For those of you who have progressed from Street tires all the way to slicks, how much faster per lap will (on average on a 1.5-2.5 mile course) be worth? I have run my 215 Azenis for 13 track days while sorting out my coil-overs. Now that the car is done, I am upgrading tires. (Good tires had bad chassis characteristics which is why I held off for so long).

I have been looking at the NT01's as well as the RA1's for street/light track duty and slicks for time trials.

How much time can I expect to pick up going to R's then to slicks, over street tires. Also, just out of curiousity, how much time should 45whp be worth too? I have some guesses, but I am just curious.

 

I thought you were getting an RX-8?

 

Yes, and no. My wife, aka the bread winner, decided I was going to trade the Evo and her Jeep for an RX8 (we have too many cars and my wife wanted to dump our car payments), but the dealership was too proud of there car, and less of our two (they wanted to give me 9k for my Evo (modded). I have to admit, I wasn't 100% on board for dumping the Evo, but when the wife speaks.....

So, now, the new plan is to trade her jeep, after this winter, and get an 05 RX8 used from CarMax, some place where they won't try to rape us. I am going to keep the Evo, since it is all but paid for.

In a perfect world, I would have both, the RX8's I drove at Roebling were impressive, especially the ones with lots of brake and suspension mods.

 

have you ever ran R-dots before in the evo?

n

 

Nope, not in mine, and the one I did run it in was so much more powerful (AMS) I really couldn't tell the difference.

 

There is a night and day difference between Advans and R-compounds. Hoosiers will be superior to RA1s if they are the same size and the track is dry. I dont recommend getting Hossiers unless you are very hard core and used to driving on R compounds. The average joe will overdrive the tire and they wont last anywhere near as long as they could.

The RA1 can be had fairly cheap and works well in all race conditions....not to mention the 255 fits on the stock wheel and looks great.

 

hi.

just an FYI -- you have mentioned "slicks" quite a few times in your post above.... do you really mean "slicks"???

i run real "slicks" on my E Production Lotus Seven; incredible grip (i usually use Goodyear or Hoosier slicks; the cantilever variety; i seem to recall that i favored the
Goodyear R430 compound....). true "slicks" are not a DOT tire; mine aren't radials; they like really low pressures (i run 14 to 17 psi on the Lotus).

true "slicks" require special setups that are quite different from DOT radial R compound tires. "slicks" are very very light weight tires; they wear quite quickly (life is measured in minutes when tracking a heavy, powerful car) and stick like glue when warm. they have absolutely zero tread; the only marks on them are the treaddepth hole indicators. they are delicate (a trip off the track into the "rough" or slamming into a bad set of alligator teeth can wreck them. there is absolutely no way you can drive to the Wawa or 7eleven with them on during lunch break. also, you do not want to get caught out on the track with them on during a rain shower. been there, done that!

this is the progression of tires that most might see:

1. street tires (obviously DOT)
a. all season tires (VR +4 type tires)
b. high performance/summer tires (typical Z rated hi perf tires you see for sale at places like TireRack)
c. ultra high performance tires (like our Advans, or the best Azenias, etc)
2. treaded R comp DOT tires
a. Yokohama 032R
b. Hankook Z211
c. Kumho V700
d. Nitto NT-01
e. Toyo RA-1
f. and all the other treaded R comps i am forgetting
3. grooved R comp DOT tires (no real tread, just a couple of round grooves)
a. Hoosier R3S04 (and soon, R3S05)
b. Avon something or other
c. Hankook Z214
d. Kumho V710
e. and all the other grooved R comps that are out there/being developed
4. true racing slicks
a. Hoosier 43xxx series, 44xxx series, 45xxx series and 46xxx series
b. Goodyear 807 series
c. and all the others out there (Firestone, Avon, etc).

from reading your post, i feel that your best bet would be a DOT radial of the treaded variety. i'd suggest the 032R (this is what i run on my everyday EVO), or the Toyo RA-1, or the Hankook Z211. stay away from the grooved R comps, and i'd definitely stay away from "slicks".

good luck

todd

 

Thanks Todd, I appreciate the response.

 

you'll be stoked on treaded R comp DOT's, which ever kind you get.... they are a great value.

n

 

How much over street tires will the R compounds be? I haven't run them in an Evo, and cars that I have driven slicks and R's on, I never drove with Streets, so I am not sure how much they will be worth?

 

Youch, only 9k for the Evo.. Even if it has 100k on it that's still really low. Hell, I got 15k for my '03 WRX. I would just wait a few weeks and I bet in Feb. you can pick up a new RX-8 for thousands under invoice. Even right now getting a basic MT for a good bit under 25k shouldn't be a problem. Well, happy you get to keep the Evo and goodluck with the tire choice. My vote is a nice wide RA-1, I think you'll shave a couple seconds off your laptimes and you won't have as much hassle with swapping for street and track.

 

The RA1s aren't bad at all on the pocketbook.

I've been driving mine on the street some and I love them. Aside from the amazing grip, they're predictable and progressive at the limit, decently smooth, don't tramline badly, and suprisingly quiet. I've only had them a month so no track days yet.