Tires

[CammedS197]

Current setup is staggared GT4's 18x9 and 18x10 with Nitto 555's with 285 in the rear and 265 up front. This is my daily setup. Now for autox I ordered sve drifts in 18x9 for all four corners. I want to run 265-275 on all four as well but dont know what kind of tire to run. On a budget of $150-$200 per tire. Whats the top 5 you'd recommend?

Thanks

 

[Sky Render]

Bridgestone RE-71R.

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[SoundGuyDave]

Tires will have THE single largest impact on the handling characteristics (grip!) of any mod... I would save up until you can get the ones you want here. Don't limit yourself to a "cheaper" tire by capping the choices at $200 a piece.

FWIW, I like the Dunlop Star Specs for a street tire. Excellent grip, predictable breakaway and recovery, excellent in the rain, and they talk at the limit. There are faster tires out there, but for general purpose, I like them a lot.

 

[2Fass240us]

This is the tire you need, the Conti ExtremeContact DW, and they're only $150 each. I used them for years in 295s on my 2007 and they're by far the best street tire I've used, esp in the rain. I have Nitto NT555 (older version) on my 2014 now and and going to swap back to the Contis.

I used to use them for HPDE as well, but have since moved to a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the track.

 

[Sky Render]

This is the tire you need, the Conti ExtremeContact DW, and they're only $150 each. I used them for years in 295s on my 2007 and they're by far the best street tire I've used, esp in the rain. I have Nitto NT555 (older version) on my 2014 now and and going to swap back to the Contis.

I used to use them for HPDE as well, but have since moved to a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the track.

Literally no one uses those tires for autocross.

Listen to what Dave said. Spend the money on GOOD tires, like Bridgestone RE-71Rs or BF Goodrich Rival S.

 

[2Fass240us]

_wups I dittin read; I was talking about a DD tire. FWIW, swap away from the NT555 when it's time for new DD tires.

RE-71R in a 275/35-18 is $264
Rival S in a 275/35-18 is $298

Both are far better than the Conti, but AFA reading goes, significantly outside of the range mentioned by the OP.

Since Dave mentioned them:
Star Spec in a 275/35-18 is $284

 

[2Fass240us]

Hankook RS-3(v2) in a 275/35-18 is $231, which gets the OP closer. But as others above probably already knew, there don't appear to be any in the stated $$ range.

 

[jayel579]

On a budget of $150-$200 per tire. Whats the top 5 you'd recommend?

Thanks

I'd recommend to up your budget.

 

[Sky Render]

I'd recommend to up your budget.

LOL

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[fast Ed]

This is the tire you need, the Conti ExtremeContact DW, and they're only $150 each. I used them for years in 295s on my 2007 and they're by far the best street tire I've used, esp in the rain. I have Nitto NT555 (older version) on my 2014 now and and going to swap back to the Contis.

I used to use them for HPDE as well, but have since moved to a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the track.

They are great street tires, and awesome wet track day tires, but at full tread they will chunk when pushed hard in an autocross or dry track environment.

 

[TGR96]

They are great street tires, and awesome wet track day tires, but at full tread they will chunk when pushed hard in an autocross or dry track environment.

I had a set of these, and I agree on all accounts...except mine DID hold up pretty well at the few track day events that I did with them, and gave me pretty good grip. I'm guessing that I didn't push it as hard as you do, Ed.

 

[2Fass240us]

I had a set of these, and I agree on all accounts...except mine DID hold up pretty well at the few track day events that I did with them, and gave me pretty good grip. I'm guessing that I didn't push it as hard as you do, Ed.

I chunked multiple DW but 1) Drove the car hard on a track that's notorious for ruining tires, and 2) Didn't have any camber adjustment.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Chunking tires (literally tearing chunks out of the tread block) is strictly a function of the tread-block design. Higher-TW, all-seasons (particularly if siped), tend to chunk a lot more readily than a low-TW "extreme performance" tire, which is the category you should be looking in. Lots of nice, tall, square-ish tread blocks will squirm a LOT under agressive use, and will start to tear simply from mechanical stresses while squirming. Once they start to tear, chunks will start to rip off. Tire's done at that point.

You can get away with a sub-optimal tire tread design by shaving them down, making it lots of nice, short, square-ish tread blocks, but then, really, what is the point? By the time you buy the tire and shave it to 3/32" you've spent just about as much as you would for one of the "good" tires. You'll still have a compromised contact patch, and they'll be utter junk in the rain at that point.

Simply put, if you want a good tire, then buy a good tire. Can't afford them but still need new tires? Buy the cheapest pieces of crap you can find ($99 specials!!), and learn car-control skills until you can afford the good ones.

Any of the tires mentioned in here will make a huge impact on where "the limit" is for your car, far more than bars, or dampers, or springs. Fair warning: you're starting down a path that is really tough to go back on. Once you take a hit of "purple crack" (Hoosier R7/A7), though, you're pretty much sunk!

Lack of proper camber is going to be the leading cause of early tire demise: You'll wind up tearing up the outside edges of the front tires, and running them down to the cords before you get any real wear on the inside edge. The stickier the tire, the more pronounced this effect.

To really do it "right," you need to have all of it. Great tires to create the grip potential. Proper springs and bars to control the tire. Proper dampers to control the springs and bars. Camber correction to keep the tires alive. Add it all up and it can be some serious $$, but the vast majority of it is one-time purchase stuff.

 

[Mark Aubele]

The Conti DW is a great tire for the money, and the RS3 is as well (much quicker than the DW). But yeah, ideally I would go with the Rival S or RE71r. It all depends how serious you are. What does an RS3 give up to a RivalS, 1 sec per 60 second course or less?

 

[CammedS197]

Okay thanks, I'm just going to hold off a hair longer to up my budget. Will definetly look into those conti DW's for my DD! Starting out do you still recommend the re-71 or star spec? Those are really catching my eye as well as the hankook. Budget will be closer to $300 now though.

 

[Speedboosted]

$300 a tire can pretty much buy you any worthwhile street tire out there, so now we're talking. I see you have 18x9 Drifts, which isn't a bad wheel but it is too narrow. Ideally you have a 10", but the ever popular (but heavy) 9.5" GT500 wheel works very well. Can you pick up a set of those in favor of the Drifts? Just as a side note, I am trying to trade my 18x9.5 GT500's for 18x9 Drifts for street duty, just sayin. Lol

Are you going to be doing just autocross, or track days as well? If just autoX, can't really look anywhere else than the Rival S or RE71r. But if you're going to mix track days in there, it's going to get expensive trying to keep the BFG or Bridgestone under the car because of how quickly they wear. It'll be some damn fast laps though. The Star Spec, RE11, AD08r, and RS3-V2 all would be better dual purpose options in my opinion because of tire life. The 265/35/18 and 265/40/18 AD08r spec out to be larger than every 275 tire I listed above in width, so don't be afraid of having it say 265 on the sidewall, it's not one. I think those will be my next track tire aside from the slicks. Only bummer with them is that they are a 140 or 180 TW, so could get you into trouble for autocross classing if you get that into it.

The NT01 is a great bargain tire, but I have no idea what that does to you for autocross because it is a 100 TW.

 

[Sky Render]

I'd go with the RE-71R over the Star Spec. The Star Specs are more for lighter cars; they tend to overheat when put on a Mustang.

Nitto NT01 is a full race compound. It cannot be driven on the street, even just to an autocross and back.

 

[CammedS197]

$300 a tire can pretty much buy you any worthwhile street tire out there, so now we're talking. I see you have 18x9 Drifts, which isn't a bad wheel but it is too narrow. Ideally you have a 10", but the ever popular (but heavy) 9.5" GT500 wheel works very well. Can you pick up a set of those in favor of the Drifts? Just as a side note, I am trying to trade my 18x9.5 GT500's for 18x9 Drifts for street duty, just sayin. Lol

Are you going to be doing just autocross, or track days as well? If just autoX, can't really look anywhere else than the Rival S or RE71r. But if you're going to mix track days in there, it's going to get expensive trying to keep the BFG or Bridgestone under the car because of how quickly they wear. It'll be some damn fast laps though. The Star Spec, RE11, AD08r, and RS3-V2 all would be better dual purpose options in my opinion because of tire life. The 265/35/18 and 265/40/18 AD08r spec out to be larger than every 275 tire I listed above in width, so don't be afraid of having it say 265 on the sidewall, it's not one. I think those will be my next track tire aside from the slicks. Only bummer with them is that they are a 140 or 180 TW, so could get you into trouble for autocross classing if you get that into it.

The NT01 is a great bargain tire, but I have no idea what that does to you for autocross because it is a 100 TW.

Lol, I think its actually 9.5 last time i looked at them. I think I want to start out with 265 anyways. I mainly will do autoX and sometimes travel to Sebring and run a track day every now and then. I'll need to learn a lot more about all of the autoX stuff! I'm such a noob lol! Getting my brakes all ready for it now. All new centric rotors solid and vented, boss brake lines, super blue fluid and stoptech pads all around which should be good for a noob, they are good to 1300F if i recall correctly.

 

[CammedS197]

Can anyone school me on what all the numbers and letters mean on a tire? All i know is the tread wear lol. Will probably just stick with bridgestone, the Hankook above, or the Yokohama's Speedboosted mentioned.

 

[fast Ed]

Tire Rack can:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=35