire though. I have heard they don't like too many heat cycles.

MPSS run about 200 bucks a tire and these were about 160-170 CAD a piece for a 225/45R17.

225/45R17 compared to the OEM tire.

[mhiscott]

The RE760s are apparently very similar to the new Firehawk Indy 500s which are almost criminally cheap lol. Both are worth considering.

This link is a good read comparing those two against the MPSS

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...p-Michelin-PSS

[jasonojordan]

I have continental DW's 245 40 17's are apx $145 a tire.

[mhiscott]

Cheapest I can find the MPSS for is $260ish a tire (in Canada). I actually have the DWs on now (they came with my used TC105ns). They're probably a few years old now, so they're a bit hard and dicey.

Thanks for the mini review D_Thissen

[D_Thissen]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...o_desktop=true

[Clipdat]

Toyo T1 Sport

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Toyo T1 Sport

I had a set of these sized 225/45r17 loaned to me for one autocross day last year. I found they are very comparable to the Primacies in ultimate grip but tended to break away more suddenly. If you are interested in a step up from OEM, this isn't it but I'm sure they are fine to have a bit of fun with.

[Clipdat]

Are you sure we're talking about the same tire? Toyo Proxes T1 Sport? It's a 240 treadwear tire, it's not even comparable to the stock tires.

https://www.toyotires.com/tire/patte...e-summer-tires

Originally Posted by Lynxis

I had a set of these sized 225/45r17 loaned to me for one autocross day last year. I found they are very comparable to the Primacies in ultimate grip but tended to break away more suddenly. If you are interested in a step up from OEM, this isn't it but I'm sure they are fine to have a bit of fun with.

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Are you sure we're talking about the same tire? Toyo Proxes T1 Sport? It's a 240 treadwear tire, it's not even comparable to the stock tires.

https://www.toyotires.com/tire/patte...e-summer-tires

Yes, we are definitely talking about the same tire. The Primacies are also a 240 tw tire and the grip levels were similar. I was sliding and spinning tons on the Toyos, in fact my avatar and sig images were taken while I was on the borrowed T1s.

[Clipdat]

Wow that is really surprising to me. I have the T1 Sport in 245/40/17 and it provides me with insane levels of mechanical grip. Sorry your experience with them was less than ideal.

I also didn't know the Primacies were a 240 tw tire, my bad.

[DAEMANO]

@mhiscott

You're looking for exactly the same thing I was a year ago. After quite a bit of research I ended up going with BFG GeForce Sport Comp-2s (longest name ever). This has turned out to be a terrific street alternative to MPSS at a great price. Keep in mind the BFGs run WIDE at the tread. TireRack's test results are here http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=192

As far as value goes, for the size you're looking for they're currently $164.00 CAD each at 1010 Tires. The same size MPSS is $230 CAD ea at 1010. http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/BFGoo...t+COMP-2/55411

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Wow that is really surprising to me. I have the T1 Sport in 245/40/17 and it provides me with insane levels of mechanical grip. Sorry your experience with them was less than ideal.

I also didn't know the Primacies were a 240 tw tire, my bad.

I guess I should be fair as well, mine were worn WRX take offs that I was just borrowing for the event and I have no idea how they were used before I got them so it's possible they were heat cycled out. My feeling though was that they held onto grip better until they snapped loose. On the Primacies, I could feel the car start to slide a bit sooner before they totally lost grip. In the end, I felt that point you completely lost grip was very similar on both tires. Also as you mentioned, you're on 245s which are definitely going to have a grip advantage so it's hard to say really.

[jvincent]

I ran the Hankook V-12 Evo2 last year and was quite happy with them.

I am running the Yokohama Advan V105 this year but only have one track day on them so far so I don't have a full impression yet. They are very nice on the street though pretty quiet no squirm. I switched to these because they are asymmetric so I can corner rotate the tires, and are a 240 wear compared to the Hankook which were 340.