So because the azenis heat up quickly, they would not be a good choice for a track days/street tire? I'm looking for a new set of tires, but am not really into autox. TIA-Garrett

 

I like the Kumho Ecsta 711's for a street tire - I've run them for about a year now with no complaints (and I autocross on them, too, but I don't win, either, but that's probably not due to the tires so much) If you're running a factory wheel size, then you might be able to find some Barum Bravuris, too - they look really good, ride is nice, and for 15" wheels, they're a fraction of the price of the Kumho's, although at 17" they're about the same price.

 

The RA-1's are good tires... im not a fan of the T1-S's however.

 

Azenis would not be a good choice for track day tires. If you only drive your car for fun every once inawhile and are doing track days do your self a favor and get a set of Michlin Pilot Sports, Toyo RA1s, or Kumho Victoracers. Track days will eat street tires up and spit them out. People have gotten 10,000 miles on RA1s and Victoracers without racing on them, thats not much less than you get on Azenis or a similar max performance tire. A set of high wear R-Compounds will last longer for track days than street tires and be faster too. This is considering you plan to do more than 1 or 2 track day sessions a year.

 

I'm planning on doing at least 4 track days, would like the tires to last for a year of street driving and be ok if I get caught in the rain. I have heard good things about the toyo ra-1, may have to give them a try. Thanks for the info-Garrett

 

I had to do an event recently that requires treadwear rating 140 or higher tires. I called Frisby Race Tire and since the Azenis is not available in anywhere near the stock FD tire size the recommended a set of shaved Hankook Z212 as the next best thing. Of course we were considering track performance only.

Unfortunately I never got to track test these tires because two of the tires were shaved out of round. I had to return them and run the event on my REAL street tires, full tread Toyo T1R. The grip of the T1R was not all that outstanding but they didn't really fade even when they got really hot and they held up well. And I still won so I can't complain.

Most of my competition at the event was running the Falken Azenis tires and were complaining about how greasy they get after a few laps. However I wouldn't think this would be an issue at an Autocross. You never do more than one lap and you want a tire that works well cold.

 

I have a pretty hard time believing that Victoracer can last half as long as Azenis. They wear out pretty damn quickly

 

Tire wear has so many factors its really hard to place how long they will last.

We have run one set of full-tread Azenis RT-215's on a FWD 2000lb car for an entire season, with 4 drivers each event and a total of 26 autocross events, on asphalt (one National Tour on concrete). No street miles, trailered car. Tires stored outside. Shaved set at Nationals, ran 4 more events after that with 4 drivers each. Multiple practice events also.

On another car, FWD at 1750lbs, shaved 225/40-14 Toyo T1-R's have lasted 6 autocross events with two drivers and are showing signs of heat-cycling now but still have rubber left, even though they are shaved. Full-tread T1-R's had good grip but terrible wear (feathering) and would heat up very quickly vs the shaved tires, but the shaved tires seem to keep the heat in them. Same car ran shaved 205/50-15 Kumho MX's during 4 more events before cording at a time trial event on a different car (GSL-SE).

On the FC, full-tread 225/45-16 Hankook RS-2 tires went from sticker, 4 street miles, and 9 shakedown long autocross laps and look barely scrubbed in.

Many smooth drivers on lighter cars have run 2 sets of Azenis RT-615's this year, with about 10-20 events on them plus or minus 4-5 practices or longer BMWCCA events.

My used Kumho V710's on a PCA autocross car lasted 3 events at 12-15 laps each before cording, still had good grippy rubber, had been run on a F-Prepared Lotus Elise before that. The next set of sticker v710's are still being run, and have probably 70 runs on them on a 2700lb RWD car.

A buddy of mine is running the old compound V700 and still has 1/2 tread, in a D-Stock 2900lb FWD car with a good LSD....he's run them all season long, but only at about 9 events this year.

If you take care of your tires, keep track of the heat cycles and road miles, you might very well get a full season out of whatever you choose. Blistering heat/overheating, mulitple heat cycles, tons of road miles with crazy alignments, and less-than-smooth driving will kill a tire's effective life. But then again there are contract autocross drivers that are using 5-6 sets of tires per year (new tires are grippier than old tires, even if the old ones appear usable).

See what other people around you are getting for their tire life, and closely monitor yours to get a good baseling of how long they will last.

 

The Azenis are great for autocross, as long as you keep them COOL!!! They will overheat on a 60 second course.

The Ecsta MX is a great Track Day tire!! I've done two track days on Ecsta MXs, and they still have a little grip left... Wet driving is finally starting to suffer.. this is after two track weekends, and about 20K of street driving.

Dan

 

thx for the input mr Dan

 

is the kumho v710 good for road course use? i know they rock on autocross. i'm shopping for my next set of RR tires.