Need some tire recommendations.....I've heard the RT615 Falken is good but what kind of sizes do you guys recommend for street tire guys like me?

Not sure if I shoudl stay with 275/40ZR17 on all 4's or go big 245/275 stagg 18"....

Thanks!

John

 

I run 245/45/17. I would stay away from the 615s unless you really want to race in street tire class

 

I use and enjoy the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Positions for the Street Class at the Redline Time Attacks. I don't have much experience with street tires, but these suprised me with the amount of grip they had. I am also running 285/295 setup with these, but thats pretty overkill unless you have the suspension, brakes, and power to back them up.

 

The RT-615's are great for autocrossing but I don't know if they'd be good for track usage. I've heard from many people that the RT-615's get greasy when hot, something that would be likely to occur on a road course as opposed to the short use in an autoX. We bring water to the autoX events to spray the tires between runs just to keep the temps down.


On the track (HPDE), I'm running my street tires - Michelin PS2, 255/35 front, 285/35 rear. The handling and stickiness is unbelieveable IMO. Plus you can still drive them daily on the street.

 

+1...good autoX tires will usually overheat on HPDE events (autoX tires are made to get up to operating temp quickly).

 

I had 615's before I got R compunds and I used them for track events and auto-x.

I ran 275/40 on 17" wheels and they worked great! They are gonna be cheaper than every other performance street tire and out perform most as well. As, far as getting greasy I didnt have any issues, that was mostly with the older 215 compunds.

They are also very good in the rain. 275's work very well, but if you want to save some $$$, 255's work well with stock/ basic mods. When I used 255's I was much faster in the rain than when I stepped up to 275's. You cant beat the bigger tires for the dry though. Defeinetly stick with equal tire sizes so can rotate them and get the most wear for your $$$.

 

So your wheels are 17" or 18" ?

I liked the 235/40R18 and 255/40R18 as a dual use track/street. The RT615 are great tires. Like all street tires, they do have their limits. Minimise your wheel spin and they'll maintain good composure. They may take a full lap to cool down back to usable grip if you do get them greasy.

 

I have stock 'track' edition wheels right now...looking to up/down grade

17" wheels are cheaper but then 18" look better =)

Tough choice...

 

Way back when I ran the Toyo RA1s all the time on my street Contour SVT and my '71 240Z. They were a little noisy and a little stiff, but they lasted 12,000 miles on the Contour and I couldn't wear them out on the 2,200 lb. 240Z.

 

love the Toyos, the Azenis I had wore out faster than the RA-1s. I think they wore faster because it is so much easier to spin them compare to the Toyos.

My complete bald V710s have more grip in HEAVY rain than a set of 60% worn Azenis. I can answer that one because I just swapped the tires today...

 

Both the 615's and RA-1s are very good tires. What many of us have found about the 615's is you can NOT run them at the same pressures at an HPDE/TT as you do at an auto-x. The tire holds heat. The key on using the 615 and it not getting greasy is keeping the hot pressure under 40-42 PSI, if it get's above that, that's where they get greasy. If you can keep them under they last just fine.

The RA1's are great tires, but are more towards a R compound than a street tire. You will be lucky if you get 15K on them in street driving, not to mention with track days. They issue with them is with heavier cars they will need to be shaved or they will chunk, and shaving them decreases the mileage in them. But for a track tire they work great, and I think one of the best rain tires in full tread that is made.

 

I also noticed that nitto has a nt01 with sizes that could work and are a bit cheaper than ra1's...

has anybody tried these?

 

A freind on mine has ordered a set and they are sitting on his garage floor. They will be mounted and run Next Month. I will get him to report on how they do.

 

The spring '07 issue of Nissan Sport Magazine (shipping NOW and on newsstands shortly) has a review of the NT01 on pg. 82. We tested them on both a 350Z track model and a TT G35 Coupe and have some details not published anywhere else.

David Muramoto
Senior Editor
Nissan Sport Magazine

 

So you're just trying to sell your magazine. Not gonna give any info about the test on these forums?

 

Can you blame him?

 

Most magazines don't publish info on the web until after the magazine has hit the stands for a while. As a subscriber, I'd be pissed if the magazine was releasing info to the public, especially if it's long before I get my issue.

Dave Muramoto (dkmura) is a valuable contributor to this website and this forum in particular, far outside his association with Nissan Sport Magazine. He's entitled to keep his findings to himself until he sees fit to release it publically.

 

+ 100

 

You bet your a$$ I'm trying to hype our publication! It's the only one out there with specific information focused on Nissan/Infiniti/Datsun and I'm damn proud of it! My purpose in mentioning the NT01 piece was to alert everyone that we have specific (and fresh) test info on that particular product in our current issue.

Thanks to skidmarq and davesZ#3 for watching my back on this one. Nissan Sport spent several months and $$ in developing the NT01 article, specific to the Z and G. I won't compromise our subscribers/readers by publishing that info here. What would be the point?

 

Fair enough, I'm the ******* here. =)

Might I ask what specific testing you did with the two tires?