Beginner Tires

Tito Sar · Post by **Tito Sar** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:01 pm

I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.

George Schilling · Post by **George Schilling** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:23 pm

Tito Sar wrote:I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.

My first tires were all of the hard rubber variety. I ran them on my trike, my pedal car and the red wagon. Then I graduated to tube type on the Schwinn. I found the ride much smoother, but admittedly I didn't care much about grip. After all, it was my first bike.

Through the years, I have become more discriminating in my choices. If I were you, I would get the best tires that fit my budget. Move grip equals more fun. Refer to the list on the tire thread. There are many good choices, many at reasonable prices. Good luck with your choice.

Will Kalman · Post by **Will Kalman** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:01 pm

George Schilling wrote:Move grip equals more fun.

I don't think that's true as a blanket statement. Some people are "g" drivers and they crave more mph and more g's. Some people (like me) just like being on the ragged edge of control no matter if it's 0.3g or 5mph less or not.

I do strongly believe that its' better to learn on street tires and learn to get every bit of grip out of them. Like running with weights on - you're not as fast but once you take the weights off.......

Giovanni Jaramillo · Post by **Giovanni Jaramillo** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm

Will Kalman wrote:I do strongly believe that its' better to learn on street tires and learn to get every bit of grip out of them. Like running with weights on - you're not as fast but once you take the weights off.......

+1 on this statement. Think of street tires as training wheels on a bike. Learn on them....then once you remove them...

Jonathan Lugod · Post by **Jonathan Lugod** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 5:09 pm

Tito Sar wrote:I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.

Hi! are you on the 8th civic forum? my sn is oinojo on there. Your situation sounds like a thread i just replied to on there.

anyways, i think you should stick with the 615s as they are good enough to get you going without hiding any mistakes.

KJ Christopher · Post by **KJ Christopher** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 5:29 pm

Giovanni Jaramillo wrote:
Will Kalman wrote:I do strongly believe that its' better to learn on street tires and learn to get every bit of grip out of them. Like running with weights on - you're not as fast but once you take the weights off.......
+1 on this statement. Think of street tires as training wheels on a bike. Learn on them....then once you remove them...

I'd still get the stickiest street tires. I wouldn't expect a set of street tires to be so sticky as to hide mistakes. (They don't hide mine!)

That said, talk to people who run what you are thinking of buying and don't necessarily go for the cheapest. The RE01Rs that I ran most of last year still have an amazing amount of tread left on them. I've seen others go through more than a set of cheap tires in one season.

Taylor Kurtz · Post by **Taylor Kurtz** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:18 pm

Jonathan Lugod wrote:
Tito Sar wrote:I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.
Hi! are you on the 8th civic forum? my sn is oinojo on there. Your situation sounds like a thread i just replied to on there.

anyways, i think you should stick with the 615s as they are good enough to get you going without hiding any mistakes.

that makes 3 8thcivic members on here. such a lame forum lol.

Tito Sar · Post by **Tito Sar** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:24 pm

Jonathan Lugod wrote:
Tito Sar wrote:I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.
Hi! are you on the 8th civic forum? my sn is oinojo on there. Your situation sounds like a thread i just replied to on there.

anyways, i think you should stick with the 615s as they are good enough to get you going without hiding any mistakes.

Yeah! I'm twix562 and I just wanted to carry on the thread here, and get more opinions from everyone. And thanks for the responses, it gives me an even better idea on what I should be doing!

And yes Taylor, 8th is definitely one of the least intelligent forums with a few quality members.

Mako Koiwai · Post by **Mako Koiwai** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:56 pm

Get Dunlop Star Spec Z1's ... fairly inexpensive but they have nice envelop at the limit. The 615's break away fairly suddenly. The Z1's are R like in that you can gather it back up more easily when you go over the limit. Go to The Tire Rack and read the comparison test between the Z1's, RE01's and Yok's ... which are all better then the 615.

David Avard · Post by **David Avard** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:07 am

For reference, Will started on Nitto NT(no traction)-450s, and ran then until bald. Look how he does now! His car control skills are legendary (just ask anyone who came to Nationals in 2005, or any rain events locally). Now, I'm not saying that he didn't possess those skills before he started autocrossing (although at his first autocross, he was about 10 seconds off the pace), but racing on crappy tires certainly helped him.

KJ, you may think that any street tire is good (for learning), but as someone else pointed out, modern street tires are pretty R-like (I wouldn't be surprised if they are faster than the first few generations of R-compounds), and can hide a tremendous amount of bad habits.

KJ Christopher · Post by **KJ Christopher** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:16 am

David Avard wrote:KJ, you may think that any street tire is good (for learning), but as someone else pointed out, modern street tires are pretty R-like (I wouldn't be surprised if they are faster than the first few generations of R-compounds), and can hide a tremendous amount of bad habits.

Yeah, with the way technology moves, I can see that.

Mako Koiwai · Post by **Mako Koiwai** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:41 am

I started on relatively poor tires and am still relatively bad ... so might as well enjoy better tires. Life if too short ...

Will Kalman · Post by **Will Kalman** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:37 am

David Avard wrote:...Will started on Nitto NT(no traction)-450s, and ran then until bald. Look how he does now! His car control skills are legendary

Awww, thanks.

Witness the legendary car control skills in action! I guess I drive like Tim Albin bowls.

Robert Puertas · Post by **Robert Puertas** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:22 am

If you're going to be running against Will and Curt in HS, then there's a great deal to be learned by duplicating their set-up. Especially running on the same tires. This will better allow you to gage how you are improving as a driver.

Aaron Goldsmith · Post by **Aaron Goldsmith** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:26 pm

KJ Christopher wrote: I'd still get the stickiest street tires. I wouldn't expect a set of street tires to be so sticky as to hide mistakes. (They don't hide mine!)

Just as a point a info to throw out there. Modern top level shaved street tires on the STi this year did 0.1g sustained less than several well done race tired cars i've had access to the data on. Transitionally and initially they are VERY different, and race tires allow much higher G spikes, but Gs in a sweeper, they are damn close. ;)

Curt Luther · Post by **Curt Luther** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:02 pm

Taylor Kurtz wrote:
Jonathan Lugod wrote:
Tito Sar wrote:I'm currently running on 615's and I'm troubled on choosing my next tire as it is very well ending near. I have been advised to not get a very good set of autocross tires as a beginner because it is not a good idea as it will hide many of my mistakes. 2009 will be my first season and I will have two sets of rims and tires; which, one is for daily driving and the other for autocross. Anyone who want to chime in and give your opinion, please do.
Hi! are you on the 8th civic forum? my sn is oinojo on there. Your situation sounds like a thread i just replied to on there.

anyways, i think you should stick with the 615s as they are good enough to get you going without hiding any mistakes.
that makes 3 8thcivic members on here. such a lame forum lol.

4 members...

...and I would say go in this order of preference: Dunlop > Bridgestone > Falken. That being said, my next set of streets will probably be the Kumho XS. Although, God willing, I won't be competing on street tires next season...

Tito Sar · Post by **Tito Sar** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 8:19 pm

Alright, I've narrowed my decision with three choices:

Z1's for $550
XS' for $480
615's for $455

Based on responses, I think I will go for the Kumho's. Also, these are in 225/45/17. :ibrightdea:

Jeff Ringer · Post by **Jeff Ringer** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:53 pm

splurge for the Z1's

not much more coin for a better tire

i do like 615's but the Z1 is bettah

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