(2010) Best Autocross Street Tire?

[1M3ANM3]

I know new tires come out all the time. I"m getting back into autocross next year (88 e30 M3 with 17" wheels) and I need opinions on the best "street" tire to use for autocross. What did the fastest cars in that category run last year?

Thanks guys, Fernando

[flohtingPoint]

http://www.capitaldrivingclub.com/fo...hp?f=11&t=1001

Are you posting this everywhere? May as well do sccaforums too =P That'll cause a fun argument.

[mdepena]

Personally, I have found the Hankook Ventus V12 EVO to be an excellent autocross and track tire. Additionally, it is very affordable and durable.

[Biggins]

Bridgestone RE-11
Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec
Falken RT-615
Hankook RS-3
Kumho XS
Toyo R1R

There are not really any others to consider. All listed above would be at least 1-2 seconds quicker on a 60 second course than the Ventus V12 Evo mentioned. That tire is not in the same ballpark as these. My favorite is the Direzza, but I think I'm going to try the RS-3 when I get a chance.

[woodym3]

There are not really any others to consider.

There's at least one more - the Yokohama AD08. With so many choices, this probably doesn't help answer your original question. I'll also point out that some people feel a 17" wheel on an E30 M3 is not ideal for performance. On the other hand, many of the tires listed above, are not available in a 15, or even 16", size.

[flohtingPoint]

Falken RT-615

Falken's are VERY bad tires. I had them on the Corolla last year and... well the video speaks for itself. You can see how I have to overdrive the car (extraneous wheel work) horribly to get it around the course.

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

The Kumho XS is not recommended. It is the worst wet tire that I've ever owned and it only works in optimal conditions. If it's bright, sunny, and about 90 degrees out, it's awesome. Otherwise....

I like both the Yoko AD08 and the Dunlop Z1 about equally. (I have AD08s on the M3 and Z1s on the S50 E30.) I think that the Z1s work in a wider temperature band, but the AD08s may be a bit sharper in the dry. That's hard to tell across two veyr different cars, though. Given the pricing, the Z1 is very hard to beat.

[woodym3]

Falken's are VERY bad tires. I had them on the Corolla last year and...

Falken has a new version of the 615 that came out recently - the RT 615K. I don't know anyone that has tried them yet, but they're spending some money on ads.

[flohtingPoint]

Falken has a new version of the 615 that came out recently - the RT 615K. I don't know anyone that has tried them yet, but they're spending some money on ads.

Nobody at nationals or the pro were driving on them, that's a tipoff right there. Word around the campfire is that it's basically the same tire with a different name.

[woodym3]

Believe it or not, Paul at Radial Tire will tell you that the Dunlop Z1 Star Spec is made by Falken and has the same carcass and rubber compound as the RT-615. Just a different tread pattern. He thinks it is so funny that people rave about the Dunlop and bad mouth the Falken. He's even shown me the manufacturer's code on each tire and they are the same.

I don't remember which issues, but both the SCCA Sports Car monthly and Grassroots Motorsports magazine have tested most of these tires recently. Oh, one more: the Nitto NT05.

[ElGordoFeroz]

The Kumho XS is not recommended. It is the worst wet tire that I've ever owned and it only works in optimal conditions. If it's bright, sunny, and about 90 degrees out, it's awesome. Otherwise....

I like both the Yoko AD08 and the Dunlop Z1 about equally. (I have AD08s on the M3 and Z1s on the S50 E30.) I think that the Z1s work in a wider temperature band, but the AD08s may be a bit sharper in the dry. That's hard to tell across two veyr different cars, though. Given the pricing, the Z1 is very hard to beat.

I wouldn't say the Kumho's XSis not recommended. I read an article in some car magazine a while back that ranked it quite highly. I forgot what the most recommended tire was, but the Kumho's came in second only because of their not so good rain performance. Apart from that, in the dry it was the best tire they had out there.

[Biggins]

Believe it or not, Paul at Radial Tire will tell you that the Dunlop Z1 Star Spec is made by Falken and has the same carcass and rubber compound as the RT-615. Just a different tread pattern. He thinks it is so funny that people rave about the Dunlop and bad mouth the Falken. He's even shown me the manufacturer's code on each tire and they are the same.

I knew I had this conversation with someone... I loved the Falkens, and they were definitely the best available in 2006 when I was running them. I don't remember them being that bad in the rain on my car, but it would be one of my last choices of the ST tires out there now.

I always forget the Yokos because they're so expensive, and I have to agree with Nick on the Kumhos: amazing in the dry, horrifying in the wet.

If you search, I made a thread about this a couple years ago and there have been few/no additions to my list in the past two years.

[mcoupemindy]

It all depends on the sizes that you want to run. You'll find that MOST of all the above suggestions only come up to a 265 width (which is OK for most "Normal" BMW's).

And Falken RT-615's are great AutoX / Street tires. They however do get hard once really heat cycled.

[civicexracer]

I'll just copy/paste what I wrote on CDC about this and let you guys pick at it lol.

I would highly recommend either the Star Specs or the RE-11 for your car. The XS feel kinda smushy to me and don't handle heat as well and the R1R is best suited for small, light cars. If you see the results for nationals, most of the miatas, civics and crxs ran the R1R. I think the same will and has been said for the new RS3. In STU, the Star Specs were more dominant which are on heavier cars like the STi's/Evo's and what not.

I've been running the RE-11s on my car for 2 full seasons, probably about 50+ events and hundreds of hard runs. I don't drive on them daily but they have lasted quite a while and I might be able to get most of next season out of them. They haven't even heat cycled out yet surprisingly.

[1M3ANM3]

http://www.capitaldrivingclub.com/fo...hp?f=11&t=1001

Are you posting this everywhere? May as well do sccaforums too =P That'll cause a fun argument.

Nope, only on my two favorite car club sights . After I posted on CDC I figured more people here would have input on and e30 BMW.

Thanks for opinions guys.

Fernando.