Batguano

I am shopping for tires and need some input. I plan to begin HPDE at VIR in February. I am looking at Toyo tires and want to know if any of you have had any experience with these tires. The dealer is recommending Toyo Proxes TPT.

TwistedRotors

iTrader: (3)

I love my Yokohama AVS ES100's.

mazdaspeed7

A friend of mine has the ES100's, and hes very happy with them, but my Bridgestone Potenza RE750's blow his tires away when it comes to grip, even moreso in the wet. And his tires are even wider than mine(245 45 16 vs 226 50 16, respectively). I had Dunlop SPort SP8000's before the Potenzas, and they were good, but nowhere near the level of the Potenzas.

gsracer

r compound or street tire?

I've had my azeni's on for a year, and they are amazing.

Mr. Eccentric

I'm running some Falken Azenis', great value for the money, z compound, good in dry and lighter rain. I don't think I'll use another tire as long as these are made.

Batguano

Thanks to all. Who makes the Azenis?

Batguano

Oops, I just realized how dumb that sounded.

theonlygreat

Bridgestone Potenza's are the best hands down for not being R compound. But be ready to pay roughly $1,000 for a set of 4.

rockshox

iTrader: (3)

theres no better street tire than the BFG G-Force KD. not potenzas not eagles not so3s. however be prepared to pay out the nose for these.

for R compound i would go with toyo ra-1. the a032r isnt quite as sticky and doesnt heat cycle as well.

rynberg

Top street tires: Bridgestone S03, Michelin Pilot Sport, BFG KD, Yokohama AVS Sport, Pirelli Pzero, Toyo T1S.

You should know that none of these tires can handle snow at all, so if that is a concern, I recommend picking up some Dunlop SP5000s.

skunks

Bridgestone S03 or goodyear gs-d3

adam c

iTrader: (2)

My Bridgestone Potenza 750's were $123 each plus shipping from the tire rack. Tire size 245/45/16. Fits perfectly on a stock FD. I like them much better than the Yokohama ES100. I have tried both.

Are we supposed to somehow know what you are talking about??

alberto_mg

HPDE at VIR = High Performance Driving Event at Virginia International Raceway

Its an east coast thing, you wouldn't understand
(joking)

cpa7man

iTrader: (2)

Good list, remember the Bridgestone Potenza S03 is a superior tire to the RE750, but as Adam said the price is much lower. The 750 is a great value.

Bat great idea to get some good tires, its the best handling upgrade you can make. Now how bout some coilovers.

The first time I heard I'm going to an HPDE at Vir I said What??? You guys sound like you have a great track with no shortage of events.

Batguano

Great track and events. We have NASA , SCCA, and some international. Thus the name Virginia International Raceway. Check it out http://www.virclub.com/

in2twins

IMHO Rockshox is correct on the street tire, I can pull in excess of 1G steady state with KDs in my 97 SupraTT, show me ANY other NON-R compound tire that can do that. This perception is backed up by tests in Sport compact, and Grassroots Motorsports.
As far as R compound their is no better buy than the Kumho V700 Victoracer(not the V700 Ecsta). They are far better than the AO32H, I have not tried the AO32S, but with the performance the Kumho offers, I see no need to try it. As far as the Ultimate R compound, it depends on how you drive, if you were very experienced(then you would not be asking), and had a "race suspension, the Hoosiers are top dog (for now). Unfortunately, they are easy to flat spot, and they go away very quickly, not to mention they are expensive. the new kid on the block will be the Kumho V710, this is a semi-slick(like the hoosier), and early reports say it is substantially faster than the RS03(hoosier). That said hoosier will have the RS04 next yeaqr, so if they can dail out the finicky nature of the 03, they may still be the fastest, if not particularly cost effective. As for the RA1, they are a great tire, not quite as fast as either Kumho, or the Hoosier, but they wear like iron, and are very consistent. if I was Ggoing to run R compounds on the street on a regular basis it would be the RA1 hands down due to its tolerance for excessive heat cycles. If you do alot of reading, you will find that my recomendations are supported by virtually every perfomance magazine, and are based on test resul;ts covering most every tire mentioned here. The one lower priced contender that nearly equals the TAKD is the Kumho Ecsta tire. Regards, Carl Byck

dis1

opinions opinions opinions... all good but I suggest taking each with a grain of salt. However I do think if you start seeing people say the same thing its something to go on. I have info on my site regarding picking tires. I do my best not to offer up opinions but instead offer a way to sort through opinions and take a close look at side by side comparisons.

93redFD

sense were talking about tires, what are semi slicks? I mentioned this in another thread and someone said mt et streets, i wasnt really looking for that answer, I thought there was sort of a road tire. Are semi slicks "R" compound?
what kind of tire are these?

Montrealer

If we are talking about streetable R-compoud tires, in2twins is correct in saying that the Ra-1 is the best value for the $$$ because of treadwear and consistensy after multiple heat cycles.

When we move on to stree tires STS and STX autocross results are the best proving grounds for a all out performance street tire.

See for yourself what top runner use:
(for people who dont know, STS and STX are limited to street tires so no R-compounds allowed)

STS
http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/na...sults/sts.html (if I remeber correctly the knumo MX was not available yet when this event took place)

once the MX were out:
http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/na...sults/sts.html

STX
http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/na...roups/stx.html

These results do not necessairly mean that the BFG KD's have inferior ulitimate grip than the other top running tires, but it does lead to belive that the increase in grip (if any) is not worth the extra $$$, and this coming from people who will do ANYTHING at almost ANY EXPENSE to drop that extra .001 second off their time.

After analysing solo II results and current prices, the tires with the most ultimate grip for the $$$ are the falken Azenis and the khumo MX.

in2twins

When I say "semi-slicks" I am refering to the V710s, hoosiers, and ET Streets. this is a made up term which generally refers to a tire with a few groves which run the circumfrence of the tire with no other discernable tread.
As far as not offering opinions, I fail to see the value in a forum where the experiences of knowledgable members are not shared. If you just want the facts, read the tests, if you want opinions(which is what the poster asked for) from people who have used these tires in real world situations,on cars similar to your own(as opposed to a stock BMW for instance) then this forum is a good place to be

Batguano

Getting the Toyos today. I'm gonna ring them out. I'll give a review. Coll thing is, they will let me drive up to 500 miles,if I dont like em, get my money back.

mazdaspeed7

One of my good friends has S03's on his S2000, and the tread pattern is identical to to my RE750's. The only difference i have found between them is that the S03's are a slightly softer tread compound.

Those tires are intolerant of cold in general. With the temp outside drops below 45 or so, these tires just start losing grip worse than any other tire Ive had. Theyre awesome tires, but when they say summer tires, they MEAN it.

But the grip difference between them is minor. The RE750's are great tires when tire life matters. And I paid right at $600 for all 4 tires(225 50 16). and mounting and balancing.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

Yokohama had the same guarantee on the ES100's. I tried them, didn't like them, and sent them back. I wonder what they do with those tires??

Batguano

I wondered that too. I have really tortured these tires today. They seem to be sticky eventhou they have tread wear warante of 65000 miles.

Batmobile

The Toyo T1-s are great tires. The Eagle F1's are also very good and they handle better in wet condition. I've had both on my FD and wouldn't go any other route.