I'm in the process of building up my EVO for STU and the first thing I'm buying is wheels and tires. This week I plan to order the following:

*Enkei RPM2 17 X 9
*Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 (245/40 - 17)

I chose the Enkei b/c they are fairly light, strong, inexpensive and come in a 9" width. I had a hard time finding anything that compares to them.

I chose the Goodyear Eagles over Yokohama AVS Sport's because the Eagles appear to better based on Tirerack's reviews.

The total package will probably cost me $1800 after taxes, mounting, balancing and road hazard.

Does anybody have alternatives I should consider? Any gotcha's in this that are going to queer the deal?

TIA

 

Is the goodyear going to be better than a Falken or Ecsta MX?

 

That is what I'm asking. I suck at Autocross, so I'm asking people who got their clue certificate in the mail. Mine hasn't arrived yet.

Update:
Looked at TireRack and they rate the GoodYear .4 points above the Kumho. However, many of the reviews for the Kumho seem to come from people who were looking for a daily driver tire.

Based on the popularity of Kumho's with Autocrossers and the unbelievable price I think I will switch to the Kumho Ecsta MX. Very hard to beat $131/tire!

 

The Kumo MX is not a good autox tire. The sidewalls are way too soft. Somewhere I have pictures demonstrating a Kumo MX rolling over so much that the rim was almost in contact with the tarmac.

AFter a full season on street tires, I can say this. Falkin Azenis tires are good, but they tend to get greasy (lose lots of grip) when they over heat. The best street tire that I tried last season was the stock advan. They don't overheat, grip as good as the falkins, and they don't have issues with heat like the falkins. The sidewalls in the advans was strong enough to allow me to drop 5psi accross on all 4 tires from what I ran with the falkins.



Your choice of rims is good. Those RPM2 are pretty light for the price. IMHO, the 9" width is not nessesary unless you plan to move to ESP or SM when your skills improve.

 

To be perfectly honest, I don't think you are going to do better than our own beloved OEM tire, the Yokohama A046, for STU. Wheels are always a trade off, cost vs. weight and all, but the Enkeis are good bang for the buck. I also see no need to go to 9" for STU, unless you do plan on going to ESP or SM down the road. The only wrinkle I can see is if you wanted to go the 18" route. Some people think the reduced sidewall height is worth the extra weight, others don't; the jury is definitely still out on that call.

FWIW, I am probably staying in A Stock next season, but if I were to make the jump to STU, I would probably use the A046 on my 17x8 Volk CE28N-L wheels that I used with the Hoosiers this past season...

JW

 

Thanks for all the help!

It looks like I'm a go for the Enkies. The tires seem a bit more clouded. I really want to get as much tire as I can (245 is the max for me in STU). The A046 is only available as a 235 tire. They are also fairly expensive (~215 ea).

Before I go order this afternoon - would the A048 be legal in STU? I sort of doubt it, but worth asking.

I may end up flipping a coin to choose between the GoodYears or Yokohama AVS Sports (classified the same as the A046).

 

Just ordered my stuff from Discount Tire in Grapevine.

Ended up getting:
Enkei RPM2 17x9
Goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3

Spent a total of $1816.06 for the package. the tires were a little more expensive than expected. The Yoko's were out of stock and the Goodyears seemed good.

We shall see how this works out this weekend. Now for a rear swaybar....

 

Unless you are experienced i would wait on the Hoosiers, definetly try some V700s. One of the lightest wheels with cost in mind is the Enkei RPF1(15.5lbs in 17x8). You can find them for like $1000 shipped from some board vendors. If your not willing to spend that much get some Rota Torques as they are still lighter than stock. Mid season after your are comfortable autoxing on R-compounds try some Hoosiers.

I'm not really into Goodyear, but did you get 245's? 255's?

 

I run in STU so I'm maxed at 245. However, with a 9" rim I can always move to SP or SM and get some BF wide tires. Not sure how wide you can go on the EVO w/o rubbing things the wrong way.

I'll report back about the goodyears. I have an Autocross on Saturday so I'll get to break them in right away.

Actually, this is going to be a really cool frickin month. I have 3 weekends of autocross all in a row. Hopefully, I'll learn to go deeper in to the corner before breaking and then turning in. Wanna spin out at least once!

 

Gramlight 57F's are supposidly 13.8lbs in 17x8.5

 

Go Gramlights 57F or S ...very light wt. And light on your wallet.

 

My wheels and tires will be in tomorrow. I'll post pictures then.

 

My wheels arrived early! I went to the store and picked them up. Unfortunately I need a set of spacers. They barely touch the Brembos. What a pain. Luckily it looks like I will be able to pick up a set of spacers from PepBoys.

Here is an okay shot of a wheel off of the car:


They look pretty good. I can't wait to actually put them on the car.