N_Halbert

It is awfully quiet in here. Seasons are starting and not one thread on tires! What is the latest scuttlebutt on the hot setup for this year?

I see Dunlop has a Durrezza III. The Durezza II Starspec had been the hot ticket in the street classes for a couple of years. Then along came Bridgestone and BF Goodridich wiith the RE71 and Rival S. The RE71 being my current choice. A very good tire and a good price.

So is there any new contenders out there from Toyo, Yokohama or Nexn? _______ insert name in here?

sjfehr

The updated Yokohama A052 is 200TW and legal for SCCA autocross this year. Only a few anectodes popping up so far, but it looks like they're pretty quick- likely top-tier with RE-71R and RivalS. They don't look to be a runaway favorite at this point, and the tread pattern does not give much confidence regarding hydroplane resistance. I'm going to stick with RE-71R again this year.

edfishjr

I've seen the A052 listed with a as-molded tread depth of both 6/32 or 7/32, neither of which would be legal in Street class?

Edit: the rules states 7/32 minimum, not "more than 7/32" which is what I though it said. So they should be legal for Street if they are really 7/32. Why are they excluded from CAM?

Edit2: "The Department has opted to add the Yokohama ADVAN A052 to the exclusion list as that tire is considered to be one of the few that is just slightly “over the line” when it comes to an acceptable performance level for CAM vehicles." Somebody decided it has more performance than the Stones and the Rivals? And the autocross community hasn't adopted it in Street? Something fishy here.

sjfehr

Ed, the 7/32 have only been available for about a month, but have already been used for national events; I forget who ran them at Crows, but he took 2nd place in a deep class just a scant off first and posted his impressions to the other forums we're in. My takeaway was almost-as-good as RE-71R/in the mix. More testing is needed, though.

The 6/32 have never been legal, that's why this is the first we're hearing. Most calls for exclusion list have came before anyone actually drove them; CAM aside, SEB has adopted wait-and-see for now; burglar may know more.

edfishjr

Thanks.

85Gold

As for hydroplane resistance two STI’s on 1Lap were on the A052 and it was wet and cold. Tires seemed to perform well and wear seemed adequate considering they were driven by Pastrana and crowd. Real world use not keyboard analysis.

Peter

burglar

My $0.02:
RE-71R - Old girl is still the best tire on camber and or wheel limited cars, for most drivers. Razor sharp and good in wet up until there's standing water. Stupid stiff sidewall makes them tough to pinch wide tires on narrow wheels.
Rival S 1.5 - Softer sidewall makes the tire a little less responsive, but equal grip wise to the RE-71R. I hear they're slightly better laterally, but the 'stone is better longitudinally. More forgiving at the limit, so easier to drive for some driving styles. Better on cars with camber than without as well. Don't work great for those first few autocrosses in 50° weather.
A052 - (anecdotal, incomplete data) seems to be in the mix. I hear they need at least some heat to work. Jury is still out, but Karwan got 2nd in a murderous STR field on them in (cold) Jersey. Keep your eye on results. May end up upsetting the apple cart when the season heats up.
Nexen - pretty close to the top 3, but lots of reports of high wear rates on anything but the lightest cars.
ZIII - (2nd hand) these seem to be "fine" tires, but at the same price as the RE71, why?
Everything else is 2nd tier.

steguis

I'm switching to the A052 on my STU Cayman. I did a test on them on my S2000 at the track last weekend and was quite happy with them. They are anecdotally, as you say, fast when they get hot but I was concerned about how they'd be in the cold/wet. Well, I ran them in cool temps and in the rain and had surprisingly good grip. At least on par with the REs but it was damp and raining with no standing water. I think a tire that can handle the heat would be great for a Cayman since I generally keep the car running the get the engine temps down between runs but that causes the tires to heat up in grid. I think for the Cayman it's easier to get tires warm than it is to keep them cool so I'm making the switch. I obviously have no data yet how good they are but will report in as I do more events with them. I'm getting them mounted this Sunday.

Grantsfo

I heard someone at Crows Landing National Tour was testing A052 and indicated they were slower to come up to temp than re71.

Grantsfo

Curious what are thoughts on newer gen Nitto NT05? Are they still too hard of a compound for AX? Or have they improved? Was interested as they have 20 inch sizes better suited for 991.2. My last experience with Nt05 was several years ago and couldn't get them to grip well when cold.

steguis

Perhaps, but on what car? In grid, in between the radiators blowing hot air in my front wheel wells and the headers near the rear wheels I have problems keeping RE71s cool (also because I let the engine stay on between runs to keep it cool since we can't just "pop the hood"). I think tires that like heat will work really well our cars and at least for Nationals, it's super easy to get your tires overheating towards the 2nd half of a long course and I suspect these tires might get faster as they heat up on course. In cooler temperatures I don't think they're faster than the REs but I suspect they're not really slower either. I'll report back once I have enough time on them though. I don't think everyone is going to want to be a guinea pig especially since these cost more than REs and offer no contingencies.

Grantsfo

Was on MX5. If I were considering for Nationals Id also want to know which is better tire in wet since some odds towards a wet run at least one of days.

steguis

I think the Continental DW (or whatever it’s called now) is still the supreme standing wet water tire no?

sjfehr

That used to be the conventional wisdom, but it seems MP4S is faster in practice in mixed wet+deep conditions, ala 2018 nats Tuesday.

Grantsfo

Thats interesting. I have been impressed with MP4S when driving in rain.