Cheapest track/street tire

In reply to captainawesome :

That's how I approach modify Cars and Trucks. Rather have a stock ride with the best wheels/tires on it than wiz bang parts with cheap shirty tires.

On a dollars per track mile level, are Toyo RA1s still the king of decent performance while wearing like granite?

chada75 said:

In reply to captainawesome :

That's how I approach modify Cars and Trucks. Rather have a stock ride with the best wheels/tires on it than wiz bang parts with cheap shirty tires.

Yeah, that makes sense, but I think that a lot of people are here to build cars. not just grab something and drive it. Although the grab and drive crowd is definitely real.
but I think most tuners are into modifying and doing things with mechanical bits. Also wheels/tires can easily be swapped out at any time. So it's not really a permanent thing like suspension.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

On a dollars per track mile level, are Toyo RA1s still the king of decent performance while wearing like granite?

Either RA1s or NT01s.

Pretty sure r comps are nowhere near affordable

Tadope said:

chada75 said:

In reply to captainawesome :

That's how I approach modify Cars and Trucks. Rather have a stock ride with the best wheels/tires on it than wiz bang parts with cheap shirty tires.

Yeah, that makes sense, but I think that a lot of people are here to build cars. not just grab something and drive it. Although the grab and drive crowd is definitely real.
but I think most tuners are into modifying and doing things with mechanical bits. Also wheels/tires can easily be swapped out at any time. So it's not really a permanent thing like suspension.

Suspension isn't permanent, it's fast to swap out and the higher end stuff needs rebuilt on a regular basis anyway.

Tadope said:

Pretty sure r comps are nowhere near affordable

In the long run you'll spend less money using tires that are designed for the race track on a separate set of wheels than you will ripping up street tires in an environment they weren't designed for.

The absolute cheapest way to run tires at the track is to get race car takeoffs for $25 each.  This usually requires having an "in" at the shop that is throwing them away, though.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Plus, tires are probably the cheapest consumable, depending on chassis.

Then again most of the track day horror stories/maintenance nightmares I've seen involve pads that last two sessions, rotors that last one before they crack, wheel bearings that are a constant juggling factor (but prying the seals back with a dental pick, flushing out the grease, and replacing with high temp synthetic grease might make 'em last half a season), and all sorts of regular inspection and lifeing out of bushings, spindles, you name it.

My rallycross maintenance regimen looks to be pretty tame in comparison.  Anyway, that's why a good number of people see the C5 as a really cheap way to get track time, because all of the consumables are fairly robust so you aren't spending two weeks of evenings prepping the car for the next weekend...

Yeah, last track problem i had was pads that hadn't broken in or bedded properly or something...
they were track pads. But they just ended up dying completely by the last session. Really put an end to the day.

But also I hear you about the racecar takeoffs. I already found some r comps locally all four for $60. very little tread left, but berkeley it. Only problem is someone beat me to the purchase :(

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

On a dollars per track mile level, are Toyo RA1s still the king of decent performance while wearing like granite?

No not even close. Maybe a decade ago.

RS4's take that prize now.