Ok i am in a dilema. I am getting a new set of 17x7 TD pro race wheels this week (thanks aaron!) and i cannot decide on a tire to use for these

they will be on the car 50-70% of the time, and will see a lot of auto-x days as well as a few track events and be daily driven.

I cannot decide on a tire! what do you guys recommend, and in what size do you recommend

sizes i can consider :

205/45/17 - softer ride, less tire availability
215/40/17 - harsher ride, better tire availability

here are the tires i have been considering:

before i start i want to keep the price as close to or as under 100 bucks as possible per tire.

falken rt-615 - great for auto-x but what is the tread life like if i am running these on a day to day basis
hankook rs-z212 - same concerns as the azenis
bfgoodrich geforce KDW or Sport - KDW is expensive, not sure it is worth the money - good tread life though
Toyo Proxies FZ4 - no info on these
Prada Spec 2s - heard these were loud.

so what do you guys think, or make another recommendation. I need a decent tread life for the street, and it should be a safe tire also.

my other option is to put a cheaper street tire ont he new wheels and use my stock x-patterns for a dedicated auto-x tire with some 16" azenis on them.

also just for the record i should be running in ST-X auto-x this summer.

i appreciate it!

 

I've had (in 205/50R16) Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position, Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, and BF-Goodrich G-Force Sport - they're listed in order of price (most expensive to least) and performance.

I think all 3 blow your budget, though.

The Bridgestones and Goodyears are close in performance... the Bridgestone is noticably better, but perhaps not better enough than the Goodyear to justify the cost.

The BFG G-Force Sport is definitely a step below the other two in performance. But, it is cheaper.

The Goodyear has the best price / performance ratio of the three, I think. I ran those last summer as a daily tire, and autocrossed, and did 9 track days. They just barely lasted through the summer but never gave me any real problems. They do wear kinda funny when you star beating on them... the outside edge of all the tread blocks gets rounded off badly. But, they still work.

 

I don't see that you have alot of choice here based on size, cost and the fact you will be autocrossing on them alot.

215/40/17 Hankook z-212, $98 or Azenis 615, $104. THAT's IT.

If you can consider a 215/45/17, same two tires, Kook's $92, 615's $110 at Edge Racing.

 

lets say under 120 dollars a tire.

no more though!! lol

 

I'd say get dedicated auto-x wheels and tires, you'll get the best of both worlds, good tread and comfort on the street, and best performance on the auto-x

 

I've had a couple sets of the Falken Azenis, and got as many as 10,000 street miles out of them. I've heard of a few people geting 15,000-20,000 miles with mistly highway use. It all depends on how many autocrosses and track events you use them for (as well as your alignment settings) as to how many street miles you will get out of them. The Azenis shold be an all around great tire for you.

-Keith

 

Do you live where it gets cold?

I put my Azenis (the older 215 model, not the newer 615 model) on to drive my MINI 5 miles to the mall for a car show (my car was in the show and inside the mall) a few months ago. It was around 35 or 40 degrees and that was the scariest MINI ride of my life.

Azenis, and many other high performance tires, have no grip when it's cold.

And they tramline horribly / follow the ruts in the road.

And they're really noisy.

It's your call, but I'd drop down a notch from the 200 treadwear auto-x tires to something a little less extreme for street / dual purpose use.

 

Kumho MX?

 

I would go with the Azenis for less rain driving, BFG KDW2 all-around for the $$$

 

Sure I live where its cold.....Ohio. He asked about a good street/autocross/track tire, and mentioned he had another set of wheels to use as well. No one tire can do everything, if someone is looking for a street/autocross/track/snow tire, it doesn't exist. No one in their right mind should run a summer high performance tire in winter in inclement weather. Never had a problem with my Azenis "tramlining", and they might have been noisier than my all-season tires, but not horribly so, I used them for daily driver tires for three summers.

I found that the Azenis will start to lose grip below 40° or so, but wouldn't think of using them in ice or snow. Even in cold weather when the roads were dry, I didn't consider the Azenis to be unsafe, I just drove with caution and all was ok. Anyone wanting to run more than the occasional track or autocross event and lives where snow, ice, and cold weather is an issue, needs a minimum of two sets of wheels and tires, one for summer/autocross/track use, and one for all-season/winter use. I currently have three sets of wheels and tires for my Mini, one set with all-season tires I use when it gets cold, one set with Toyo T1R's for summer use, and one set with Kumho V710 race tires for autocross use. I got the Kumhos used, and two sets of wheels were take-off stock wheels. I have less than $1000 in all three sets of wheels. Having adequate wheels and tires for different purposes doesn't have to be expensive, and is cheaper in the long run.

-Keith

 

I just got a set of Hankook R-S2 215/40-17 on 7"-17, 42 mm offset wheels. They are a bit noisy at 25-45 mph on smooth asphalt. They ride slightly better than my OEM Dunlop all season runflats (195/55-16). They have OK rain performance in 40-45 deg. F temperatures. They don't seem to tramline much on roads that I drive on. They have a smoother turn-in and are less abrupt compared to the runflats.

I will be using these as summer tires, and for street-tire class (non-R) autocross. The OEM wheels/tires will go back on in late fall. I've used R-S2's on another autocross car (S2000) and they worked well, but haven't yet done any autocross runs in the MCS.

 

yeah i think i am going to end up with two sets of tires, i just need to save up a bit more money. i am close to deciding on a set of BF Goodrich G-force sports. all the reviews say they are better than the KDWs and a lot less noisy.

either that or the kuhmo MX.

any opinions?

 

The Kumho's and Hankook Z212's will both be close to the Azenis in dry grip (I've driven on all three), the BFG's will not. The G-Force Sport is a 2nd tier summer performance tire, at best. You'll definitely be giving up a lot of grip to the other three tires mentioned if going with the BFG's. The BFG KD is close to the other three, but at a much higher price.

-Keith

 

hrm maybe i will just put on a set of the hankooks and run them in the summer and see how they fair. if i can get a whole summer outa them including auto-x, and a little into next year i would be happy enough i would say. you cant beat the price of the hankooks.. and the azenis are not that much more too.

 

Just to keep my good name :D

I didn't use the Azenis in the snow, just cold.

I know run three sets of wheels / tires - summer, snow, and track / autocross.

I'm just saying that I wouldn't want to have Azenis on for my daily tire in the summer... which is why I have a different set of wheels with BFG G-Force Sport tires on them for daily use.

If you're going to compromise and run the same tires on the street and track, I'd lose some of the "track" side of the performance for more comfort on the street.

 

I understand, I wasn't necessarily referring to you. I feel it is sometimes ok to drive a summer tire in the winter if the roads are dry and it is above 20° or 30° if caution is used, but if the roads are wet, icy, or snowy, it can be extremely dangerous. Tried driving on snow once on some Kumho 711's (crappy summer tires), and I came home after about 10-15 miles and swapped to some all-seasons. I have a friend who runs Kumho MX's year round on his Mustang Cobra here, and I do feel he is insane.

How much NVH any person can put up with is different for every individual. I've taken numerous 3-4 hour trips on Azenis over the years, and the noise didn't bother me much, but if I were to take a longer trip and ther would be no "fun" (corner carving) involved, I'd probably swap on my all-seasons, at least for my wife's sake.

-Keith