Ultimate track tire guide | 200tw, 100tw, street-legal track and R-comps

Looking for possible longer-wearing race tire alternative, but don't want to crash finding it.

1 979 Fox Mustang with good suspension, benign behavior: Maximum Motorsports torque arm, Panhard bar, MM trailing arms, Penske shocks.  Now run Hoosier R7's in 275-45-ZR16, which are excellent but limited for heat cycles and somewhat by wear rate.  If I'm willing to sacrifice some ultimate grip, is there a tire with similarly forgiving characteristics that are stable as it wears and heat cycles like the Hoosiers are, that might give more than 8-10 (12 on a good day now) good heat cycles and retain the benign handling characteristics of the Hoosiers at slightly lower limits?  Avoiding tires that break away abruptly at any point in their life is an important goal.

Thanks

Any feedback on the Hankook Z214?  Looking to get heat cycle information and overall speed versus R7

rsotak said:

Any feedback on the Hankook Z214?  Looking to get heat cycle information and overall speed versus R7

I've asked that question for several years, but apparently nobody runs them, because I never get an answer.  They seem like a decently-priced alternative and they come in several compounds.

accordionfolder said:

I'm not sure why the rt-660 is labeled a great lapping tire? It's a great TT or autoX tire, but it doesn't hold up in the heat or repeated laps, maybe in really cold weather or fall? That's not just my experience either, no one I talked to at TTNats had anything different to say about it. 

 

Ran them again recently (Another PB! They are fast...)High 70's/low 80's they seem to be holding up a lot better. Still not as consistent as I'd like, but they don't have the same cliff as when it was high 80's/low 90's.

In reply to rsotak :

Interesting they didn't include them at all.  Poor Hankook, always the red headed step child of the R comp class.

Just bumping this since we updated the guide after testing the Kumho ECSTA V730 against the Yokohama Advan A052.

rsotak said:

Any feedback on the Hankook Z214?  Looking to get heat cycle information and overall speed versus R7

Priced well but, from what we have seen, not as fast as an R7 or BFG R1. 

Also, coming soon: endurance test of the new Continental ExtremeContactForce--the "Hoosier" 200tw tire. 

Would like to see a a comparison of the leading slicks on the market. Michelin vs Yokohama vs Pirelli vs Hoosier vs Avon vs Goodyear. Both radial and bias ply. Bias in the GT3 cantilevered and the radials in 18" sizes. (260-300 tread width)

Trent

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Hoping for a true endurance test not just 5 extra laps of a 30 second cone course :)

In reply to kevlarcorolla :

How about 1 hour per tire? Coming up in the next issue. 

In reply to Andy Hollis :

Fantastic work once again from Andy Hollis!  Thanks for this very helpful rundown of what's available, from someone with a lot of experience in careful comparison testing here, too.   And I agree with the comments on the tires that I have run, like the RS4's in Lucky Dog, and the Bridgestone RE-71's in ChampCar and WRL and AER

In reply to randyracer :

Thank you for the kind words and, yeah, lots of info in there. 

Outstanding and informative content! Please keep it coming.

I love that this is updated, but it might be nice to see a date for each revision so when a new tire is added we can skip to the newest information.  The comprehensive list is appreciated, this just might make the list more useful

Sucks that the sizes we use on the Elantra are never in stock or they never make them....215/45R16 is such an oddball but works for both my cars.

In reply to kevinatfms :

Yeah 615s have been on backorder for a hot minute in that size. 

And there's really no good alternative size option to run from that size, if you go to a 225, you actually need to run more sidewall (a 50 series) before you get any options. 

Looks like RS-4s are pretty much sold out, and Tire Rack isn't even listing 17" sizes.  It's unfortunate since I was looking for a tire for dual street and track use that would put up with a drive across the country to CA and back, and hopefully some track events.

Looks like the RT615K is the runner up and probably the cheapest option.

I've never run the same tire back-to-back before because I like to experiment, but I might just run the Nankang CR-1s again next year because they were gooood.

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

RS4s are always sold out this time of year.  We get resupply containers in the spring and then it dwindles during the year.   A trick is that you can call Hankook Motorsports directly and they usually have some extras around or know where you can get them.   They are our race team tire of choice for Lemons as they are almost as grippy as the best, but last 3x as long and are predictable and easy to drive.   We even have a race win on them.  

Sonic said:

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

RS4s are always sold out this time of year.  We get resupply containers in the spring and then it dwindles during the year.   A trick is that you can call Hankook Motorsports directly and they usually have some extras around or know where you can get them.   They are our race team tire of choice for Lemons as they are almost as grippy as the best, but last 3x as long and are predictable and easy to drive.   We even have a race win on them.  

There are multiple race wins in champcar this year as well with rs4 (us included at a handling track - barber)!

In reply to Sonic :

Should have waited a bit for a reply on the post, but I pulled the trigger on a set of Falken 660s from my local tire guys this afternoon.  I need to have them on the car pretty quickly and with xmas, etc. they're scheduling out at least a week.   I'll put a couple thousand miles on them before abusing them, and that seems to help longevity.

The tire guide was a big help in figuring this out - thanks.

I haven't seen the 1 hr endurance testing yet,did I miss it or is it pending still?

Great article Andy. Can I make a couple suggestions? 

1. Please make the table downloadable. Text or CSV would be great. That way I can compare a little more easily and add notes like "Not available in size that fits my car".

2. Please add your grades on the Conti EC Force to the table. It isn't currently available in a size to fit my car but it sounds like a great HDPE tire.

Sorry, but what do the letters mean exactly? If I'm selecting C grade tires, what am I getting?