Tire selection for occasional track day use

[fast Ed]

Guys, I'm looking for some feedback on tire choice for my 07 GT. Anyone running Michelin PSS or Bridgestone RE-11 for non-daily driver street usage, as well as some track days?

I do have a set of dedicated wheels and tires for dry track days. So the new rubber would be for wet track use, and occasionally if it's a casual event where I am mostly riding as a coach and only doing a few short sessions in my own car, I will leave the street rubber on. I found my current Conti DW a bit disappointing for that use.

What I'm most interested in is knowing what sort of wear you're getting out of the tires after some track usage. Mine does have decent suspension bits with some camber, and I wouldn't be hooning it too much on these, so it shouldn't kill them too badly. Downside is that the new street wheels going on the car are staggered sizes, so I won't be able to rotate front to rear to maximize life. Both of the tires I'm looking at are asymmetrical, so I can't even have them dismounted and flipped on the wheels side to side to even out shoulder wear. I've also considered Nitto NT-05, they've been on this car before and work well in the dry, but of course aren't so great in the wet especially when worn down a bit.

I'm thinking that the RE-11 will offer a bit more grip, and they have reasonable street manners, but I'm curious how they will wear compared to the Michelins on a fairly heavy car. An acquaintance with a Boss 302 had a set of PSS on his car in the stock staggered sizes. They seemed to hold up very well for him after several track days even without added camber, driving at a novice to intermediate level ... I was a bit surprised that the outer shoulders on the fronts weren't showing more wear.

Thanks for any feedback and suggestions. Reviews on Tire Rack are only so useful as they are often contradictory, and tires can work quite differently on different types of cars. I don't think either tire would be a bad answer, but more info from those with experience can be helpful.


cheers
Ed

 

[Budwise]

The MPSS's tend to last longer from my experience and what I've read. They're just hard to beat for an all around tire.

 

[NickD87]

Hey Ed
Pilot SS gets my vote, I cheaped out and got hankook v12 after hearing they were good in the rain, I learned my lesson, they suck, and at the TMP track day they were begging for mercy.

 

[csamsh]

I've run both pss and re11. Re11 is faster, doesn't last as long. NT05 is a crazily distant third.

 

[fast Ed]

Would you be able to put any sort of numbers on the difference in wear, in terms of street miles and / or track days run?


thanks!

Ed

 

[csamsh]

Sorry...I don't remember back that far

 

[Norm Peterson]

After 6 track days plus over 2000 street miles last year, I've still got 7/32" tread on my PSS tires (out of 10/32" listed as when new). I run solo, most recently in a mixed advanced/instructor run group, don't get run down and passed by everybody else, and my tires do talk a fair bit in the corners.

285/35's on 18 x 11 Forgestars, with aftermarket sta-bars and shocks plus about -2° camber, which may matter here.


Norm

 

[irishpwr46]

square 18x11 norm?

 

[fast Ed]

Thanks for the data Norm. I also have about -2 deg camber. Suspension is FRPP K springs with MM Bilsteins and caster plates, FRPP adj. front bar, Whiteline Watts Link and rear lower arms.

 

[junkyard08]

Any ran sport comp 2's for a dd/ occasional track duty?

 

[Norm Peterson]

square 18x11 norm?

Yes.

Norm

 

[claudermilk]

Any ran sport comp 2's for a dd/ occasional track duty?

Coincidentally I ran them for the first time yesterday in a Solo II. I was not terribly impressed. They are not terrible tires, but I had better grip & feel from the Bridgestone S-04's I had on before. I also noted much worse wear patterns than the S-04's exhibited--looked more like they were tracked than dodged cones. I kind of expect that they would chunk if run on an open track session.

As a DD street tire they are perfectly adequate, but I won't be running them on track. I just know for certain now that I have to get the RE-11's ordered & mounted before the track day at the end of the month.

 

[Mineral_'01]

Loving my B'stone RE-11s. No track impressions yet, but just on the street they are incredible. The grip once warmed up is phenomenal. Road noise is minimal and no tramlining with 275/40R18s up front. Can't wait to try them on the track.

 

[TGR96]

Any ran sport comp 2's for a dd/ occasional track duty?

Coincidentally I ran them for the first time yesterday in a Solo II. I was not terribly impressed. They are not terrible tires, but I had better grip & feel from the Bridgestone S-04's I had on before. I also noted much worse wear patterns than the S-04's exhibited--looked more like they were tracked than dodged cones. I kind of expect that they would chunk if run on an open track session.

As a DD street tire they are perfectly adequate, but I won't be running them on track. I just know for certain now that I have to get the RE-11's ordered & mounted before the track day at the end of the month.

I just installed a set on my car, and although they seem great for a dd so far, I have not had any track experience with them yet. I did run an event at Atlanta Motor Speedway last year, and there was a guy there in a 2011 Mustang w/ Sport Comp 2's. He said that he actually liked them better than his old Continental ExtremeContact DWs.

FWIW, I was running the same Contis at the time, and I loved the them for dd/occasional track use. My only complaint about them was that they didn't last very long, like <20K miles I believe.

 

[fast Ed]

I may end up going a different way on wheels, mainly so that I can stay with a square setup. I see in the latest version of the Dunlop Star Specs, 275/35R19 is available ... loved the 1st gen Star Specs that I had on an old Taurus SHO a few years back, crazy wet grip especially.

Thanks for everyone's input.

cheers
Ed

 

[csamsh]

Direzza z2 is a great tire, if only it had good 18" sizes! I would do unspeakable things for 305/35/18