Agreed. #98's codriver (and car owner) is Bryan Heitkotter, so this should be a great battle between STU top dogs in Lugod, Stuart, and Heitkotter (I'll just try to hang in there )

 

Yeah I think the immediate charge is discouraging a lot of people from signing up early.

 

I don't think there's a worry for a central California event not filling up

Also, people probably waiting till after Crows pro to ensure nothing catastrophically broken and the 1st for pay day. I bet next week it jumps close to or over 200.

 

We're at 107 entries so far with 5 days before the deadline, so its looking a lot better now

 

I take it you mean the El Toro Pro. I don't doubt that, but I also think that not a lot of people are aware of the 2 week/120 entry rule.

 

Maybe there's already enough tire discussions on other forums but I'm kinda surprised there hasn't been much here-- a tiny little bit but discussion moved on quickly.

So what're people's thoughts? The new 'Stones are blowing up the intarwebz for good results and poor wear, the Z2SS still seem like contenders and well-suited to heavy cars with their stiffer sidewall, RS3 V2's are still looking good... and so on.

I haven't bought tires yet but I gotta say I'm tempted by the 'Stones and just running higher tire pressures, especially since I run a 9" wide wheel. I was previously thinking Z2SS and may still land there.

 

I have already written this part elsewhere, so it might be suitable here as well:
From what I have seen so far, RS3v2 used to be the tire to have. Z2* was pretty close to it and in some case they were dead even. Since Hankook was paying contingencies, choice was a bit simpler.

Than, RE71R showed up and it is significantly softer than any of the other compounds so far. Most people that ran it had just great words for it. But, nobody ran it (or wrote about) on high grip concrete in the heat to see how tolerant it will be to harder abuse on a warm day. So far they are saying that it didn't suffer from getting hotter in cooler ambient temps.

At the same time, there is lot of rumor on the new Rival S that is coming out in two weeks or so. Testing that was done last year at Lincoln on Nationals course (Saturday after event was done) with lots of OPR on the course showed great improvement over the original Rivals. All of the expectation is that it will be pretty soft and BFG site is even pointing that, so don't expect longer life span from that one either.

Another one that is also just about to show is Kumho V720 and first test against RS3v2 (road race that is) showed them to be a bit slower. But, that was done in Japan and word is that US will get different compound that will be better for autoX use. They are also expected later in April.

I have not heard anything about new R1Rs yet, but they were shown at SEMA show a while back. Apparently it might be the same as before with different stamp for TW.

Than, there is Yokohama that we heard nothing of yet...

Which way to go here? If I were you, I would wait few more weeks to see the results from Rivals and V720s. By that time we might get more info on others as well. It wouldn't surprise me to see RS3v3 for example!

 

From what I'm reading it seems the Bridgestone RE71Rs are the new Toyo R1Rs. Designed more for lighter cars that don't see as much wear. It may not be a viable tire for heavier cars but I'm not sure. The closest report to a heavier car is from Danny's DS 2015 WRX. We had an alien (Kinch) STS driver handily take top PAX during the last winter event on the year with the RE71Rs.

At this point it seems the best solution is to play the wait and see game. Anyone trying out the new generation of tires on their EVOs? I'm commited to the Z2 SS this season and so far I have to say I like it. Aren't tire wars fun? With that being said I would still take the uncertainty with the "best street" tire over running Hoosiers any day.

 

I'm sure most of you have seen this but for those who haven't - http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=187

He was in the trophies in C Street at the SD Tour; a local and friend of mine (Ric Q.) was the one who won (on RE-71R's as well) and his tire wear didn't look anything like that so it seems like there's a lot of unknown variables regarding the wear rate of these tires. Regardless, they're proving to be fast; I'm curious to see more reports on tire wear after the Crows Landing Tour/Pro, as the site has very abrasive concrete and tons of grip.

I bought Dunlop ZII Star Specs a few weeks ago and have 25 runs on them so far (20 at Crows Landing), the first treadwear indicators (first of the three hashmarks in the center rib) on the front tires were gone by the end of TnT at Crows but I think that's due to the surface and car rather than the tires. I like them so far, they definitely feel more tolerant to heat as I took 6 runs in the first hour (temps peaked in the high 60s/low-70s at this point) without spraying and the tires weren't feeling greasy or sloppy (times were consistent); the fronts were getting hot and the rears were also getting very warm. Unless the RE-71R/Rival-S/V720 prove to be faster on a boost buggy, I'll probably stick with the ZII SS.

 

I've seen that FT86Club post in many places by now and it is a big driver of the tire wear comments/ conspiracy. Personally, I think it's one data point but not a conclusion-- locally, we have which eat up tires and have low grip, so we could tell similar stories with other tires.

I don't mean to deny or discredit anyone's experience, I'm just trying to factor everything into my decision because I plan on buying just one set of tires and using them all season.

That said, I'm not completely sold on Z2's being the "it" tire for heavier cars or 'Stones not being suited to heavier cars. Results show RS3 V2's do well on heavy-ish cars like the 350Z, early 2015 results show the same-- San Diego results by class are below, with 'Stones taking 8 of 16 classes, including ones with heavy-ish cars.

AS: Hankook
BS:Hankook
BSL: Dunlop
CS: Dunlop
CSL: Dunlop
DS: Dunlop
ES: Stones
FS: Stones
GS: Stones
HS: Hankook
STF: Stones
STS: Stones
STX: Hankook
STU: Stones
STR: Stones
STRL: Stones

 

C Street and STX were won by cars on the RE-71R as well, so that would make 10/16.


As far as the Dunlops go, I wasn't (and still am not) sold on them being the best tire for these types of cars, but I am fairly familiar with using them (2 past sets of ZIIs, 1 set of Z1 SS) and believe that they would be at least somewhat competitive with the latest crop of street tires. Of course, YMMV

 

I picked up a set of used RS3v2 because they were cheap, just to hold me over, but knowing that I was going to pick up a set of RE71 / ZII* / Rival S's after there is more data. So I am still waiting and seeing.

Danny was 2nd in PAX at the first DC event on ZII*'s, trailing behind an STS Civic on RE71Rs. I have never been disappointed by the Dunlops, and I kind of hate BFG's on principle after that bogus "put people up in the Four Seasons and then let them explain how good our tires are" thing. On an STU car the RE71R might do okay because we can run enough wheel and enough camber not to totally kick the **** out of the tires.. but we also have nose heavy pigs with lots of power, so I dunno.

I figure I have at least another month if not more to decide.

 

We're on the Hankooks and I can say that at San Diego, in STX it was pretty much the tires that won the class. The only two cars on Bridgestones placed 1 and 2, and watching those cars, they had wayyyyy more grip than anyone else. I'm not quite sold, as San Diego isn't the ideal test venue. The site is severely degrading and the asphalt isn't all that grippy. The real test will be this weekend at El Toro, where the surface is much more Lincoln-like. I'm on the fence, but I'm thinking about picking up a set of the BFGs AND a set of the Bridgestones for testing before the Crows Tour and Pro.

 

Does anyone have strong feelings on RE-71R vs Rival S yet? Early reports appear mixed.

I've seen a few reports of RE-71R wearing quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rival S wears roughly as fast, though.

 

First autox school and TnT in the evo this weekend! It's not strictly STU legal but pretty close! eager to test out the suspension changes i've made, hopefully get the car a bit more neutral in steady state turning