Tom W

My wife and i trashed a set of Kumho Ecsta tires (225/275 on 17" rims) in our first autocross season. We are about to start our first DE season. Given the opinions I've seen regarding the ECSTA tires on the track I'm thinking of replacing them with the Pilot Sport Cup tires (225/255).

How well do these tires do in autocross where warm-up time is minimal? Anyone out there switch from one to the other and have comments regarding autocrossing them.

FWIW: I liked the ECSTA tires for autocross (way better than street tires) but really destroyed the fronts due to too low camber (-0.5) and not "rotating" them once the uneven tread wear was becoming an issue. I am changing my suspension (PSS- and RS bars), lowering the car from std US height to somewhere between RoW M03 and RS height, and getting the alignment changed to RS spec before I use the new tires.

JC in NY

From what I hear you need to really heat up the Sport Cup tires to around 200 degrees F before they start to work well. So they aren't suited for autox.

I use the Kumho for autox with good results.

B Hayes

Check out Falken "Azenis". They are just over $100 each and work excellent for autocross. After a friend (and fellow competitor who won the we both run in)put them on his S2 and had nothing but good things to say. I purchased a set and will purchase them again next year. My girlfriend was using the Kumho Ecsta's and swithed to Falkens too.... and sold the Ecsta's with only 4 events on them. Both have a 200 treadwear, but the Azenis have much better grip. All of the cars I speak of are lowered and have 17" wheels. I cant say that they will last as long as the Kumho's, but you cant have both long life and high traction.

The Azenis are only made for 17" wheels and the 3 cars all use 225/45/17 in front and 245/45/17 in the rear. Great traction and great value!