Here's a list of tires autoxers use for street tire classes (in no particular order).

Falken Azenis RT-615
Falken Azenis RT-215
Kumho Ecsta MX
Hankook R-S2-Z212
Advan Neova AD07
BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD

Most people run the 1st 4 as the Avans and BFGs are quite expensive.

 

It's a shame you can't use R-comps as the RA-1 really is just about the PERFECT tire for high-performance driving schools.

If I had to run non-R compounds on the track, I would probably go with the stock Advans. They're great street tires with performance close to the RA-1's. The only problem is cost. If cost is a big issue, the Azenis Sports are not bad. They don't really hold up well and get very greasy after a few hard laps...but if you take it easy they're fine.

One of my students at Tremblant this week corded her RA-1's on the first day and had to run her street tires for the next 2 days. She was using Advan Neova AD07's. This was my first experience with this tire and I must say I was VERY impressed! There was very little difference bewteen the Neovas and RA-1's. My impression is that the Neova is probably an even better tire than the Advans. I would give them a try.

Emre

 

How did she cord them in one day?
those tires hold up well for R compounds.....


Percy

 

I saw a set of 'chuncked' up RA-1's at Big Willow.... the tire lost large chunks of rubber on the outer edge.. looked nasty.

The driver said it was his 2 set to do this.

What caused it... not sure, probably bad tire pressures.

n

 

They were already pretty worn. She just finished one off a little earlier than expected.

Emre

 

Could be lots of things: underinflated tires, not enough negative camber, not enough roll stiffness (i.e., excessive dynamic camber change), even toe settings can do it if they're way off. Usually, it's a combination of these variables.

I've recently installed a full-race suspension from Will Turner on my track car (a BMW E30). Before all the suspension work, I had a much milder street & track set-up from H&R and Bilstein. I was chewing through R-compounds at an alarming rate. With the full race supension, my R-compounds seem to last forever.

Emre

 

yeah, I think he was on stock suspension if I remember coerrectly.. not enough negative camber and the outer edge of the tire got eaten up.

The RA-1's seem to love negative camber.... I am on -3 degrees up front which seems to work fairly well (street/track set-up). The hoosiers have stiffer sidewall and seem to like less negative camber.

Wish it wasnt so damn hot here in Vegas!!

n

 

The stock Enkeis 17" x 8" work great at the track. I run 255/40/17 RA-1s, which fit just fine with no adjustments. Maybe Kuhmo Ecsta MX if have to run a street tire.

It's not worth the money for an expensive set of track wheels. You will save 2 lbs. per corner of unsprung weight at the absolute most, probably less. I bought a extra set of used stock Enkeis for $100 apiece in good shape, so I have plenty of extra wheels and tires for track days. Spend the $$ on engine or suspension mods instead, or just extra track tires.

 

Hi, Nils.

That's always a problem with street cars on mild suspensions. The high, soft suspension gives you excessive body roll, so you need TONS of negative camber to keep things under control. But then running so much camber causes other problems, especially with braking. One way or the other, you end up with funny wear on your tires and they don't last nearly as long as they should.


Any tire will work best when the wear is distributed evenly across it's surface. The reason why you can get away with less negative camber with the Hoosiers is that the stiffer sidewalls resist dynamic camber change better than other brands...it's like putting slightly stiffer springs on the car. However, if you could stabilize your camber (stiffer springs and anti-roll bars) you would probably find the RA-1's behave just as well.

I just use an old-fashioned pyrometer to see what kind of wear I'm getting and how well the car is balanced. On my E30, I could only get up to 2.0 degrees of negative with my camber plates and the outside edges of my tires were overheating badly. I would have needed at least -3.0 degrees to be close.

Now, with race springs and properly adjusted anti-roll bars, even -2.0 degrees is too much! For the first time, the inside edges are hotter than the outsides. I've backed off to around -1.8 degrees. We'll see how that does at Tremblant this week.

Emre

 

im wondering if anyone has tracked the new azenis yet.. does it perform better than the old ones? i mean not as damn greasy after a long session