Track Wheel/Tire Options
10-28-2020, 10:03 AM
#16
For the last two seasons I ran RS4's (245/40 F, 275/40 R) on my car's stock 18's and loved them. My first experience with a 200TW track oriented tire. Tons of grip and I could get about 5 3-day events out of a set depending on the track and weather. I drive to and from the track and used these tires on the street so if I hauled the car I could probably get a couple more events out of them.
Halfway through this season I finally bought a set of dedicated track wheels, Apex SM-10, F: 18x8.5" ET42 R: 18x10" ET36, Couldn't get RS4s for them due to availability (is there nothing that COVID hasn't ruined?) so I went with RE71Rs in the stock 18" sizes for my car, 235/45 265/45. I have 6 days on the tires and they're about done. I could probably get another one or maybe two events out of them by swapping sides but I would be paying really close attention to wear during the weekend.
I had the "fortunate" experience of a leaking tire valve on the Apex/RE71 set after the first day of a 3-day at Summit Main with RTR PCA a couple of weeks ago. Fortunate in that I live about an hour away so I drove home after tech, swapped onto my stock wheels with RS4s and then made it back to the track with about 10 minutes to spare before my first session. Thankfully RTR doesn't run White group first in the order. So I got to drive the RE71's for a day and then the RS4's the next day in similar weather conditions. Not quite a back to back test, and with different tire sizes not exactly apples to apples but it was pretty clear that the RE71s have more grip, which I noticed the most under braking. I also found I was posting more consistent lap times on the RS4s throughout the session where on the RE71s I had a short window of really consistent performance and then they sort of faded in and out. That could just be that I'm a crap driver and there was a lot of traffic though. I ran the RE71s last weekend at Summit Main and the weather was all over the place but on the one really nice dry session we had I was REALLY consistent on the RE71s with 4 consecutive laps inside half a second. So who knows. Like both tires, would probably go back to RS4s just for the durability.
Next year the goal is a trailer and a couple sets of different wheel/tire combos so I can find what really works best for me. Anxious to try out NT01's or other R-comps out there without worrying about the drive home.
Halfway through this season I finally bought a set of dedicated track wheels, Apex SM-10, F: 18x8.5" ET42 R: 18x10" ET36, Couldn't get RS4s for them due to availability (is there nothing that COVID hasn't ruined?) so I went with RE71Rs in the stock 18" sizes for my car, 235/45 265/45. I have 6 days on the tires and they're about done. I could probably get another one or maybe two events out of them by swapping sides but I would be paying really close attention to wear during the weekend.
I had the "fortunate" experience of a leaking tire valve on the Apex/RE71 set after the first day of a 3-day at Summit Main with RTR PCA a couple of weeks ago. Fortunate in that I live about an hour away so I drove home after tech, swapped onto my stock wheels with RS4s and then made it back to the track with about 10 minutes to spare before my first session. Thankfully RTR doesn't run White group first in the order. So I got to drive the RE71's for a day and then the RS4's the next day in similar weather conditions. Not quite a back to back test, and with different tire sizes not exactly apples to apples but it was pretty clear that the RE71s have more grip, which I noticed the most under braking. I also found I was posting more consistent lap times on the RS4s throughout the session where on the RE71s I had a short window of really consistent performance and then they sort of faded in and out. That could just be that I'm a crap driver and there was a lot of traffic though. I ran the RE71s last weekend at Summit Main and the weather was all over the place but on the one really nice dry session we had I was REALLY consistent on the RE71s with 4 consecutive laps inside half a second. So who knows. Like both tires, would probably go back to RS4s just for the durability.
Next year the goal is a trailer and a couple sets of different wheel/tire combos so I can find what really works best for me. Anxious to try out NT01's or other R-comps out there without worrying about the drive home.
