The common choice:
Dunlop Z1 Star Spec 205/50-16 87V. $115. Good in cold weather, may chunk if not cooled on hot days.

The expensive choice:
Bridgestone RE11 205/45-16 87V. $166 Smaller diameter and shorter sidewall.

The risky choice:
Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 205/45-16 83W. $128.50. Load rating below 84H spec. Three pounds lighter. Apparently untried in autocrossing but looks competent in tests, reviews, and measurements.

Watcha think?

 

Those Michelins aren't in the same league as the other two. I'd avoid them. I've been very satisfied with my Dunlop Z1s. They are noisy, but the amount of grip they offered, wet or dry, was surprising to me. I only wish I could have gone wider, but mine are on 15s. You, however can go wider because you have 16s. And from what I've heard, we can go at least to 225s without rubbing issues.

Personally, at the expense of losing a little bit of the "gearing" advantage of having tires with a smaller circumference, I would get the Z1s in 225-50-16. There are a couple 225-45-16 tires our there, but I think the Z1s would still be faster. Just my opinion though, no facts or data to back it up.

specs page:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=yes&tab=Specs

The Kuhmo Ecsta XS comes in a 215-45-16, is cheaper than the Z1 and is 6lbs per tire lighter, but for some reason has a lot more revs/mile compared to the 225-50-16 Z1s. Unless that's a mistake, that means you'd have even worse gearing in addition to a narrower tire.

spec page:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=yes&tab=Specs

The RE11s are very comparable to the Z1s, and they usually finish near eachother in tests, from what I've seen. But the RE11s are just so much more expensive. IMO, the Z1s are the tire that has the best bang/$$$ ratio.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. I'm curious about what evidence you are relying on to conclude that the PE2 is not in the same league.

The 225's are almost an inch higher and require a wider wheel to work as well as a 205. In 13" diameter I found 225 Hoosiers worked a lot better with 8" width compared to 7". I'm not a believer in wider tread is always better unless you can also use a wider wheel. The 215/45 Kumho requires an even wider wheel than a 225/50.

Having slept on it and read your input, I think I may stick with my original plans to go with the 205/50-16 Z1's for autocross and 195/55-15 PE2's for the street and maybe for wet autocross.

 

the new falklin Azein 615K come in a 215-45-16 and are suppose to be a nice improvement over the old 615. They are cheaper then the stones and would be just as stiff and grippy. IIRC they are not unidirectional and you can swap them about for extended wear not that they should last more then 20-25K even driven conservatively.

 

I am running Dunlop DZ101 on my 04 MCS. They are great dding the car, amazing at the drag strip with 20psi, and have been great on the twisties. They are a lil less than the Star Specs but I chose them as I am driving from the east coast to the west coast and back over the next 3 months.

 

As I understand it the Star Spec is the same tire with a special autocrossing compound that provides excellent grip when the tire is cold. This is not a consideration for street driving but can be very important when autocrossing on cool days with large run groups.

As for the Falken, if I trusted it, I would consider the 205/40-16.

 

For what it is worth, the August Grassroots Motorsports says in their tire comparison that as the Starspecs heat up they get more slippery. It is too bad we don't have more choices for the stock wheel size (for those of us that want to stay SCCA stock legal.)

 

What wheel and tire sizes do the HS guys that compete at nationals use? May be a moot point since they use R comps, but figured it was worth asking.

What width wheels are you using? 225 width tires aren't that wide. If you were using them on a 6" wide wheel, I'd think you'd be fine.

How long do you expect them to last? If it's just a season or two, might be worth it to try them. You might be surprised.

There's that one guy that has some ridiculously wide meats on his Mini. I see if I can find a link.

 

Here it is. Not apples to apples, but still schweet.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...oosier-a6.html

 

"225 width tires aren't that wide. If you were using them on a 6" wide wheel, I'd think you'd be fine."

Center of gravity raised .4"
3.3% taller gearing
16 more pounds of unsprung, rotating weight
10% taller sidewall
bowed tread due to 7-9" wheel width requirement vs 5.5-7.5" for 205/50-16

This is H Stock with 16x6.5 wheels and no turbo or camber plates.

 

I'm running 205/50-15 Star Specs this year, and recommend them.

I agree that with street tires one must have enough wheel width to keep the contact patch flat. I have tried 225 R1R and 225 RS3 on 15x7 and neither was as good as the 205 Dunlops.

 

Michelin PE2s perform much the same as the Direzzas according to my measurements. We run PE2s on Shawn most of the time, but have Direzzas for the track. I'd put them in the same league.

 

Do you have Direzza DZ101's or Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs?

 

Z1 star specs.

 

Haven't run the RE11 but did run the REO1r and now have the Yoko ADO8s and they are way better! 2 cents

 

Interesting. I simply made my comment based on the fact that the PE2s weren't tested with tires that were considered competition to the Dunlop Z1s (in the test that I looked at on Tirerack....I believe there was only 1 at the time).

 

As best I can figure Tire Rack says PE2's aren't extreme perf tires because they don't have a big block tread design. And they aren't max perf because they don't have a higher speed rating. They tested the PE2's twice and rated them higher than the other six ultra perf tires in the tests.

Having been developed from rally tires I'm guessing they are better being agressively driven on a MINI than tested against lesser tires on a 3-series BMW. Oh well. I bought the 205/50 Star Specs. The PE2's will have to wait until I'm ready to dispose of the 15" Contis.

I see double adjustable custom valved Penske stocks have gone to $825 each while I was sleeping. Sigh.