let's talk tires
let's talk tires What's everyone use for tires for autocross and road racing need some new tire that I can do both and do some street driving on too I have nto5 on the back and nt555 on the front should I stay with nitto?
I'm probably the oddball here in that I've never had a Nitto tire on my car (not a conscious choice - it's just never happened). For street and wet weather racing, I have a set of Continental Extreme DW Summer tires. For fair weather racing, I use Continental R-Comp racing slicks that I scored new @ 110 each at the Hoosier Tire "discontinued tire" web page. I should have bought 2 sets. These things are awesome.
Before I switched to the 275/40-17 size, I had Firestone Firehawk 245/50-16s. Those were pretty good too. They rated second in that particular size/performance @ Tirerack, after the Goodyear F1s (over double the price).
Before I switched to the 275/40-17 size, I had Firestone Firehawk 245/50-16s. Those were pretty good too. They rated second in that particular size/performance @ Tirerack, after the Goodyear F1s (over double the price).
Most of the faster cars in my area are running Hankook RS-3, For some reason I've not ever seen an RS-3 on any CAM car though. Most of the CAM cars are running Rivals or Direzza's.
I have the Nitto 555's and while they are WAY better than the BFG Radial TA's I had before, they are no where near as sticky as the tires mentioned above.
I have the Nitto 555's and while they are WAY better than the BFG Radial TA's I had before, they are no where near as sticky as the tires mentioned above.
The Hankook RS3 is a killer tire. Doesn't overheat on track like most tires do. Only issue is they don't come in the wider sizes. Dunlop makes a great tire, I had an old used set of star specs that still had better grip than some new tires. No experience with the BFG rival yet.
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Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 67
Likes: 1
From: Orlando, FL
I'm running the Toyo R1R and they are very sensitive to heat. I've only autocrossed on them so far and they get greasy very quickly. I use the Continental slick for road course duty and they work great.
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For racing/track days I use Grand-Am Continental slicks (I usually buy the scrubs from a local race team) and Hoosier A6's.
When the car was on the street I used Michelin PS2's and PS SuperSports.
Best bet is to invest in a second set of wheels so you can swap at the track. You are either going to eat through the street tires on track or chew up the track tires on the street...
When the car was on the street I used Michelin PS2's and PS SuperSports.
Best bet is to invest in a second set of wheels so you can swap at the track. You are either going to eat through the street tires on track or chew up the track tires on the street...
BFG R1 so far is incredible for track use.
15 sessions on one set and they hardly show any wear at all, grip is still very good.
For a dual purpose tire the NT05 is pretty good.
15 sessions on one set and they hardly show any wear at all, grip is still very good.
For a dual purpose tire the NT05 is pretty good.
Last edited by FASTFATBOY; Dec 19, 2014 at 05:48 AM.
As Junior-1 stated above, the cheapest way to handle this and get the best of both worlds is to pick up another set of wheels. I fought it for a while and finally got sick of "eating through the street tires on track or chew up the track tires on the street".
I run a set of OEM C5 Z06 wheels on track with Nitto 555R II's and love them. They're OK to drive back and forth to the track, however do hydroplane on even shallow standing water (that part sucks). You could also pick up scrubs of the Hoosier slicks in these sizes pretty cheap if you want even more grip on track.
As for the street, the Nitto 555's are a great, versatile tire. They don't perform as well as the RS3, however they're cost effective and available in most sizes. I've run a couple sets of those on street and were pleased. Right now I'm running Nitto Invo's on my street tires and they seem to be nothing special. They channel rain well, however there seems to be nothing sticky about them.
I run a set of OEM C5 Z06 wheels on track with Nitto 555R II's and love them. They're OK to drive back and forth to the track, however do hydroplane on even shallow standing water (that part sucks). You could also pick up scrubs of the Hoosier slicks in these sizes pretty cheap if you want even more grip on track.
As for the street, the Nitto 555's are a great, versatile tire. They don't perform as well as the RS3, however they're cost effective and available in most sizes. I've run a couple sets of those on street and were pleased. Right now I'm running Nitto Invo's on my street tires and they seem to be nothing special. They channel rain well, however there seems to be nothing sticky about them.
TECH Addict
Joined: Feb 2012
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Midnight02 hads it...get a separate race set.
I ran NT555's for the first half of last season and they seemed OK. Also DD them. I came across a used set of 10 spokes with Khumo V710's for cheap and I couldn't imagine going back to a street tire for autocross.
I will hate the day they are no good because a good race tire new is not cheap lol. IMO I would pick up a set of 18" wheels then search for USED slicks. Seems like you can find 18's used more plentiful than you can 17's.
I ran NT555's for the first half of last season and they seemed OK. Also DD them. I came across a used set of 10 spokes with Khumo V710's for cheap and I couldn't imagine going back to a street tire for autocross.
I will hate the day they are no good because a good race tire new is not cheap lol. IMO I would pick up a set of 18" wheels then search for USED slicks. Seems like you can find 18's used more plentiful than you can 17's.