Best street tires
 

Bought my second FD last week and am excited to get back into one! 400rwhp on pump gas.
it came with a set of Faulkner FK452’s (225/40zr18 front, 265/35zr18 rear). Previous owner said not to trust them as he’d had them spin out from underneath him and just weren’t very sticky/had no grip. They’re 300treadlife tires, so is that the issue?

Ill mostly be on the street so was looking at something in the 200tread AA/A range. I found this article to be helpful but it’s 5 years old.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/21-best-grip-tires/

Frim this the Dunlop z1, Goodrich rival, or Nitto NT05 sound like good options.
Has anything risen to the top since then? Something newer that performs better? Thanks!

I havent been into the tire wars super recently but I know the Bridgestone RE-71R is/was at the top of the list in the 200TW tires. They grip great but wear fast. The latest dunlops may have improved. I had a set of ZII’s on my S2000, they were loud but gripped great also. However, they lacked in the rain. Before those on the S2000 I had the Hankook RS3v2’s which seemed to be the best jack of all trades if you like, for longevity, noise, and wet grip where they were slightly slower than the rest on track.

I didnt want to buy any of those for my FD as I planned to drive it quite a bit and not on the track any time soon. I went with firestone indy 500’s, which are a 300tw tire, iirc. They are a great performer in the rain, pretty good in the dry, and are decently quiet. I should be about 300whp with those in 255/40/17 and it will not light them up without dumping the clutch from a stop, even a hard shift to 2nd is just a chirp.

RE-71R, end of thread :)

RE-71R are still the best gripping 200utqg wthout needing heat.

Rival S 1.5 wants a bit more heat and likes more slip angle as well as coming in sizes wider than 285/30-18 so it has its place.

A052 is probably the fastest on the track so it has its place.

RS4 are fast and can take the heat of track driving.

AD08R are still pretty good.

V720 try real hard.

^ havnt tracked them yet but actualy really impressed with the v720.
Ive had dunlop star spec and rs3, and the kumho hands down shits on them for straight line grip.
Again not tracked or anything, just street use in my 400+ fb. The dunlops toward the end of their life in heat cycles were basically spinning any gear any speed above 5000rpm. The hankooks were much better, could do power skids at will in 3rd but very controlled.
The khumos after 1 skid just grip. And they were cheap as dirt.

I was just getting an alignment done and saw the new(ish) Firestone Indy 500's. Read some reviews while I waited and people have very positive things to say and they're only about $120 each. Tirerack does tire reviews that you can check out as well. These tires generally won't last a long time and you'll probably have to change them out every year, but if you're producing 400hp I'd want something grippy just to be on the safe side, even on the street.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=217
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=234

Pilot sport 4s
 

Haven’t checked my thread in s few days. Thanks for the input everyone! Going to have to read up on a couple of those recommendations.

After doing some reading/google searching I was coming up with Michelin’s PILOT SPORT 4S for a street tire. Anyone have experience with them?

https://tirereviewsandmore.com/top-1...-summer-tires/

Bridgestone Potenza s007a are supposed to be the successor to the RE-11s, not sure if they come in those sizes. A bit of grip tradeoff from the RE-71s for some longevity.

The MPS 4S is a pretty great street tire. It all depends on how 'extreme' you want to go with grip levels. I'd consider it for maybe 400 rwhp FD but not 500 rwhp.

My research on them shows that they dont really last much longer than the RE-71, nor its better than it under any circumstance. On the positive side, the S007A comes in a 275/40 17.

Azenis 615K's are still available too.

Still near the top on the bang for the buck list, you can get em for $120 or so apiece for a 235/17

If you're looking for mostly a street tire that is capable for an autocross here and there, look into the Continental Extreme Contact Sport. It has better tread wear the RE-71s and almost the performance. I would compare it to the Pilot Sports but a little less $s. I have them know on my DD and had Pilot Sports on my previous DD. I run RE-11s on my FD which is mostly a track car. RE-11s have better wear then 71s, but think they are out of production

How much RWHP on your DD running the Continental Extreme Contact Sport?

0. Its FWD :lol:

LOL, thought it was a FD!

Current DD is a Mazda 3. Previous DD was an E90 335 with Pilot Super Sports. FD runs RE-11s

I find the Conti ECS a very capable "street" tire, especially for the price. They are not PSS's, but they are about 90%.

I would consider them for a FD that doesn't see any track time (other than maybe a auto-x every once in a while)

^that 10% goes a lonnnnng way :)

The PSS is useless on a car without traction control and over 300 WHP.

That's exactly where I was going with my question. I've been thinking about switching from kuhmo MX(?) 275 to RE11 255, or stick with 275 and get the Falken Azenis RT615K+ Decisions, decisions...

The market is flooded with 200tw UHP tires. No need to spend through the nose.

My google skills must be lacking, cause I am only seeing a handful for 275/40 17 :(

The Falkens aren’t the best anymore, but are pretty good and the price is decent.

Do you have any experience with these tires, or any of the others you have weighed in on?

I do. It if was me and I wanted that size, with that level of power, I buy NT01s and move on with life. The 200 treadwear tires age and heat cycle out much sooner than a set of NT01s or R888s will.

How do you guys feel about the Hankook VENTUS V12 EVO2?? I need a set of tires for my 16" Infini wheels that MIGHT see a rare autocross or two in the future.

The car is driven about 4 days a month.

-M

I absolutely love that tire. Bought the car last May with the tires already at 70% tread life, drove it 12 hours home, daily drove it for a month, pushed them to the limit in the mountains every weekend for about 4 months, drove it 16 hours round trip to Denver (did some spirited driving while there as well), more mountain weekend drives, and parked her for the single conversation in December.

I’ve measured the tread ware about 50x since she’s been down and cannot justify buying another set bc they have so much life left (gna do it anyways since I don’t know the age of the tires). Phenomenal tire, I’d recommend to anyone!

I'm also in the market for tires soon, to go with my SBG RZ+ wheels. Car is making about 325 whp, driven once a week on the weekends, will see 2-3 autocross and maybe a track day a year. Stored outdoors in winter, so I'm not sure if I should be looking for a summer tire or all season to prolong the life. For summer tires, I think I may have narrowed it down to Hankook Ventus RS4 or the Evo2 V12. Any advice would be appreciated.

Big difference between the two. If you are going to push the car hard get the RS4.

That said I do like the V12 Evo 2. I use them on my 400 WHP FC as storage/ putting around on the street tires. I have had them on my CTS-V as well as my Toyota Yaris. Good tires for the price.

So the V12 Evo2 wouldn't break the tires loose under (let's say 2nd gear) acceleration?

When they are new, no. As they age a bit they will spin in first, and possibly a bit in 2nd.

Gotcha, thanks!

I used the ventus v12 k110 and for daily driving I liked them. Performance-wise they're a step down from things like the re-71rs and r-s4's, but they offer some performance while being cheap and having better tread life. I wouldn't want to use them on the track but for non-competitive autocross they should be fine. They won't be the best by far, but it'll be better than prius tires or something like that. For daily driving a 400whp car though I'd probably go for something with more grip.

Here's how the v12's handle in the wet: I lost traction a couple times (1:48 and 2:54). This was just after it had rained. There was still a little bit of drizzle.

I recently bought my second FD as well, and the new one came with RE71r’s on oem wheels.

Yesterday I swapped those onto my 476hp single FD and it DRAMATICALLY changed the car! Before it would spin 3rd and sometimes even 4th in a straight line. But with the RE71r’s on, it didn’t even spin 2nd! Full throttle in 2nd now feels like being fired out of cannon haha!

I cant comment on their longevity yet, but the grip of RE71r is amazing.

You should only run 100 treadwear tires on a car with that power level.

Almost all the 100utqg race tires take some heat to gain grip over the RE71R though, so they can have a steep and dangerous learning curve on learning to anticipate road and tire temperatures. Plus would lose at surprise stop light grandprix to RE71R (no heat in tire).

I spent years dailying/racing on RA-1s, NTO1s, R888, Z221 TDs, R1-Ss, and RC-1.

Maxxis RC-1 actually worked the best for straightline traction and on the street because the compound comes on 20deg lower temp than the common RA-1/NT01/R888 compound.

Others have used Hoosier wets as a street tire for high hp traction because they work best cold, but you have to run them in the 275 or 305mm width on an FD to avoid overheating even in normal driving and they will be destroyed by dry track driving.

Good points. I’m in So Cal so getting enough heat in NT01s and other 100 TW tires to make them driveable is not an issue. Agreed, the RC1s work very well on the street. Just don’t go through any water :) I got caught in the rain once on the freeway.. I though I was going to die :).