Hello,

I'm looking for recommendations on a set of tires for my 2013 r56 mcs that I can daily drive in reasonable comfort during the summer and that can handle one autocross per month. My current stock runflats are just about finished.

As far as sizes, I am thinking either 205/50r16 or 225/50r16. I'm a little concerned that the 225s might be too wide for the stock 6.5-inch wheels but I like the idea of going wider if possible. (I want to stay in D Street so wider wheels aren't an option for now).

I'm not worried about being super competitive in autocross so I don't think the RE11s or Star Specs are necessary; plus I have not heard good things about their normal road manners. I'm considering an ultra high or max performance tire but I'm interested to hear what others are running for similar usage.

Thanks.

 

Will you be happy if you are not anywhere near competitive? RE11's and Star Specs can't compete with RE-71r's/Rivals/Kumho V720's. What surface are you running on? If asphalt, any tire can stand up to autocrossing. Rough concrete can wear out any tire.

15x6.5 and 16x7 are legal in D street under the +/- one inch in diameter rule.

I would be perfectly happy on my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3's if I just wanted to go run for the fun of it (and I have). If I wanted to go as fast as possible on street tires I would buy a set of Bridgestone RE-71r's, but I would expect less than 10k on the street.

Continental Extreme Contact DW are great autocross tires in the wet but slower than the MPS A/S 3 in the dry. Michelin Pilot Super Sport are fun autocross tires but not available in sizes smaller than 17".

I'm taking my two-year old Hankook R-S3 V2's out in a couple of weeks. I expect to be several seconds slower than prepped Subarus on RE-71r's.

I would not expect 225's to work well as they would be taller and heavier on 6.5" wheels. You're going to corner on the outside edge of the tire anyway due to lack of negative camber on the stock suspension.

 

Buy an extra set for AX and get the RE71's. AX tears up tires and they look ugly on the car for DDing anyway. Edges get pretty rough.

 

For daily driving and decent autocross duty for 16" wheels:

BFG Rival S
215/45-16 $142.20 each, 200 treadwear, fits 7-8" wide rims, will fit OEM MINI wheel. tire diameter 23.6" is less than OEM but will work OK.

tirerack test result-
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=202

 

RE71R, AD08, RT615K all good choices.

 

Just picked up rt615k for my r53.
Do my first event in them next Saturday. Also my dd's. Mileage is going to be interesting

 

I have Nitto Neo Gens on my '06 S in a 205-50-15 on r81s [holeys] and will be buying a set of 205-50 16s for my r84s. My S is a daily driver, Dragon Slayer and occasional track car at Mid Ohio. It is lowered and the Neo Gens are made for lowered cars. The Neo Gens have a 280 treadwear and grip a lot better than the 615s that were on the car before I went to the Neo Gens, plus you might expect a bit longer use, because of the higher treadwear.

 

I'm really not concerned about being anywhere close to the top of my class. I am just in it to have fun. This will be my first full season, so my driving is going to hold me back more than tires at this point. Most of the events in the Philly region are at a disused runway with fairly rough concrete and it seems to be pretty rough on tires. My runflats were fairly chewed up on the edges after three events last year.

Unfortunately, I don't have space for an extra set of wheels right now. I am in the process of buying a house in the suburbs so I will have a garage and storage space later this summer but not for a little while.

I am wondering if it would make more sense to just buy a cheap set of performance summer tires to burn through and then pick up a set of dedicated autocross wheels next summer. The SUMITOMO HTR Z II has okay reviews and only run about $64 each on tirerack.

 

How is the road noise on the RT615K's?

 

I would definitely say you can hear them but you have to concentrate on them to hear them. Between wind noise and music I can't hear anything. Our cars aren't exactly quite

 

Sumitomo HTR ZII is a great tire, for an ultra high performance tire. It doesn't measure up to the grip levels in today's maximum performance tires.

BF Goodrich Comp 2 would bring higher grip levels for $86 a tire.

 

As with most competition Street tires you can expect more noise (2.5 out of 5) than Falken All Season tires (4 out of 5 on scale of 5 with higher being less noisy).

see
http://falkentire.com/tires/car-tire...is-rt615k-tire

You get much better grip in dry conditions.

As for other summer tires, generally Max summer tires give more grip and faster tread wear than Ultra High Performance Summer tires.

Even on a budget you can consider
Hankook Ventus R-S3 version 2
205/55-16 $80.10 each on special at tirerack. 200 treadwear

or
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...=true&filter=y
Hankook ventus V12 Evo 2 $82 each in 205/55-16

 

Where are you running near Philly? I'm looking for some events in the area.

 

The Philly SCCA mostly runs events at an old runway in Warminster, PA. There are two events scheduled at the Wells Fargo Center this year as well.

www.phillyscca.com/solo/