Has anyone run with a set of Ecsta XS's and had any objection to them: chunking, uneven wear, waering to quick, etc...

Has anyone measured the actual tread width and compared it to the advertised width?

 

I had it... nice tire, tons of grip, really close to my actual nitto NT-01. no wear issue (besides front inside from using a quite open toe).
they start losing grip quickly toward the end of the thread.

 

EDIT: Just noticed this is in the Autocross/Road forum. Not a suitable tire.

 

Care to elaborate?

 

I've used them for many track events and auto crosses and have loved them! Won RTA Nashville on them and 2nd at CMP, and ran lap times at Road Atlanta quite close to my (admittedly pretty worn) Hoosier R6's even though they are now down to barely visible tread (same set as the other races I mentioned). Wear has been relatively fantastic, no chunking, pretty good dual-use street tire too. But they are teh suck in rain! Just so ya know.

 

I am on my 4th set and I like them a lot. (-when they are warm and on dry pavement.)

The lateral grip is awesome and they wear ok. (for an "extreme" street tire)

When cold or wet, they are not so great.

When cold and wet, just park the car....

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Thats good news/info. I still have my stockie rims with corded tires on and a set of race rims. I had planned on doing some research to see what'll work best for rain rubber.

Oh, and what camera do you have there?

 

It's just a Panasonic PV-GS39 camcorder mounted on a $50 cruisecam headrest mount.

I actually parked my car after the second run and borrowed a friend's C-stock RX-8 on star specs.

I was 10 seconds faster, on my first run, in the RX-8. In my Z, I'm about .75 seconds faster than the RX-8 on our 31-32 second test and tune course. (When it's dry, and we are both on our street tires.)

 

never autocrossed in the rain before but that looked hella fun and intense!

 

If you're looking for good street/autocross tires that are in the same price range as the XS and still good (very good, really) in the wet: get the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. I've autocrossed them on a number of cars from E36 M3s to Evo Xs on both pavement and concrete and always liked the way they felt, gripped, and handled.

Another good camera to look at is the Panasonic Lumix FP2--this video (in 720p) was taken with one, and they're ~$180 at Best Buy and similar places. Toss in a Cruise Cam mount and you're good to go for a smidge over $200. Keep in mind that video has also been down-converted once by me and again by YouTube. The original looks even better.

 

I currently have the Star Specs and without a doubt they are a good tire. But I'm trying out the competition.

I ordered the cruisecam mount yesterday. Right now I have a Go Pro Hero but the quiality just isn't there.

 

The new 615 K's look promising. Maybe you could be the guinea pig.

 

Those didn't make my list. Who makes them and do they make a 255/35R18 and 275/35R18?

 

They are Falken Azenis rt-615k. And it looks like they don't come in 255/35/18. They do offer the 275/35 18's though.

The 615 used to be one of the more popular street tires way back when, but they got passed by the competition and seemed to disappear. (I can't remember the last time I saw a set of 615's at the track.)

This new "k" version is a new compound that Falken says is much better.

 

Well, I have the XSs too, and the Star Specs are way better, imo.

The Hankook R-S3s are also worth a hard look, from what I've heard.

I'll have to look into the 615Ks, as I hadn't head Falken had a new compound out.

 

At the 2008 State Championship, I had star specs on the front and XS's on the back. The car would start with a little oversteer and end with little understeer.

Star specs are better "out of the box" which is great for autocrossing, but the XS seem to be on par when they heat up. It seems to take more to over heat the XS. But my experience with star specs on my car is limited to one pair. All my other experience with them was on other people's cars.

 

nice video, I will have to check this camera out

 

You're spot on about the heat: the XSs like more of it, work better once they're hot, and resist heat better as well. The Star Specs, on the other hand, are better on the first run, work better in colder temps, and can be sprayed with water like R-comps when it gets too hot (or when they get too hot). I haven't found a way to make the XS work better in the cold/wet, while spraying the Star Specs makes them work fine in the heat.

 

Co-driver is the only idea I have come up with. (I'm still trying to talk my wife into co-driving at this year's state championship.)

 

Here's a article from Grassroot's, http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/art...-tires-part-1/

I think they have another test with a heavier car (BMW) but these should help to give you an ideal.