RickBetterley

If you were driving a mid-'80s 911 for DE only, and you wanted a set of street tires to use on the track, what would you recommend? Assume low-mid-level run groups.
Primary purpose is to use a tire that helps a newer student learn how to drive really well before moving to track tires. Secondary purpose is for use in the wet.
I have used and liked my Toyo RAIs (unshaven) (I like them shaved for full track tire use as well).
What would you recommend?

smlporsche

There was an article in Grass Roots Motorsports Magazine a year or so ago that did a comparison of various street tires for competition use and I believe they said the Falken Azenis were the best. You may want to look up the article.

paradisenb

That article was much more recent. I read it in the last few months. I think it was the Falcons. Oh make that Falkens. The other Falcons really suck, a lot of movement, latern that is, not forward.

I've been using a set of Kumo Ecsta MXs for DEs and have been happy. Sticky, decent wear.

doc2s

ra1 even when unshaved have a lot more grip than street tires and may not serve the purpose the student is after. mps2 are very good dry or wet and that was on a 3200lb car. they are not the cheapest option though.

Nader Fotouhi

+1 on Ecsta MX. I used them for 2 years driving to and from track when in instructed groups. Probably got 7-10 K miles and with the exception of inner wear due to negative camber, they had planty of life left.

Sean F

I learned on Yoko AVS ES100's. I thought they were pretty good. Price is right, grip is pretty good and they communicate really well (they scream). I had a blast seeing how far I could slide them around. Worked well in the rain too. Just need to be careful of pressures/temp or they'll chunk (not that I ever did that).

RonCT

Pilot Sport 2 for many reasons. I've run PS, PS2, PSC on the track. The PS2 shares the same "bones" as the PSC. The compound is real alchemy.

I also hear great things about the newer Yoko Neova - in fact some say it has replaced the PS2 as the Best summer compound tire on the market.

Have a friend that tried the MX - not even close to the PS2. When I ran One Lap in 2005, I'd guess 90% of the entrants were running PS2 and we had everything Tire Rack sells as our tire options.

JC3D

The falken Azenis 615 is exactly what you need. I decided I wanted to put in a good 15 days at the track in with street tires to learn my car before going with the R compounds. The give good sound, warm up quickly and are CHEAP! I get about 3-4 weekends out of a set, but they are only $750 for a set of 18's delivered to my door.

Mike Murphy

A DE guy I know runs all season tires. If you want a good street tire, it depends on what temps you will be driving in and if you have a dedicated set of winter tires or not.

rickdm

The Azenis are great. they are designed to be street legal 'near R' compounds, so that you can be legal in certain race classes where street tires are required. The difference in grip compared to an RA-1 is not huge. I have run them on my Miata, but they do not come in sizes to fit the 16" wheels on my '87 3.2.

I hated the ES100's that I started with. The squealed like crazy and made you think you were going fast when in fact you were going v e r y s l o w..... If you really start going fast with the ES100's they will chunk up because of the small tread blocks. I know I am in the minority here, but I would stick with the RA-1's. I know we would all be better drivers if we stayed in the Green instructed run group for five years driving a stock Miata with all season tires, but I came out here to have some fun

rickdm

RickBetterley

Thanks, everyone - some of these tires I have hardly heard of.
Assume for discussion purposes that the focus here is a good learning tire for the newer DE driver (avoiding all season and run flat tires, I suppose).

Conekiller

I've got the falken Azenis 615 on mine, and they are great as long as you watch the pressure. Since they were designed more for autox than DE they don't like getting too hot.

EDIT: heres the article

http://scca.certaindeath.net/august_...5_tiretest.pdf

LouZ

I'm running with the Toyo T1R, which is their newer "street" tire, before you get to their DOT approved R1A, which could be run on the street, but who would want to for any length of time.

I have 2 DE's (the Glen and Pocono) on them and street use with no signs of wear. I went with them 'cause they offered the best balance for DE and street, AND they rate HIGH in wet traction.

Just my $0.02.

JackOlsen

The Falkens and Toyo RA1s are basically cheater R compound tires. They're very good track tires, but they're really not great for learning and they aren't going to last like a street tire. Look at the BFGoodrich g-force T/A KD or Briggestone Potenza S02 (or S03), for starters. I would get as much as a dozen events out of the BFGoodriches, with useful feedback (they scream, a lot) and reasonably quick lap times. And then they do double-duty for thousands of miles as street tires.

My co-driver and I won the week-long Open Track Challenge a couple years back on a single set of the BFGoodriches, and I was still using the same tires six months later.

penguinking

Falken FK451

Toyo T1R's - current setup after i ran a set of victoracers down to the cords. the Toyos are really fun to drive! i forgot how much fun street tires can be especially when you're sliding around and the tires are screeching in every single corner and you're working your butt off to try and keep up with the folks who are on race rubber. what a blast! i think imma stay on streets for a while