BuddyK

Anyone got advice for racing compound tires for 19" turbo 2 rims?

I think I'd rather put wear on a set of racing compound tires, and I do have an extra set of rims I can use until I put the snow tires on for winter.

I looked at tire rack, but I'm hoping for something cheap for autocross, not super engineered track tires - it's a waste for autocross I think to use such tires.

I know there are not a lot of people using 19" rims, but this is what I'm doing since my 911 turbo is my main vehicle - daily driver too.

If I get the racing compound, I'll make a deal for quick swap outs, and would probably drive about 15Km to the autocross and 15Km back again each time I go.

I used to run my 1999 C4 on PS2's, but I'd go through a set every summer. The parking lot we use has a lot of coarse asphalt in places.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Jim Michaels

Cheap R comps in 19" sizes already sounds like an oxymoron. Add for autocrossing on a rough surface and driving on to and from events makes it even tougher. Maybe you should reconsider street tires for their lower price and longer wear. They're also more driver friendly at their limits of adhesion.

BuddyK

Yeah perhaps I might have to.

I'm running the tires that came with the car - Bridgestone Potenzas with wear rating of 140 so they are quite sticky I guess.

When they are gone I'll probably be getting PS2's which is pretty much what I am used to.

The cheapest rubber I can find is Hankook, but I tried them once in 18" on my 1999 C4 but I didn't like them much. But maybe for autocross it will spare my next set of good rubber.

Or maybe I'll just do like I always have and not worry too much about it. Put PS2's on and run em to the cords every season.

It just seems like a bit of a waste to use up the high tech rubber for autocross.

Jim Michaels

If you want to go back to Michelin street tires, the new Super Sport (also in the Maximum Performance category) looks better than the PS2 in terms of grip, wear, price, and just about everything else.

I'm not familiar with 19" sizes, so looking at those at Tire Rack has been informative; especially the price jump when going from 18" sizes to 19" sizes. Here's what I found in street tires.

Looking in the Extreme Performance category, the RE-11 (which I AX on most of the time) and the Handkook R-S3 are on the expensive side, and the Yoko AD08 is a little cheaper. All 3 of those are popular AX tires in street tire classes. Look at Tire Rack's comparison test results.

Moving down into the Maximum Performance category, there are several cheaper alternatives to the new Michelin Super Sport (which might be the best tire in this category to run AX on). Specifically, the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT won the head-to-head comparison test against the Sumitomo HRT Z III (2nd), the Kumho LE Sport (3rd), and the Handkook V12 (4th). All of these tires are relatively cheap, but probably none would be quite as quick at AX as the favored Extreme Performance tires. They might wear longer, however, as their rubber compound is not as soft, and you wouldn't be using up high tech rubber with any of these 4. You can read those test results to determine which tire might best work for you.

BuddyK

Thanks for that info - I'm going to do some reading up on them.


I think the pilot sport cup are softer than the super sports. Wear rating of 80. Is that correct?

Michelin PS2's are 220 wear rating.

The Michelin super sports are actually 300 wear rating. If I am reading this right. but yeah I have seen a lot of hype on TV about these tires

The Bridgestone Potenzas are 140 wear rating.


So the stickiest tire is probably the Michelin pilot sport cup+ tires based on the "wear rating" of 80 maybe I'm using that number incorrectly, but I just noticed that the autocross guys with the R compound tires all have wear rating 40. So I rationalized that lower wear rating means stickier rubber.

Anyway, unless I go with the cheap Hankooks, for about $800 a set, I'm definitely in for $2000.00 for rubber on all four corners.

I love the PS2's the most for all round use. Very good in wet and daily driver as well as autocross or anything.

We do about 120 one minute autocross laps per season from May to October (not including and extra solo pro instructional courses etc etc)

So I guess each lap costs about $25.00 in rubber. I guess I can live with it, but wishing to make it cheaper, but I'm dreaming.

genikz

Try Toyo R888s. I saw a Nissan GTR at one of our auto-xs recently with what looked to be 20"s and R888s.

BuddyK

There we go - that's what I was looking for I think - R888's

I just hope they are cheap like borscht.

Mussl Kar

R888s are not that bad $ wise. Wifey goes through a set on the 997C2S every season. About 30 autox's with a 160 mile round trip to most. Car is not a DD though. They like the heat at autox but will sing with DD use.

Jim Michaels

Ha! I actually use R888s for track and AX (sometimes) myself. I didn't mention them because they are on the expensive side. I found the R888s to be better than Michelin Cups for AX because they are not nearly as cold natured at AX. To quote someone else; "Cups suck at AX." I prefer the Cups for track though. R888s have a tread pattern, so can be driven on to and from events, although they're very noisy. You'll need a separate set of wheels for them though because you shouldn't use them as your regular street tires.

R888s are R comps (although "compromised" compared to Hoosiers and the like), so they may heat-cycle out (lose much of their grip) long before the tread is worn out. Mine do, but that's probably because I track them. Like most other R-comps, they also don't give much warning before they let go.

karenbarbara

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