Advice on Track Tires - Non R-compound Only - Full Tread

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Vincent Keene wrote:

On the older RT-215s (asymmetrical as well) I can tell you that I, and many others, have flipped them with no issues at all. I assume the new 615s would be similar.

Used the "Save Search" function on Ebay. I received an e-mail from Ebay everyday for 2 months before I found the tires in the size and price I was looking for.

Thanks on both above items,

Steve

Stacy King · **Posted:** Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:36 pm

I'll be using Ecsta 711's on the bimmer in Novemeber... just bought them for the Z (225/50-15's) and I SURE wish I had had them on the bimmer for Roebling

Those Yoko Avid V4S's I had on the car were scattered, smothered and chunked like a Waffle House hashbrown!

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Stacy King wrote:

I'll be using Ecsta 711's on the bimmer in Novemeber... just bought them for the Z (225/50-15's) and I SURE wish I had had them on the bimmer for Roebling :D

Those Yoko Avid V4S's I had on the car were scattered, smothered and chunked like a Waffle House hashbrown!

Stacy,

Hope those 711s work out for you. So far, for the most part, I've gotten pretty poor reviews on them for track work, at least to use from full tread.

Haven't seen anything on the Yoko Avids.

Just got a call from Kyle at TR, man those folks are nice. I'd called him yesterday to ask about tracking tires without shaving and he got with whoever else there that does their testing and called me back to give me their advice. Which was what I expected, shave the tires. But that's another $100 and so far I've gotten some good feedback on the MXs in particular that indicate they should hold up, especially if I were to be nice to 'um starting out. Gonna be hard, but I'll try if I can remember.... ;)

Steve

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Here's what I've come up with on the three tires I'm considering at this point... they are listed in the order I'm leaning toward trying at this point...

If anybody knows of a better source for price on these please let me know... it probably will have to be a supplier EAST of the Mississippi in order to get them in time for July 3-4 event.

Tire Prices (delivered):

Kumho ECSTA MX 205/50WR15 - $330 - at TR

Hankook Ventus Rs2 Z212 205/50R15 - $335 - at Edge Racing

Hankook Ventus Rs2 Z212 195/50R15 - $290 - at Edge Racing

Falken AZENIS RT-615 205/50R15 - $350 - at Vulcan

195/50R15s are not available AFAIK in Kumho MXs or Falken RT-615s

Thanks for all the input so far..... further input is invited, as I probably won't place order until Fri.

Steve

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Steve Coleman wrote:

If anybody knows of a better source for price on these please let me know... it probably will have to be a supplier EAST of the Mississippi in order to get them in time for July 3-4 event.

Hmmm, and if I look at the Instructor roster for the event I'm doing on July 3-4, I see a Steve C in a Miata from Raleigh... :wink:

Steve Coleman wrote:

Falken AZENIS RT-615 205/50R15 - $350 - at Vulcan

Rob Lupella ran the RT-615 in his 90 Miata on track twice so far. We went to RA in March and just went to VIR-GE. He was quite happy with the RT-615 on track and has used the older RT-215 for autox a lot. The first time on the RT-615 at RA they were new. Only miles on them was the ride down to RA.

Out of the tires you listed I'd personally pay a few extra $ for the RT-615. I would have run these if the rear size I need was available when I needed tires. I still may try them when I need another set. Hopefully not until next season...

Graham

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:58 am

Discount Tire Direct has the Falkens and the 195 Hankooks for better prices, $348 shipped and $292 shipped, respectively.

They also have the 205 width Hankooks for a good shipped price, $344. Unless Edge charges $9 or less for shipping four tires - unlikely - Discount Tire Direct's price is better.

Discount Tire Direct ships from one of several stocking locations, depending on where the inventory is - they usually ship from their closest (OH) stocking location, unless the particular tire you want isn't available from that location.

Also, I've had luck dealing with a local Discount Tire store, the one in Cary at 55 and High House Rd. You might try giving Jeb Brookshire a call there, he's usually able to at least match their Direct store pricing (above).

DanDurusky · **Joined:** Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:31 pm **Posts:** 686

i'm not no expert and it wasnt too hot out, but i ran the RT615s at VIR-N a few months ago and they did awesome. no noticable change in grip through out a session and i had them pretty steadily squeeling

they slid very predictably i thought. nothing scary or unexpected out of them. at my level thats all i ask for

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Graham Jagger wrote:

Hmmm, and if I look at the Instructor roster for the event I'm doing on July 3-4, I see a Steve C in a Miata from Raleigh... :wink:

Caught again. ;)

Graham Jagger wrote:

Rob Lupella ran the RT-615 in his 90 Miata on track twice so far. We went to RA in March and just went to VIR-GE. He was quite happy with the RT-615 on track and has used the older RT-215 for autox a lot. The first time on the RT-615 at RA they were new. Only miles on them was the ride down to RA.

That sounds good. I'm presuming from your comments they were at full tread depth (no need to reply if that's the case).

I do have one response that indicated a case where the RT-615s went south and MXs held up. It was as follows:

From MX-5 Miata Forum wrote:

''I just got back from Thunderhill and fairly thoroughly cooked my Azenis, with some chunking...

FWIW, my friend was there with brand new MX's on his 350Z and they looked (and gripped) far better at the end of the day than my Azenis, we run a very similar pace around the corners and he's obviously way faster down the straights.

The Azenis are a great street tire and autocross, but I'm totally changing my mind about their track behavior."

Obviously I'm getting opinions and experiences all over the map on the three main choices: RT-615s, Z212s and the Mxs. All in all and specifcally on the Miata it seems the MXs are a slightly better choice at full tread.

This is making my head hurt. Better than my pocket book I guess. ;)

Somebody..... Hep me, hep me.... puhleezzzz..... ;)

Steve

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Keith Quistorff wrote:

Discount Tire Direct has the Falkens and the 195 Hankooks for better prices, $348 shipped and $292 shipped, respectively.

That's the same as I got above at Vulcan and Edge respectively. Will recheck.

Quote:

They also have the 205 width Hankooks for a good shipped price, $344. Unless Edge charges $9 or less for shipping four tires - unlikely - Discount Tire Direct's price is better.

I got $335 at Edge, see above. Will recheck.

Quote:

Discount Tire Direct ships from one of several stocking locations, depending on where the inventory is - they usually ship from their closest (OH) stocking location, unless the particular tire you want isn't available from that location.

Also, I've had luck dealing with a local Discount Tire store, the one in Cary at 55 and High House Rd. You might try giving Jeb Brookshire a call there, he's usually able to at least match their Direct store pricing (above).

I contacted local store this morning. They can match their online prices, however none of them carry any of the high preformance tires in stock and delivery time is same for getting them direct to my door from online and prices w/ tax vs shipping are close. So if I were to go with DTD, online looks like the way to go with them.

Note that I will be doing my own mounting and balancing so having hands on service is not a factor.

Thanks and I hope this info is helpful to others as well.

Steve

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

DanDurusky wrote:

i'm not no expert and it wasnt too hot out, but i ran the RT615s at VIR-N a few months ago and they did awesome. no noticable change in grip through out a session and i had them pretty steadily squeeling :) they slid very predictably i thought. nothing scary or unexpected out of them. at my level thats all i ask for

Thanks Dan.

With all due respect, it's likely you're not abusing them near as much as I'm prone to, just can't seem to help myself. ;)

So far I've gotten the most positive feedback on the MXs, in particular on Miatas, that indicate they should hold up, especially if I were to be nice to 'um starting out. Gonna be hard, but I'll try if I can just remember (dang CRS and 'ol Timer's disease)..... ;)

Steve

Brad Mackey · **Posted:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:20 pm

Steve:
If you decide to get them at Tire Rack, they are $74 ea. +about $34 for shipping the set. BUT FIRST DO THIS!!!! :
1.) Go to thscc.com
2.) Click on the "TRACK" button.
3.) Look up in the Upper RH Corner. Click on the link to Tire Rack.
USE THIS LINK TO GET TO TIRE RACK's WEB SITE when you order your tires!

If you use this procedure, THSCC gets a small credit when you place the order.

As a reminder, we should ALL do this to help the club earn $$.

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Brad Mackey wrote:

Steve:
If you decide to get them at Tire Rack, they are $74 ea. +about $34 for shipping the set.

That's what I came up with also.

Quote:

BUT FIRST DO THIS!!!! :
1.) Go to thscc.com
2.) Click on the "TRACK" button.
3.) Look up in the Upper RH Corner. Click on the link to Tire Rack.
USE THIS LINK TO GET TO TIRE RACK's WEB SITE when you order your tires!

If you use this procedure, THSCC gets a small credit when you place the order.

As a reminder, we should ALL do this to help the club earn $$. 8)

Glad you mentioned it. Will do.

Steve

Matthew Fortner · **Joined:** Sun Mar 21, 2004 12:21 am **Posts:** 384

Or you could call THSCC member Mark Cooper at Hubcap Heaven and see what he could do. Help him out and donate to THSCC if you wanted to.

Steve Coleman · **Joined:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:50 pm **Posts:** 188

Matthew Fortner wrote:

Or you could call THSCC member Mark Cooper at Hubcap Heaven and see what he could do. Help him out and donate to THSCC if you wanted to.

I've heard him mentioned.

Would he have used tires that might get me through 6 hours at VIR? Some kind of deal for new tires? Need more info and a phone number might help.

I've got to do something by tomorrow morning.

If I don't hook up with him this time I'll sure do it next time.

Thanks,

Steve

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Mark Cooper
Hubcap Heaven
213 Hillsboro St, Cary
(919) 319-3484

Mark might have some scrubs laying around. He can get good prices and get tires in quick. Also has the Hunter road force balancing systems and does an excellent job with mount/balance.

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