Cal Club Autocross Forums

I'm starting to think about my next set of tires, and I think I'm going to go with a 140 treadwear rated set, so I'm both SK2 legal and street legal. Max mentioned that Dunlop has come out with a nice tire for a reasonable price. What are some other options, what are your preferences and why?

The best are probably still Yoko Neova's for a heavy car.

But, I'd probably be talking to Rick Jung about the Dunlap's.

Ran Dunlops on Ron's S2000 on Saturday......ran 65.0... seconds....could've cut another couple of tenths off of that....say 64.8. I like them....work really well in the rain too.

Reijo

Steve Ekstrand wrote:The best are probably still Yoko Neova's for a heavy car.

But, I'd probably be talking to Rick Jung about the Dunlap's.

Why can't he talk to me about them?

My car is 3120lbs FWIW.

Max Hayter wrote:
Why can't he talk to me about them?

Because it's easier to understand Richard Jung

LOL. You guys crack me up. So what's the model name/# for the new Dunlops?

Bite me Palero

Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec

You were right, Max. I just looked them up for my size (245/40-18) the Dunlops are almost $70 cheaper per tire ($183 vs $249) vs the only other sub-200 tire offered that fits my wheels (the Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R). For $280 more, those Bridgestones better have rockets on them. I've got a few more months on my existing tires, so hopefully they'll have some user feedback/test results on the Dunlops by then.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

FYI, a bone stock 02 WRX wagon, 95,000 miles on it, ran a low 72. on Sun. With Dunlop Z1 's on it.
I blame the tires, the car itself sucks pretty bad stock wise.
I drove it as an instructor, felt really good even with the huge body movement.
Was the drivers second event too.
Impressive.

Yokohama Advan sports are rated at 180 and I have had good results with them in sk1 and also trackdays. Very durable, pretty good traction if you keep the air down in them. Very good wear for a grippy tire. check price for your size.

Good luck with them.

Kurt ... tires make the biggest difference ... so it's a very short list. Basically what the National STS, STX and STU drivers are using, ie. use whatever Max, Greg Peng, Mike S, Rick Jung and Jason/Stephen, etc. are using. You can check the national event results on the SCCA site and see what are being used.

+1 Dunlop Z1, price and performance.

Mako is right, except that you need to be more specific than that instruction.

The best little car tire may not be the best big car tire. Maybe because of performance, or maybe because of size availability.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback!

BTW-Kurt, after floundering around with several different Pasadena tire shops I found Island Tire just east of San Gabriel Blvd on Colorado. If you've been in the area forever, its the old Caldwell Racing Tire shop.

Jose is the manager and he always takes care of me well. I also use his shop for basic service items, order tires from him or have him install my tirerack shaved 'stones. If you use him let him know you're a friend of mine.

Steve Ekstrand wrote:The best are probably still Yoko Neova's for a heavy car.

Keep tellin people that, PLEASE. We're havin enough trouble with just Richard runnin the Star Specs.

Fingers crossed that the eastern and northwests folk decide Falkens are the tires to run in Topeka.

To the question at had.. Azenis are actualy pretty good for Street/AX tires since they'll last you a while. Any of the 140 tread tires are 6 month tires though..

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Mako is right, except that you need to be more specific than that instruction.

The best little car tire may not be the best big car tire. Maybe because of performance, or maybe because of size availability.

Agreed, as I understand it the Dunlops are pretty much a non-issue in sts and sts2 because of sizing, while the Bridgestones just don't seem to work in STU..

Aaron Goldsmith wrote: To the question at had.. Azenis are actualy pretty good for Street/AX tires since they'll last you a while.

Did you not hear my "F-Bomb" tirade on Sunday? If not, how?

The Azenis heat up like toaster ovens and unless you have less than freezing water, you can't cool them down enough. Kurt might be OK since he runs by himself, but Will and I were co-driving and couldn't cool them off enough. That resulted in my tirade after my 3rd run...

That being said, get the Dunlops.

I've got a set of the Bridgestone RE-01Rs in the bullpen right now, but I have two special circumstances. One is my size, 225/50-16, is actually cheaper, with rebates, than the Dunlops. Two is that my presenting sponsor, RedShift, is a Bridgestone house. I hear the 'Stones also require some cooling, but they aren't nearly as bad as the Flakens.

Curt Luther wrote:

Aaron Goldsmith wrote: To the question at had.. Azenis are actualy pretty good for Street/AX tires since they'll last you a while.

Did you not hear my "F-Bomb" tirade on Sunday? If not, how?

The Azenis heat up like toaster ovens and unless you have less than freezing water, you can't cool them down enough. Kurt might be OK since he runs by himself, but Will and I were co-driving and couldn't cool them off enough. That resulted in my tirade after my 3rd run...

That being said, get the Dunlops.

I've got a set of the Bridgestone RE-01Rs in the bullpen right now, but I have two special circumstances. One is my size, 225/50-16, is actually cheaper, with rebates, than the Dunlops. Two is that my presenting sponsor, RedShift, is a Bridgestone house. I hear the 'Stones also require some cooling, but they aren't nearly as bad as the Flakens.

Depends on his Priorities Curt. How often does he want to have to get new tires? I agree I ran azenis multiple times through on the supra, they heat cycle out pretty hard after a bit of use on the street, but because of that they'll last 6 months of events and street driving.. the last 2 or so months won't be a ton of fun though..

All of them have their quirks, really I found that using the same set for street and AX gave me the worst of both worlds.. but at the time I had no choice.

Which Curt/Kurt are you referring to

Azenis are cool for everyday, occasional AutoX, track duty. You really can't beat the price. I've got 20,000 miles and numerous AutoX runs on my last two sets on the SK2 Civic. The event this last weekend showed their achillies though. Heat is not your friend with them. Again, Kurt might be OK running solo, but add a co-driver, and they're done...

I gotta buck says the Dunlops, at full tread, will be just as good as the Azenis in everyday use and better on the course. I know Pete and Tyson are happy with them using them this way.

IMO, The Falken 615's are a great value, but perhaps not the best tire for newer drivers since they break away fairly suddenly at the limit. Or, perhaps that is a good thing?! The Yok's have a nice wide controllable window while the Bridgestone's seem sloppy at the limit ... on semi heavy Suby's. Haven't driven on the Dunlops yet.

Anyone hear anything more about the Toyo R1R ... that Andy Hollis was using on one end of his Civic at El Toro, and Mihai is using on his STX/WRX? Mihai says that on his car they're slower I believe then his RE01 Stones. Supposedly they're quite soft. Perhaps good for cooler weather, lighter cars and ... HPT?

http://www.toyo.com/docs/tires/tires.as ... gory=sport

Hollis said the Toyos have the same problem as the T1R had, soft sidewalls. He ran them only on the back of his car at the Pro. That said, the Toyo was the best street tire in the rain that I ever ran on the Miata, better than Dunlop SP8000s and they didn't sound like truck tires either.

Toyo's have the advantage of being extra light ... but at the expense of softish sidewalls. I guess that issue would be exasperated on a heavier car.

I LOVED their TS1. Great street tire, amazing in the wet. Very similar to the top rated Goodyear GS-D3 ... same tread design.

Aaron Goldsmith wrote:

Curt Luther wrote:

Aaron Goldsmith wrote: To the question at had.. Azenis are actualy pretty good for Street/AX tires since they'll last you a while.

Did you not hear my "F-Bomb" tirade on Sunday? If not, how?

The Azenis heat up like toaster ovens and unless you have less than freezing water, you can't cool them down enough. Kurt might be OK since he runs by himself, but Will and I were co-driving and couldn't cool them off enough. That resulted in my tirade after my 3rd run...

That being said, get the Dunlops.

I've got a set of the Bridgestone RE-01Rs in the bullpen right now, but I have two special circumstances. One is my size, 225/50-16, is actually cheaper, with rebates, than the Dunlops. Two is that my presenting sponsor, RedShift, is a Bridgestone house. I hear the 'Stones also require some cooling, but they aren't nearly as bad as the Flakens.

Depends on his Priorities Curt. How often does he want to have to get new tires? I agree I ran azenis multiple times through on the supra, they heat cycle out pretty hard after a bit of use on the street, but because of that they'll last 6 months of events and street driving.. the last 2 or so months won't be a ton of fun though..

All of them have their quirks, really I found that using the same set for street and AX gave me the worst of both worlds.. but at the time I had no choice.

I disagree, the Azenis are more fun on a stock WRX, the rear will finally come around! But fresh tires are still faster

+1 for Dunlops - have them on my S2k. Love them. Will be getting them for the WRX when needed.