Should I just get the Firestone Indy 500's?

After I bought the BRZ a local AX friend had a set of Rota Titan's and Federal RS-RR 245/40-17 for a decent price.  $850 if I remember (he wanted to go wider, has an LS swap).  It was the easy button for better than OEM and not guessing how wide I could go (he said I needed 5mm spacers so I preordered.)

However, as fun as they are in AX and spirited driving, they are NOT fun in the rain.  I daily this more than I AX, so it's time for something I don't have to check the weather forecast first.  I had Firestone Indy 500's on the Abarth and loved them, and a set for the WRX but sold it for my roof repair before I could enjoy them.

I plan to do at least 1/2 a season of AX, maybe more, and hopefully hit both clubs local and maybe the Cincy region once.  But I am not at the pointy end chasing tenths, so I don't need anything high end.  Like I said I daily this way more than I compete/participate...

Are the Indy's the choice?  Anything else that compares for AX but has to have decent wet weather traction?

Continental Extreme Contact Sport.   Nice road manners, amazing in the wet, and competent enough in the dry for occasional AutoX and track days.  They are the perfect dual duty tire, they are even fairly quiet.   I would not hesitate to get them again for that use.  If they made the right sizes for my NSX it would have them now.  

Sonic said:

Continental Extreme Contact Sport.   Nice road manners, amazing in the wet, and competent enough in the dry for occasional AutoX and track days.  They are the perfect dual duty tire, they are even fairly quiet.   I would not hesitate to get them again for that use.  If they made the right sizes for my NSX it would have them now.  

didn't they just update them as well?  They are also a bit cheaper than which ever is the latest Pilot.  

Sonic said:

Continental Extreme Contact Sport.   Nice road manners, amazing in the wet, and competent enough in the dry for occasional AutoX and track days.  They are the perfect dual duty tire, they are even fairly quiet.   I would not hesitate to get them again for that use.  If they made the right sizes for my NSX it would have them now.  

Seconded.  They make a good DD tire.  Scary good in the wet, plenty of grip overall, good road manners, etc.  They're very quiet on good pavement, but a bit loud on imperfect pavement.  I'm seriously disappointed that they've dropped some sizes for the new version, so when I use up my current set on the E38 I might have to find new DD tires (as they no longer offer the 255/45R18 I'm running on the fronts). 

for a spirited daily I have had great luck with the 500's.  They aren't the 200tw IT tire but have a nice balance of grip, cost and manners.  Assuming they are still really cheap vs the others I dig them.

Definitely ecs2. In that size they're about 10% more expensive but will be well worth the extra cost.

I've heard good things about the Indy 500, but I wanted something potentially stickier so I went with the B-stone Potenza S007A.  It is a 240 treadwear "extreme performance" summer tire, but gives up some ultimate grip to pointy-end autox tires in exchange for much better road manners.  Wet grip seems great, but I've only had them on our WRX so there's that.  Plenty of water channels in the tread pattern though.

3or 4th for the Continental Extreme Contact Sport.

Sonic said:

Continental Extreme Contact Sport.   Nice road manners, amazing in the wet, and competent enough in the dry for occasional AutoX and track days.  They are the perfect dual duty tire, they are even fairly quiet.   I would not hesitate to get them again for that use.  If they made the right sizes for my NSX it would have them now.  

The Contis have really weak sidewalls.  We had them on the wife's Miata and on my MS3, three blowouts after hitting potholes/stepped driveways, etc.  Never had that with any other tires.

ECS2 would be my vote

If for some reason 1/10ths really aren't as important as wet weather traction (and they shouldn't be, as otherwise, a second set of wheels would be the answer)

But if 1/10ths aren't of concern 

Kumho Ecsta PS31

Advan V601 

Potenza sport 

Should all come in at a lower price point than the 500s

Even pilot sport AS4s will be within $10 of the Firehawk Indy 500s

Sonic said:

Continental Extreme Contact Sport.   Nice road manners, amazing in the wet, and competent enough in the dry for occasional AutoX and track days.  They are the perfect dual duty tire, they are even fairly quiet.   I would not hesitate to get them again for that use.  If they made the right sizes for my NSX it would have them now.  

I am looking to move from ECSs to 500s because it is something crazy like $50 per tire more for the Contis.

Just bought a set of Indy's for an older truck that we are restoring. They were a lot less money (with careful shopping)  than anything else in that size. They look good , appear to be round and balanced well. Haven't put any miles on them yet.... 

I've got Indy 500's on my BMW 1 series and have been happy with them. I had Pilot Super Sports before this and while those are a faster tire for someone seeing track time, the Indy 500's are more than enough tire for the street and I can't detect any performance difference with 7/10ths backroads driving. I'm at 17k miles and will probably get somewhere in the low-mid 20k range when I need to replace them. By comparison I was replacing the PSS' around 17-18k. The Indy 500's haven't gotten loud yet so that's a plus.  Overall I'm pleased with them. Low price, good performance, good tread life for what they are. Would buy again. 

I run these on my FRS as  3 season tires and love them. Insane value when I bought them 2 years ago. Better than Azenis that I also like. 

Pete

I've been happy with the Indy 500s for all sorts of weather and daily use.  I also really like the PS4s but if I were wanting a bit of longevity and budget was a little tighter the Indy 500s would win the battle. It's a really great tire for the money.

I've also run the Federals and I'd never do that again. Too loud and honestly wasn't ever impressed with the performance wet/dry or even wear characteristics.

The drift guys swear by Kenda KR20A, which come in a 300tw and a 180tw.  They are supposed to be good in the wet too.  AND they are very inexpensive.  

Firestone Indy 500's $186 per tire, past experience has been awesome.

CES and CES02 $236 per tire, no experience (but appreciate the help).

500's being delivered to my work on Tuesday.  Thanks for the advice, as always.

In reply to Jerry :

The ECS are friggin awesome but they were $180 each when I bought them.  $220 now.

Smurfing around on Tire Rack in 235/45-17, it is amazing what awesome rubber is cheaper.  Lots of "200tw" tires.

Granted the tires are good and wear like iron (I think I got about 40k or so from mine before they were worn through to the under layer, about 2/32) but jeez, that extra $200 a set kinda hurts.

The price of the ECS has definitely gone up a good bit since they first came out.  They last reasonably, but not great.  Looking at my notes I got ~14k from the first set of rears on the E38, ~21k from the fronts.  But that's under a 4100 lb car.  And interestingly, the second set of rears seem to be wearing noticeably better (can't remember what I've changed alignment wise or if the tires might actually be doing better).  They're just shy of 13k now and still good to go for this summer. 

I'm a diehard (blowhard) Michelin tire guy. Alpins in the winter and Pilot Sports in the summers for as long as I can remember. Two years ago when we were having "supply chain" issues I couldn't source tires for the wife's A4 so I took a flier on a set of 500's. I was amazed at how good they are. She came with me for a track day and I took her car out for a session. Other than how amazed I was at how good the brakes are on the car those tires were amazing. I'm still a loyal Mick guy but would never hesitate getting Indy 500's, especially for the street. Good luck.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to Jerry :

The ECS are friggin awesome but they were $180 each when I bought them.  $220 now.

Smurfing around on Tire Rack in 235/45-17, it is amazing what awesome rubber is cheaper.  Lots of "200tw" tires.

Granted the tires are good and wear like iron (I think I got about 40k or so from mine before they were worn through to the under layer, about 2/32) but jeez, that extra $200 a set kinda hurts.

I've had a couple of sets of the Firehawks, haven't been disappointed, especially for the price. Here's my opinion.
 

For a street tire, they have very good grip in the dry and wet. I have them on my Ralliart wagon, and picked up some trophies in autocross on them a couple of years ago, including second in the Florida State championship in H Street (mainly because of bad weather).

The sidewalls are soft for a performance tire, at least compared to a 200 TW tire, so they need a lot of pressure to keep them off the sidewalls on an autocross course. 
 

The picture is them set at with 35 lbs cold, probably were about 38+ lbs when this was taken. You can really see those fronts roll over.
 

I ended up with 44 lbs in the front, 48 in the back trying to keep them off the sidewalls. 

The car is stock with a 2.4, 162/162 HP/TQ, 3000 pounds, front wheel drive, open differential, automatic. I still had the front sway bar attached at that time of the picture. I removed one end of the front bar for the State event. Picture is from Moultrie, Georgia, on concrete. Won my class that day (none of the fast drivers and cars were there).

I'm going to probably buy a set of these to daily my civic. I want to try the ECSplus, but it's $120/set difference. I'm not planning to autocross on them, I have a set of the new Bridgestones for both the civic and my Miata. 
 

Discussing tires in this class with David Wallens recently, I believe he said that Tire Rack recommended the Khumo PS91 as a bargain tire compared to the Conti. ECSplus. I'd love to try them but they don't come in a wheel size less than 18 inches. 
 

I can't compare the Firehawks to anything else in the category like the Extreme Contact Sport, as I haven't tried them. I've got a good bit of experience with various 200 TW tires, so I do have an idea what a good performance tire can deliver. The Firehawks in no way compare to those, but they're good enough to be fun. 

I was actually about to pull the trigger on a set of Indy 500s because I need tires, like, now.  When searching my size on the Tire Rack site, I saw that the old model ECSs were on clearance, so the decision was made.

Maybe next time   At the rate I process tires I will need a new set in 2025 if I still have this car.

Although I haven't tried them, I'll bet that the old version of the ECS at nearly the same price is probably a better option.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Although I haven't tried them, I'll bet that the old version of the ECS at nearly the same price is probably a better option.

I ran the previous gen ECS on a C6 Z06 with a track oriented alignment and have zero complaints. I got way more miles out of them than I anticipated, the traction was great in the dry AND in the wet. I like them so much I put a new set on the Z06 and put them on my newly aquired Mazdaspeed3. Both cars are driven hard on twisty mountain roads.

I have a set of the Firestone 500's on a R56 Mini and think they aren't as good as the ECS.