I've searched for awhile, but it seems like everyone asks what's the best street/autoX tire. I'm looking for:

What's the best dry AutoX tire?
-I have Enkei RPF-01 17X8.5 +22mm (rims are a little to narrow, but I'd prefer to keep these)
-I'm thinking it'd be a 275 on all 4 corners b/c I doubt I could fit 285s
-Class: BSP (aligmet/height are all adjustable)
-these tires will be for AutoX only, they will not see the street.

thanks,
Peter

 

you don't want 275 on all four corners. You're going to get severe understeer if you run the same width all around. I actually think the proportions that most people run for street setups; 245 Front 275 Rear will give you the best results.

 

How would more front grip contribute to understeer?
275 Kumho 710's would be a good option. Everyone who uses them seems to fall in love.

 

it seems like the majority of ppl use the 710's, how does other tires match up? (Hoosiers A304s, Toyo RA-1's,...)

thanks!

 

err.. i find that as you move from 245/275 --> 275/275 or even 245/245 (i have driven on all these sizes) that the understeer lessens and the car gains more neutrality.

on auto-x, you want to have the most grip as possible, hence, fitting the widest tires possible. a 285 is a reality on a 8.5" wheel. just find a competent intsaller who doesnt mind taking an extra hour or two to mount them.

the tires to date that are competitive are the
kumho v710s
hoosier a6 (a3s05 - 2005 model, a3s04 - 2004 model)

i find that it's just a brand preference really. the 285 hoosiers will be easier to mount, however i'm not sure if 285s are avail in 17" widths.

ra1s just are not a good auto-x tire, although, better than street tires.

 

Hmm...What you guys are saying about better neutrality sounds right.

I retract my previous suggestion, and learned something new.

 

Hackmond was using 275 V710s all around on his BS car, that was with 17X7.5 wheels. Go for the 275-40-17 V710 and you will be a happy guy.

 

agreed.

 

Having talked with a couple customers that just finished competing (and trophying) at the Nationals, their concensus is that the Hoosier A3S06 is now the tire to have. The V710s will last longer but the S06's are faster.

 

I call BS on that... Every guy that did not win thought he was on the wrong tires. A quick count shows Kumho won 17 classes and Hoosier won 17. Call them equal but we all know the cost vs life issue.

They only reason to use the Hoosier imho is if they make a better size for your car. An Example of this is In SS you need the Hoosier for a Z06 or Lotus because they have a better size for the Z06 and Kumho does not have a rear tire for the Elise.

In B Stock guys on 245, 275 and 285 Hoosiers could not keep up with cars on 245 V710s.

btw what is good for one car is not always best for your car.... Look at what tires are on the cars that win in your class.

 

Its not BS when I'm reporting what my customers have told me. You may not agree with them, but that's just a difference in opinion, not lies or BS. Personally, I have no opinion either way and no dog in this fight.

 

The BS part was not directed at you, but the people that think they lost because they were on the "wrong" tire.

They are easy to find, they also think think they had the wrong shocks, car etc when in fact all they needed was the skill to get it done.

 

The 710s are the dominant tire in this neck of the woods. My buddy has 275s all around on his 350Z. I'm sticking with the Falkens for street tires for now.

 

Blaming the tire is pretty easy but I couldn't make that claim for Nationals this year. With a Performance model ( 18 x 8 ) there weren't a lot of choices, 245/35 Kumhos, 275/35 Hoosiers or 285/30 Kumhos. I tried each size this year and have settled on the 285/30s. Pure b***h to put on but they wear evenly and have helped the understeer.

Kumho 245 lasted 100 runs. They wore smoothly and still hadn't corded. I was looking for more up front to help the understeer my driving produced so I went to-

Hoosier A6 lasted 54 runs, flipped inside out at 22 runs because they started to wear excessively on the outside edge. Totally toast when I tossed them. I see TireRack has a 285/30/18 but I doubt they would fit. The Hoosier seems to be larger than the Kumho in section.

Kumho 285/30 have 72 runs and look to be half gone. Some grip is missing. The nice thing about the oversize is that the tire is stiff and never gets near the side wall. The clearance is about half a finger width on the struts. I'm not looking forward to mounting a new set when I replace them. Now I'm working on the least trustworthy part of the team, ME.

 

So you've had no trouble with running 275's all the way around on the stock 18" x 8" wheels? I was thinking about trying this, but I figured it wouldn't work very well. Food for thought. Now if I only had a trailer and hitch, I could run R comps at events.

 

who needs a trailer...I've fit 4 wheels in the Z:
-1 in the spare tire area
-1 between the rear strut and seats (make sure to secure this to the strut)
-2 in the passenger seat or mounted to the roof/rear hatch

I posted some pics of this set-up earlier this year...you'd be amazed at how much you can fit into the Z.

*I'm still considering a trailer for the Z - that way I'll spend less time loading/unloading everything.

 

ive seen him with 4 tires on his roof before

 

so I've done some searching at Kuhmo and Hoosier, it looks like my options are:

275/40/17 or 295/40/17 ...I was surprised to hear that a 285 could fit on a 8.5" wide rim, I'm assuming there's no way I'd get a 295 on there - right?

since it sounds like it's more or less a toss up between Hoosiers or Kuhmo, I'm going to go with a Kuhmo b/c they're about $50/tire less and last longer.

any comments or other suggestions?

thanks for all the help!

-Peter

*is the autoX market just too small to support another company from suppling a competetive 3rd option?


**Jon, How's it going? Any new mods lately? How's the Cali weather - it dipped below freezing temps last night up in Seattle!

 

I'm curious, are you securing the two in the passenger seat? I thought about carrying wheels in my Z but the idea of being trapped in the car with 100lbs of wheel flying around in the event of an accident didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

I carried 4 tires to 2 or 3 events before I got my trailer. It is a pain because no one can ride with you and it's close but doable. The front two tires I tied together so they had to move together. Then I packed the seat with coats, a blanket or other items to cup the tires. Occasionally, I needed to reach over and hold them back when I braked real hard.

This is solid advice! That tire can take your head off in an accident. Not one loop for a tie down, make it 3 or 4 with serious rope (cotton so it doesn't scratch.

Roark on this board has a real nice design for a trailer hitch. I've been towing for 2 years now.