Choosing "street" tires for 2015

[SilverYota]

Yeah, time to buy some new autocross tires. But which tires? Mark Foley, Opie, and Sam continue to go fast, and I know everyone else is looking at ways to go faster. I'm talking of autocross street tires, of course, but there are at least 5 possible choices this year. Maybe this will stimulate a discussion so we all (in street or ST, that is) will have better information to know what to buy.

Here are the contenders I know of in alphabetical order:
BF Goodrich Rival "S"
Bridgestone RE71R
Dunlop Direzza Z2 "Star Spec"
Hankook Ventus R-S3 "Version 2"
Kumho V720

The early results from Solo Tour and Pro Solo events this year show that the Bridgestones and Hankooks are the favorites so far. The guy at the Tire Rack I talked to thought that the Dunlops were best. The BFGs and Kumhos are just now getting out there I think.

What do you think? Please comment.

Bud

Thought I would start a discussion here on this subject, I am in need of tires and thinking the $70 off Bridgestones is going to make them worth trying. The Rival S might wind up being the fastest tire at Lincoln (after all the site specific testing they did last year it should be) but I have no plans on running there. I know it's a new compound but felt like the "old" Rival heat cycled quickly and wanted more camber than the FX16 could give. The pressures always wound up so low it looked like you were driving on the sidewalls even @ ~2.7° of camber. Hoping the supposed stiff sidewall of the 'Stones will help with this.

As a side note I asked my daughter (who is scary good at guessing correctly) which tire I should run btw the Rival, Bridgestone, and Hankook and she choose the Bridgestone. There was one caveat though, I apparently need to find pink ones ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[mulkio]

I have used the Hankook rs3 v2 for 2 events so far. They have good feel on initial turn in, with a nice overall feeling. I heard they like the heat. Bring on summer temperature. ( at least on auto x day! ) I think I need to run higher pressure in the fronts, after looking at Hatfield's pictures from last event. Plan to test them some at the vette club auto x this weekend. Granted the Hankook logo & flame graphics imprinted on the tread is still there, I hope they break in some with more runs/mileage. #my2cents

[flogger]

I debated this quite a bit in my head, but wound up changing classes to FSP and going to R-compounds this year. Classing for my Rabbit GTI in ST was getting ridiculous in that I was lumped in with the spec Civics and Miatas. That's the same boat Matt's stuck in. I already had some 13x9 wheels from playing in FSP a decade ago and I scored a massive deal on some R-compound tires. I got Hankook Z214s sized 225/45/13 in C71 compound for $115 each, shipped. If I can squeeze 2 years of use out of them with the use of some Formula V, then these will be cheaper than street tires for me. They're about an inch narrower than the 255/40/13 A6 (and now A7) Hoosiers that the fast FSP guys run, but they're also less than half the price.

Now the rest of the car is wildly underprepared in that I have not done an allowed engine swap that would net me more than 50% more power and I haven't installed an LSD or swapped to a more appropriately geared trans. The car's also about 300 lbs heavy compared to the Nationals guys. Still, it's fun to have a bunch more grip and I'm just a regional kind of guy with no National aspirations.

Anyhow, street tires.... I had been using Rivals the previous two years, and loved 'em. They were the easiest to drive on performance tire I've ever used. They performed very well in a wide range of slip angles and gave terrific feedback. I didn't have to spray them down to cool them and they didn't degrade as severely in the cold as some other tires I've used. They did, however, cycle out and I definitely got slower on them the second year. I could tell by the seat of the pants and also on the clock. My guess on the new Rival S model is that it will have similiar characteristics, but be grippier and cycle out quicker as is typical of softer tread compounds. That's purely speculation on my part, though. Oh, and a side note - Matt and I ran the same size tire (205/50/15) , I think on the same size wheel (15x7) and have fairly similiar weights and "front heaviedness", but I ran much higher pressures. I hovered around 34-36 in the front and I forgot how low he ran, but I remember being shocked when he told me. Maybe some of that difference is a reflection of my ham-fisted driving style.

If I had gotten new street tires this year for the Rabbit it would have been between the Rival S and the Dunlops.
If I wanted to go much faster in my Mercedes than the rain tires I have on there to be safe in bad weather when daily driving with my kids in the back seat I'd go with the R-S3 Version 2s. Car weight and camber are the biggest factors distinguishing the different choices, in my opinion.

[budweeks]

Well, I had every intention of ordering tires this morning but circumstances have conspired to make me wait.

I've checked results from the first 5 Solo Tours and Pro Solos, especially the most recent two, and its pretty clear that most of the class winners are using the Bridgestone RE71R. Now, the most recent of these events were run on concrete in California, which means the RE71R may like concrete and not asphalt, but then I have no evidence that that is true. At any rate, those results were enough to sway me toward the Bridgestones. Then I called Tire Rack and found that they sold out of the tire and won't have any more in for a month or so. My second choice I guess would be the Hankooks, but they don't come in the size I want, 205/50-15 and I would have to go down a size to 195s. Shorter gearing, a little less width......what to do? Considering that the Rival S is still in the process of getting into circulation and that the Kumho V720 is apparently not out there yet, and considering that we have a gap in our schedule from May 2 to June 13-14, I've decided to wait a little longer. Sam, are you listening? A month from now it should be clearer what is the tire to have.

In the meantime there are plenty of things to work on with my driving.

Bud

[JimR]

As of today, the Kumho V720 is now listed on Tire Rack in the requisite six sizes and four diameters required by the rules to be eligible for National-level Solo this year. They needed to have them in stock by April 30, and 205/50-15 shows estimated availability of 4/30/2015.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... Ecsta+V720

[SilverYota]

Still no treadwear rating listed on the V720, though everyone expects them to be "street". Has anyone called to confirm that it will be 200 or more?

[JimR]

I saw a picture of a US-spec V720 sidewall, and it was stamped 200 treadwear. No worries there. A few of the V720 sizes have been on sale for a week or two.

Grassroots Motorsports should have an autocross street tire comparison test soon. I'm not sure if the V720 will be included, though.

[budweeks]

Well, it looks like I've rolled the dice. Yesterday, after much study, checking national tour results, and conversation, I ordered a set of Bridgestone RE71R tires for autocross from the Tire Rack. In yesterday's mail came the latest issue of Grassroots Motorsport with a tire test of....you guessed it.....all the top autocross tires in....you guessed it again....205/50-15 size, although a Miata in ST with 8 in. wide wheels was used. The results showed the BFG Rival S to be the top tire, although it wasn't a knockout over the RE71R by any means. Based on that evidence, and that the Rival appears to tolerate larger slip angles which I think has always suited my driving style, I called Tire Rack this morning and changed my order. So, considering that the RE71R apparently drives very much like the Dunlops I've been on for the past year, moving to the Rival S will take some adjustment of those set-screws in my brain. There's not a lot in my car that can be adjusted. We'll see how it goes.

This might come up snake eyes or it might come up....well...er....you know I really don't know much about dice games but you get the picture.

Bud

[SilverYota]

If anyone is looking for the popular sizes (205/15" or 245/17") of the RE 71R and having no luck with Tire Rack, then give Firestone store in Springfield at 814 S Glenstone Ave a call. They have a limited # in both sizes, and are even a little less expensive then Tire Rack once you figure in shipping, at least for the 15's not sure on 17" prices. Ask for Ryan.