Quality tire street/track
 

Looking into picking up some rpf1 in 18/10 +38 front and 18/10.5 +15 rear. 265 front and rear is the plan.

Stance stage 2 coilovers with external reservoirs, 12k front and rear spring rates.

What's everyone's go to tire now a days? Car will see more street then track.

265/35-18 Federal 595 RS-R $136.50 ea.
They are not quality (loud and take much weight to balance when new) as you ask for, but they are very high performance. Bang for the buck!

265/35-18 Bridgestone RE-71R $260.90 ea.
Good quality and very high performance. Does everything well except lasting.

265/35-18 Yokohama AD08R $302.90 ea.
Very good quality and very high performance. Even sharper feel than the RE-71R.

Also rans that are somewhere in between the above three tires.
265/35-18 Hankook RS3 V2 $229.54 ea. (poor traction when cold, takes heat well)
265/35-18 Dunlop ZII Star Spec $270 ea. (nothing really good or bad to say)
265/35-18 Bridgestone RE-11 $263.90 ea. (RE-71 is higher grip)

Thanks for the replies guys, choosing a tire I feel is one of the more important things... And now I got some traction on selecting one ... Haha

RE-71R is the current spec autocross street tire... nothing else really compares except maybe the BFG Rival-S.

Just wish bridgestone would bring the 285 or 295-30-18 over from japan... :(

that being said due to size constraints my next tire will be a Toyo R888.

honorable mention for the Hankook RS3s... I have these on the front of my corolla and they do love their heat which is nice for a track car.

How are Pilot Super Sports holding up compared to the newer breed such as RE-71R?

I've run then as well, when they first came out..... I ended up removing and selling them, which I rarely do.

They're great street tires, but much more street than track.

I had issues with them on DGRR exceeding their ultimate grip. Compared to the prior tires I ran (Yoko AD08) they just weren't as performance oriented.

Awesome for the street, but if you're really looking for a top tier street performance tire that's more enthusiast driving oriented, the RE71R, ZII, or AD08R take it down.

Now ride quality, noise and longevity are a different story :rofl:

My Pilot Super Sports were fine at first, but after a couple of years and maybe 15k miles they have lost all grip to the point that they are DANGEROUS. They feel like turn-of-the-century era max perf tires that have been heat-cycled out. Little initial grip and absolutely NO sliding grip. Cannot wait to get the PSS tires off of my FD and get some RE71Rs.

I wish people talked more about age and tires. After a couple years the performance from high end tires diminishes at a rapid rate. Shelf life is as important or more than tread depth when inspecting your track tires.

When do you plan on getting some RE71r?

Hearing Rich talk about them all the time makes me want to try them. I'm currently on used ZII and they are ok. Haven't tried them on the track yet but they don't grip as well as I like. The cold weather we are having probably has a lot to do with it.

Really really surprised at the very short useful life of the PSS tires. Maybe they were a few years old when I bought them, I'll check the date on the sidewall. I only tracked on them once, so it's not like they've seen a lot of heat cycles. They still have half tread depth remaining, but they are utter garbage.

In contrast, the Hankook RS-3 (V1) tires I had on my S2000 for 2+ years and 20k miles were fine at the end of their life.

Car is about to go into the body shop, I'll get new tires immediately after that.

My Pilot Super Sports were fine at first, but after a couple of years and maybe 15k miles they have lost all grip to the point that they are DANGEROUS.

Really really surprised at the very short useful life of the PSS tires. Maybe they were a few years old when I bought them, I'll check the date on the sidewall. I only tracked on them once, so it's not like they've seen a lot of heat cycles. They still have half tread depth remaining, but they are utter garbage.

From my experience tires do lose some oils due to age before use (new old stock), but it is not nearly as dramatic as the changes in the tire once they are heat cycled the first time.

Especially on a tire that "needs heat" to work.
These tires that get goey instead of just soft with heat rely not only on the oils to keep them soft, but they also chemically transform the tread of the tire with heat to get their grip.

To me, that is the ultimate difference between a streetable tire and a race tire. Mechanical grip from a soft tire versus chemical grip from a change in the tire at the tread surface.

Still, I wouldn't expect any performance street or race tire to last more than a year after its first heat cycle without fairly dramatic degradation of performance.

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I just used up a set of R888 that I bought new very cheap because their production date was 2010 or something (I forget).

They were still good (about 1 second per minute lap slower than Ventus TD which is exactly where they should be), though I did notice their performance drop after a year of auto-x/street driving.

Now I am back on Maxxis RC-1 I raced my FC on in 2014.

That is how I keep my tires from going stale-
rotate them to the still running NA rotary and use them up! My RX-8 so far ate/finished off 5 sets of tires bought for my turbo cars. Pretty soon I might have to buy it its first set of tires.

Wear those tires out! Its fun.

As others have mentioned, the best dual purpose street/track tire on the market now is the RE-71R

The hankook rs3 version 2 is still a great option as well.

The dirty secret about almost all of the high performance tires in that 180-220 tread wear range is that if you take them to the track even once, they are never the same. Even after sitting for a year they really start to fall off.

The PSS is about the most overhyped tire I have ever heard of though.

we got to talk to a tire engineer last year, and after more than a decade of racing i learned a few things.

1. we, collectively don't really know much about tires. we know they are black and round, and some are better than others at certain things, but we don't really understand the hows and whys of their function.

2. we tune them wrong, mostly.

3. a happy tire, not only will reach peak grip sooner, but it will keep peak grip longer AND it will last longer too. the key is the tire temps.

4. its been a long time since we changed a tire because it wore out, we usually change them because they heat cycle out.

This. As an avid biker (RSV4 ftw!!) I would NOT trust a tire that is 3 years past its production date. Regardless of treadwear, a sticky tire that gets used just loses its effectiveness at that point. On a car you can get away with older tires because there are four of them, on a bike... If you play with that limit on a bike you could well find yourself flying off the side of the road at 70mph.

That's exactly right. No more is at stake when it comes to tires as when you have a sliver of rubber between you and the pavement.
Here is mine.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/...372a7b67_b.jpgDucati Factory by -mik3ymomo-

I'd like to get thr re71r but may go the cheaper route and gets 595 rsr or rs3.

if u had to chose rsr or rs3 which one would you get? need something that is going to be decent in the rain and be good for track days.

Nice, gorgeous bike!!

Sadly I don't think I could ever own a Ducati for street use... I can't stand the sound of the dry clutch (personal preference) and I've heard that the seating position is clearly intended for full tuck or nothing :lol:

I have RS3 V2 on my S2000 for summer duty. Great tires for the $$$ for sure.

I can't stand the sound of the dry clutch (personal preference)

Ah ha ha. I was so disappointed when my Exedy twin disk had no rattle in my FD.

That thing just turned out to be the most street-able aftermarket clutch I have experienced on a turbo rotary...

I love it when basic people look at my cars like they broken or tell me it needs a tune up. Uh-huh...

848 has a wet clutch. It is aggressive but not as much of a torture rack as the 996 and 998 were.

What kind of tire pressures are you guys running on the street and track?

I've been running 33 psi on Eibach Pro Kit/Koni Sports on the street (started off at 35 – too harsh) and I'm thinking about starting at 40 psi on the track. I'm currently running some old Pirelli P Zero Rossos (235/40ZR18Y)... way overdue for some new, better tires.

^Why go to the track with old, subpar tires? Not a pirelli fan at all :)