good autox tire

[Sho Amo]

im thinking of a few different tires. these are the options i have to choose from in a bundle with wheels.

im going to start autoxing and wanna hear from you guys which would be good.

Hankook Ventus Sport K104
Falken Ziex Ze 912
Dunlop Direzza Dz101
Toyo Proxes 4
Toyo Proxes T1r

 

[Ian Macoomb]

Aside from R compounds the best tire IMHO is the Falken Azenis RT-615. I've heard good things about the Hankook tire also and the Proxes.

 

[SuperHO]

Azenis RT 615 or there's a near R Compound Hankook out there that I can't remember the number off hand...it's supposedly right up there with the Azenis RT615.

 

[thebigjimsho]

The RT-615 is great for the autocross and its quick blasts. But if you take them on road courses, they get really greasy when hot. But if it's autocross only, no worries...

 

[adidas_kn]

Greasy as in dangerous or just not as confident with the Rt-615's? I got a set of 5 used ones with 70% tread for $105 in 235-40-18's. Thought they'd be a fun cheap tire. I plan on running them at TWS in april with you guys on my 93'.

 

[shomesomesho]

im thinking of a few different tires. these are the options i have to choose from in a bundle with wheels.

im going to start autoxing and wanna hear from you guys which would be good.

Hankook Ventus Sport K104
Falken Ziex Ze 912
Dunlop Direzza Dz101
Toyo Proxes 4
Toyo Proxes T1r

If you're starting out and just want to learn the ropes, any of those tires would be fine. If you are limited to that list, I would probably get the Proxes T-1R.

If you want to actually be competitive, there are only three street compound tires worth looking at:

1. Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R (my personal favorite of the three)
2. Yokohama Advan Neova AD-07
3. Falken Azenis RT-615

For R-compound race tires, there are only two:

1. Hoosier A6
2. Kumho Ecsta V710

Good luck and have lotsa fun!!

 

[thebigjimsho]

Greasy as in dangerous or just not as confident with the Rt-615's? I got a set of 5 used ones with 70% tread for $105 in 235-40-18's. Thought they'd be a fun cheap tire. I plan on running them at TWS in april with you guys on my 93'.

It's only dangerous if you're going past the limits and you don't know your car. It's not like an on/off switch, so no worries...

 

[AutoSHO]

The Dunlop Direzza's are a great auto-x and HPDE tire. They are very stable across a huge temperature range and don't have the ridiculous grip falloff that the RT615s do. They're also pretty inexpensive for the performance they offer.

I wouldn't touch another set of RT615s, regardless of how cheap they are. They're junk for autocross on a warm day, junk at the track, and mine heat cycled out long before they ran out of tread. Terrible tires, and I only got 8k out of them (compared to 14-15k out of a set of Bridgestone RE01Rs... and they outperformed the Azenis in *every* aspect).

The fastest street tires, in order:

Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 - $$$$
Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R - $$$
Dunlop Direzza Z1's - $$

Tied/Unknown:

Hankook RS2-Z212's
Falken Azenis RT615's
Toyo R1R's (New tire, very promising)
Kumho ECSTA XS (also new and very promising)

 

[Jonny Cash]

How are the Hankook RS2's comparable to the Rt615's? they are priced the same.

Im suprised to hear the rt615s suck, Ive heard nothing but good things about them.

Im seeing the direzza z1's for 135 a peice for 245-45-17's. Cant seem to track them down in 225's. Has anyone seen them listed cheaper? I can get the rt615's right now in a 225-45-17 right now for 102.

 

[dohcsable]

How are the Hankook RS2's comparable to the Rt615's? they are priced the same.

Im suprised to hear the rt615s suck, Ive heard nothing but good things about them.

Im seeing the direzza z1's for 135 a peice for 245-45-17's. Cant seem to track them down in 225's. Has anyone seen them listed cheaper? I can get the rt615's right now in a 225-45-17 right now for 102.

the hankook rs2's are comparable to the old azenis, 265's iirc, but the new 615's are allegedly a slightly stickier compound. I plan on running them, I wouldn't recommend unshaved rs2's for any fwd car....I've seen both fwd and rwd applications, and they tend to suck....sure, you'll have lateral grip, but no linear....the azenis don't have that issue.

I haven't really payed attention to the direzzas, but the bridgestones are awesome

Andrew

 

[shomesomesho]

Yokohama ~ Bridgestones > RT-615 >>> RS2.

I would not waste money on the Hankook RS2's. You will be hugely disappointed. The sidewalls are way too soft for anything but casual street/highway driving, and the grip is below what you'd expect for what they claim is a high performance tire. Yes, I have made the mistake of buying a set in the past. Lucky for me there is fleebay.

 

[Sho Amo]

im glad i checked back i was thinkin about getting the rt-615's

ill look into the direzza's

 

[AutoSHO]

The RS2's are definitely suited to a lighter car because of their wet-noodle sidewalls.

The Azenis have a stiff carcass but you'll be overheating them by the end of the second run, especially in a heavy, front-weight-bias, front wheel drive car. Not ideal.

The Dunlops sound fantastic. Everybody who's run them so far says they're excellent, and fast, possibly even faster than the RE01R's. And, they're cheap!!

 

[bryantaylor]

the miata guy swear by the aziens, and i plan on getting some too. as far as r-comp the nitto nt-01 get great reviews too

 

[shomesomesho]

Well I'm going to try my daily driver tires at the autocross tomorrow. Continental ContiSportContact3's.

Temps in the 40's and 50% chance showers. Ideal conditions for them.

Will let you know if they rock or not.

 

[sho_bc]

How'd it go? I missed today's event due to work (staffing shortage) and being super sick.

 

[shomesomesho]

I drove my '89 since it has a heater in it.

The Conti's were pretty good but not super fast. It was wet due to showers with temps in the low 40's. Some standing water but not much. The Conti's held there own. Performance was comparable to what I recall of the Falken RT615's and Bridgestone RE-01R's in rain. Couldn't keep up with the good AWD drivers (pretty much to be expected in this type of weather) but was on a par with or beat most RWD and FWD cars. Overall didn't do great in the standings but did have tons of fun.

Boy, I sure can't wait until it gets warm and dry. :sun:

 

[sho_bc]

I've hopefully got some warmer/more sunny days to look forward to using the Falkens, as I don't think I'll be taking off until April now. All of this has shown me how important good tires are not only in auto-x, but in day-to-day driving as well in cases of emergency manuvers.

 

[shomesomesho]

Yep, tires are everything.

FWIW, the 2nd top time of the day was on Falkens ('98 BMW M3); the other two BMW drivers brought their Kumho V710's and were slower - these guys usually finish faster than the Falkened M3 when it's warm and dry. There just wasn't enough heat to get the V710's to operating temp.

The fastest time of day was in a STX '02 WRX on get this, Kumho SPT's.