Track Tires - Sizing, Brand, Selection

[Mr9146]

We all know there's a VERY limited selection of 15" tires on the market. I'm at a point now where my current tires are totally smoked and I need to fit some new rubber to the Yellow Car. My plan is to do a lot of track work this year so I'm looking at 100 treadwear rubber.

The choices seem to be between Toyo's A888 or RA1, and the Yokohama Advan A048s. I'm familiar with the RA1s, but the 888s are supposed to be the hot new thing; I've never used the A048s but have heard they are VERY sensitive to temperature.

I'm currently running 205/55 and 225/50s on 7s and 8s ... nobody makes a 205/55 that's worth a damn so it seems I'm left with two choices for size 225/50 all the way around, or 205/50 and 225/50.

So what's the general consensus? What are you guys doing?

[popowitz]

Marco,

What about the Yokohama S Drives? They are still available at 205/55/15.

http://www.davisbrostires.com/Yokoha...1852&ez=&pos=8

-Dave

[Mr9146]

Marco,

What about the Yokohama S Drives? They are still available at 205/55/15.

http://www.davisbrostires.com/Yokoha...1852&ez=&pos=8

-Dave

Those do not qualify as race tires, and they don't have a 225/50/15.

[Jimmy18E]

I have a 71 911 and am currently running the Toyo 888 in 225/50/15 and 235/50/15 on 7s and 8s.....RS rear flares.... There is a 914-6 that uses the same shop as me with those 914 flares (GT ?) and running the same tiree combo as I am using above.

My car is a fast back road weekend car and it is having ST flares going on end of this month and will be switching to Hoosier R6s.

How about the Hoosier R6/A6 if it is mostly a track car?

Good Luck,

Jimmy

[popowitz]

I find that Davis Brothers in Culver City is very competitive on price. This link will take you to the list of 225/50/15 tires. Not all are for racing but some are.

http://www.davisbrostires.com/search...5|h:50|d:15zz~

Good luck.

Dave

[obrut]

Marco,

Check out the Kumho V70A. 205/50/15 and 225/50/15.

I currently run Advans front/Bridgestones back on my 2 litre car as our rules do not allow lower than 60 series.

I think the Kumhos are better than both of those and they seem to grip consistently all the way down to the cords.

[Mr9146]

Marco,

Check out the Kumho V70A. 205/50/15 and 225/50/15.

I currently run Advans front/Bridgestones back on my 2 litre car as our rules do not allow lower than 60 series.

I think the Kumhos are better than both of those and they seem to grip consistently all the way down to the cords.

I love Kumho tires - I've had great luck with the Victoracers. The V70As look awesome, but I can't seem to find the V70A locally so I'm going to go on a hunt.

Jimmy - I need to have something with a real tread pattern in case I get stuck in the rain. The car is still a street car and I'm driving to and from the track.

[Craig T]

Marco,

I'm running 225/50/15 and 235/50/15 R888's for street and track and I'm very happy with them. They performed surprisingly well on our weekend together at Willow Springs, only about 1.5 seconds slower than R6's. R888's are not great in the rain, but tremendously better than Hoosier R6's and Kumho V710's. I just made the trip to Aase Motors in Fullerton in pouring rain last week. Keeping my speed below 65 and I never felt unsafe, and I have 2.5 degrees negative camber. They move a lot of water. If you decide to go with R6's, DO NOT attempt to drive on wet freeways.

The good thing about the R888's is it's a slow incremental performance degradation all the way down to low tread. That makes it a much better combo street/track tire than a Kumho V710 or Hoosier R6. Both R6's and V710's heat cycle out pretty quickly, resulting in a STEEP drop off in track performance after 12-15 heat cycles. After one ten session POC PDS weekend, both are half way done. Two weekends on those tires and they could be unsafe on the street, and certainly not longer faster than an R888 with the same number of cycles.

[Mr9146]

Marco,

I'm running 225/50/15 and 235/50/15 R888's for street and track and I'm very happy with them. They performed surprisingly well on our weekend together at Willow Springs, only about 1.5 seconds slower than R6's. R888's are not great in the rain, but tremendously better than Hoosier R6's and Kumho V710's. I just made the trip to Aase Motors in Fullerton in pouring rain last week. Keeping my speed below 65 and I never felt unsafe, and I have 2.5 degrees negative camber. They move a lot of water. If you decide to go with R6's, DO NOT attempt to drive on wet freeways.

The good thing about the R888's is it's a slow incremental performance degradation all the way down to low tread. That makes it a much better combo street/track tire than a Kumho V710 or Hoosier R6. Both R6's and V710's heat cycle out pretty quickly, resulting in a STEEP drop off in track performance after 12-15 heat cycles. After one ten session POC PDS weekend, both are half way done. Two weekends on those tires and they could be unsafe on the street, and certainly not longer faster than an R888 with the same number of cycles.

I didn't know you were on 15s ... I thought you were running 16s.

The 235 size is very tempting, but how do the 888s compare to the RA1s?

[Chuck Miller]

Got my eyes glued to this thread.........