67mustang302

If you look in your size class on Tirerack these days, they do a lot of empirical testing now, lateral g, braking g, stopping distance etc, all in wet and dry. And they generally use the same car/driver when able (depends on the tires being tested and what fits). So you can do some pretty good comparison shopping between tires.

If you drive in the winter at all in temps below 50*F, especially in the rain, I'd stay away from the summer tires...they tend to have issues with grip in the cold (they get pretty hard and the tread blocks won't conform). The newer high and ultra high performance all seasons actually do really well, and perform nearly as well (but not quite) as the best summer tires do in warm weather. If you do much driving in temps under 50 then you can stick to most any tire you want.

For autocross or any kind of cornering based performance....look REALLY hard at lateral grip and braking performance...that will matter a LOT more than acceleration. Also, you'll prolly want to ditch the traction bars; they'll **** you up under cornering, especially on corner exit (if you're serious about handling).

There's a lot more handling in most cars than people realize, and most drivers don't know how to push their cars to the limit, or even close to it (you really have to throw the car around).

Also, it wouldn't hurt to get a copy of this:
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Vehicle-...oding=UTF8&me=

It will help you understand how to make a car handle, and covers a lot about tires, as well as what you need to do to get performance out of them (and the car).

Otherwise, you can just go with whatever tests with the best overall balance of braking and lateral grip performance on Tirerack, and then throw the car around. Also, don't neglect tire pressures. If you still have no grip under power, check the rear tires....if they're wearing more in the middle then your pressure is too high.