Help needed: ? New Tires for HEAT use like the old RS-3 ?

[Doug Teulie]

I am looking for some tire advise. The size is 215 45 17. The car is a FWD second gen R56 Mini Cooper S. The Application is STREET USE, light TRACK DAY type CANYON drives... NOT 3 runs of SOLO 2 or competition runs and then pack them up and go home. The application needs to include 20 min of confidence inspiring grip not just 60 seconds. The tire should not need to be watered down when in use for this application! The street use frequency is daily however wet performance and tire noise are not that important to a point. The tires should last 12K-20K miles but no need for more. UTQG:100 - 200 A A is fine.

The tire I would purchase is the Hankook RS-3 BEFORE the change to Version 2. Unfortunately the RS-3 was changed and it looks like it can't take the heat anymore. The old RS-3 was not great in cold or wet but after it got up to temp it was very satisfying. The RS-3 BEFORE the change to Version 2 worked very well for our application and now we need to replace them. The question is what tire will meet this spec?

Toyo:
Proxes R888
Proxes R1R

Bridgestone:
Potenza RE040
Potenza RE050
Potenza RE070
Potenza RE-11A

Kumho:
Ecsta XS

Yokohama:
ADVAN Neova AD08 R

BFGoodrich:
g-Force Rival

Dunlop:
Direzza ZII
Direzza ZII Star Spec

[Craig Naylor]

Can't address the others. These are may daily tires on the Miata:

Dunlop:
Direzza ZI Star Spec

After they served a season as my AX tires in 2012. They have 20+ k miles on them, and probably between 1/4 & 1/3 the tread left. Since I'm down to two Toyos after thew Crows landing Pro, they have gone back into service as 1/2 of my AX tires, and I still did OK on them the last two events. They were on the front of my car when I did the Big Bear AX a month or so ago... I ran out of motor going up the mountain (front road)... couldn't do more than ~65, but my speed didn't very much between straights & corners... I had plenty of grip.

Everyone I have talked to AX wise, likes the ZII even better in the heat.

[Anthony P.]

I really like my rivals, they did the weird split thing on one tire but since then i havent had any issues. I dont water them and on uh "pizza deliveries" in the mountians they are terrific. I would imagine a 20min on track session would push them harder.

[George Schilling]

I have the new RS-3's on my S2k. Put them on specifically for Lone Pine this year. On the way back, I did the up and over route. They were great in both instances.

I have another tire for you to consider Doug. It's the Hankook Ventus Evo V12. I have these on my Mini S and my SLK 320. Just love them. Great all around performance tire. Best of all is the price. I just purchase another set for the SLK32 during one of the frequent promotions and received a $80 gift card in the mail doubling the smiles. Haven't tried them for any 20 minute track sessions, but for a daily driving, canyon carving, and an occasional autocross, hands down the best tire for the money.

There are 2 versions available. the k110 is what I have on my Mini S. Close-out price for your size is $78 per corner. The v2 is what I purchase for the Mercedes and is $103 in your size. I recommend both. Here's the link.

[Jayson Woodruff]

It's been several revisions since I've been on the Kumho XS's, but the old ones I remember have the specs you're looking for. I'd get a fair assessment on the current versions before buying something.

Jay W

[Bobby Beyer]

In Lemons/Chump the popular tires are the Dunlop Z2\BFG RIval\Falken RT615k\Hankook RS3

Running the Rt615k we can overheat them pretty easily but they do stand up pretty well as long as your not pushing them 11/10ths.

I've run all of the tires on the list above and for the MIni I'd probably pick the BFG, I didn't have any issues with them overheating on the BSpec car and they held up fairly well when compared to the RS3s. My big dislike of the RS3 on open tracks are that running Bspec rules I can't get enough static camber to keep from eating the shoulder.

[Bill Martin]

Maybe something worth while here:

http://www.miataturbo.net/race-prep-75/ ... hat-76811/

Most of them are track/race oriented drivers with substantial experience. You can pick out the posers.