chaoscreature

Based on Chuck W's thread "If You're Buying Tires Soon Read This" I contacted Discount Tire and Jim Hodge has given me pretty good pricing on a set of Cooper Zeon RS3-S tires in 225/45/17 and 275/40/17.
Has anyone used these tires? I hear they are the preferred tire for Roush Mustangs.
I currently use Sumitomo HTR ZIII's and don't have any complaints about them.
I run AX and DE track days on my street rubber so I am looking for something sticky in the 240+ treadwear region, IE no racing tires.

chaoscreature

I found this, but I find it a little hard believe that they beat the PS2's by 2 seconds. There is no mention of the track length etc so the numbers are a bit dubious.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011...NEWS/110329907

http://www.windingroad.com/articles/...3-s-and-rs3-a/

Stealth 993

No way did a ALL SEASON tire beat the PS2's.

Try them & let us know what you think. Speed Shops don't always use the "best" tire, they use ones they get for a good price, or fits their niche. I bet they get a super deal, or a kickback. No performance car should come with AS rubber.

chaoscreature

The RS3-S is the "summer Performance" tire, the RS3-A is the all season tire. In the winding road article they did a comparison of the RS3-S VS PS2 and RS3-A Vs Hankook Ventus V4.
I would be getting the summer tires since I don't drive much in the rain.
I might give this a shot. I hope they are decent tires as I can't afford to swap tires again if they are not all they are cracked up to be.

nile13

The fact that Cooper has not made a single autocross tire in the last 20 years and the fact that none of people at national, regional or local level that I have heard of run any models of Cooper tire kind of tells me everything I need to know. Oh, the same is true for PS/2.

I'd stay with what currently works - Direzza Star Spec, Toyo R1R or Hankook RS-3.

chaoscreature

Nile,
All of those tires are going to be too soft, although the Star Specs in 265's would be pretty slick! I need the backs to last about one year (3-5,000 miles) of street+track driving. I might just stick with Sumitomo's if the consensus is the Cooper tires will be subpar.

nile13

I would think that R1R would last a while. It would depend on the number of track sessions, of course, but I think they should be fine.

I'd read through the SCCA forums to see what people say about their longevity. I've seen about 200+ autocross runs out of Hankook Rs-3s and that indicates a fairly long lasting tire.

Oh, and I forgot to mention Yoko Advan AD-08, which is more expensive but a great tire.

Stealth 993

I got AD08's in 18's They lasted a whole Auto-X season, where I dominated, even beating 997 TT's & GT3's in the higher classes. This is a duel driver car, & then drove 10,000 mi plus Rennsport that was a 3500mi weekend.

While they are just about done, they are not yet on the wear bars, so I got till about May to they get replaced.

I paid just over $1000 with shipping from Tirerack.