Well my wife and I finished our first Auto-X event of the year and well the GY runflats are toast . That was my goal.

The Mini is an 05 MCS with 17 S lites. We have new wheels and tires for street use, but we are looking for Auto-X tires for the S-Lites.

What is the biggest tire you can squeeze on an S-Lite wheels?

Are there any DOT comp tire that will work on the S-Lites....I really wanted the Kuhmo V700s but apparently they don't come close in size. It does appear that the Kuhmo V70A comes in correct sizes. I don't know anything about this tire.

Basically my wife and I don't care what class we are running in, we just want the car to perform....I know that changing from street tires will put us in open class but we are not concerned with that.

We also want to put some money in suspension (the Mini is stock S form as of now) so we don't want to put a ton of money into tires....yes I know that tires are a huge part of Auto-X, but I know that the Mini can do really well with some suspension work.

Let me know what you think.

 

Go to tire rack and search competition tires in your size. You could save some money and get Hankook RS2's. Excellent tire, works on the street and almost race quality. 200 tread wear, so expect 10k or less.

 

Thanks for the reply, I will take a look at them.

As for wear....these will be for Auto-x/track....no street use.

 

R Compounds
Kumho V710 225/45ZR17 will fit but are a bit tall 25" $800
Hoosier A6 225/40ZR17 23.8" dont last as long as the v710's not for track use. $948

Your best buy would be
AZENIS RT-615 215/40R17 23.9" $384 from vulcan tire.

 

A member of our local club uses Nitto NT01s in 205/40 R17 on his GS MCS. Not sure if he posts here though.

 

I cannot comment about availability, but Kumho is coming out with a 215/40R17 in the V710.

 

Three basic options that have already been posted -
- max perf. street tire a la Hankook RS2 or Falken Azenis
- compromise track-oriented r-comp a la Nitto NT01 or Toyo RA1
- autox r-comp a la V710 or A6.

Listed from slowest to fastest. How long have you been autocrossing? I'd recommend sticking to a street tire your first season or two. Going straight to r-comps will cover up bad driving and give you a false sense of good times. R-compounds are also too expensive to be burned up while you're still learning how to autocross imho.

If you're running in an SCCA club or a club that follows their classing, an r-comp won't bump you out of the stock classes. They will prevent you from moving into a "street tire" class should you do suspension work. You'll be in a prepared category, which will probably be hard on the ol' ego.

I personally would skip the more track-oriented r-comps like the NT01. They do not heat up quickly enough to grip very well at autox. They will be quicker than a street tire, and they'll last longer than an autox r-comp, but it's a misuse of the tire.

And you might want to look at replacing the s-lites with 16" wheels, depending on what tires you decide on. They'll weight a lot less and open up more possibilities. I probably wouldn't mount a grippy r-comp onto a heavy wheel like the s-lite. An article in Grassroots or somewhere a few months back found unsprung weight to become a larger factor with grippier tires.

 

As I posted in another part of the forums....

I can get a smoking deal from a friend on a set of Kuhmo V700s, but they are 225/45/17. This is why I was checking here.

I know that they are a good tire and they get really good wear. I know that they may not be the best tire but for the money they do perform very well.

So will they fit is the final question?

If they do not fit I will more than likely turn to a street tire due to price.

 

Ah.

The 225/45 will be almost .7" taller than the stock 205/45. With stock suspension I suspect you would be fine. Lowering might cause problems. You probably won't find many people running that size as it's not optimal (pretty tall). I would do some quick searches to see how 225s fit on s-lites. Your (potential) trouble spots would be the plastic wheel arches on the outside, and maybe the rear plastic fender on the inside. I've never had a set of s-lites so don't know how their offset is.

I'd suspect you'd be OK but I certainly don't want to give a firm answer and then you find out they don't fit.

 

The offset of the S Lites might be a problem. I believe they are et-50. You might need spacers. I have run 225/50/16's Avon Tech RA's on et-42 rims and still had rubbing in the rear plastic liner at the top and the trailing arms in the front under load. Victoracer 225/50/16's will rub the same as well. Tire Rack doesn't sell that size v700 any more. How old are the tires?