Before I start, I know this is the wrong section to post. However, I highly doubt that many will look in the wheels and tires section for new threads to come up; hence, me posting in the General Section.

Onward to the goodies:

My goal at the moment is to pick up an EK9 and teach my brother how to drive/autoX etc before moving to the RWD platform.

The current topic at hand, is choosing the tires to run/test in the real world. We can all look at places like Tire Rack and Discount Tires etc, for some reviews, but the issue there is, how well "in-tune" are those drivers with their cars? Some reviews I can take seriously, others... well; I wouldnt be doing this thread if I believed the majority of those "reviewers"

So where I'm going with this is, please post your experience with the brand, model, size tire you've run and with what car (make, model, specs, suspension set up, etc) and give us as much of an unbiased review. I'll be testing the Bridgestone RE 760 Sport this summer and winter with the EK9, DX, stock suspension, stock D16 Vtech motor, running Konig Feather 16" light weight wheels. I'll post periodic updates and also post other driver's reviews (and video possibly) as we go.

But for my first review, I'll begin with the Falken ST115 (discontinued) I had a 96 S14 SE, running 18" 350Z wheels, 225/45/R18 Front, 245/40/R18 rear. Picked them up used, they were a set from Hubert Young's S14 from Formula D back in 2005. Even though the tires were used, I was still impressed with the tire's performance. Had to get the tread evened out a little bit, but once that was done, the tires kept me stable. The car drove beautifully and gave me confidence to drive the S14 hard. Never had any issues and tread life was great (for the kind of beatings I gave it, tread life held up very well) Wet traction was as good and could give tires in the same class with a higher price tag a run for their money. Never had issues with these tires, just wished they did not incorporate this design with the old FK451 to create the new FK452. I may give the 452's a run for their money sometime soon.

Still debating if I should start testing with the 452's, or the RE760 Sports.

 

well i havnt been in the Auto-x much lately but i do know a little about the best street tires for auto-x.

ok well there are mainly 3 tires

Bridgestone RE011
Falken Azenis
Dunlop Direzza Star Spec

well the RE011 is the best auto-x street tire BUT just barely.
they wear out more quickly then the other 3 and are ok in the rain but their biggest fall back is the price.

now its main competitor is the Falken Azenis for auto-x they have great dry performance the is almost on par with the RE011, they some in almost any size and are very well priced. But! it also does wear pretty quickly and the performance in the rain is downright dangerous not to mention when they re older.

an we come to the new Dunlop Direzza Star-spec tire.
well this tire also has superior dry performance but it also has excellent wet performance performance with longer tread life then both of the other tires and its similarly priced ad the Azenis and because of this it has taken the Falken Azenis position as the most used street tire in auto-x





sorry if it seems im rambling but its hard to type when you have drank alot of russian vodka

 

LOL Vodka is the best cure for any sickness! LOL

Anyways, when you mentioned the RE011, did you mean the RE11, instead of the RE011?

Also wanted to add one more tire: Bridgestone RE 050A Pole Position Run Flat

Had these on the 335, was very impressed with the performance with such a thin tire. They grabbed when we demanded and it held up to the abuse. Only down side to these tires, tread life. Once you get down close to the wear indicator, it has a major loss in grip, even in dry weather. Would I buy again? Probably not.

 

Cool and important thread. I have one of these on another form. ill copy and paste. I also need to update since I have driven on way more tires than this.


here were go




Falken Azenis RT-615 (grip/drift tires) after about 3-4 hot laps they began to grease ball and you should have a sprayer handy with ice cold water. in relation to drifting, they must be heated up. I recommend playing with PSI levels, you can get many responses from the tire. for grip lower the psi and for drifting raise it. Rated A


Dunlop LM703


Dunlop Le Mans LM703..... Horrible on the rear. these were brand new and broke apart inside of 8 minutes on the track. I will test them out and see how they do on the front. I will see how they do on the front this weekend.


RE-01r



as I posted before, they did bad on the rear for drifting.. good for grip









but good on the front.. even with the low tread depth.. they were grippy even in the wet.


Achilles ATR Sport



I have only run these on the rear.. they are good. they take the heat well and just chunk apart in little pieces which is what we want. traction feels good with them as well.

Federal SS595



are very popular amongst drifters here in japan. They are very affordable and do great on the rear and good up front. I had no under steering issues with them on the front.Direzza Z stars

I played with them last time out at the track had a bit of understeer until i adjusted my psi levels. They are ok.. but really need more time with these.. They didn't really impress me.