Sleeper_08

I am trying to decide on tires for next year's road course track days and thought it would be helpful to myself and others if we had a ranking in terms of ultimate grip of the best tires available for the S197 chassis. Real lateral G force test data would be best for this but may have to do it based on subjective feelings. Tire Rack has a lot of information but unfortunately they do not sell all brands. If you can provide your thoughts in this format I'll compile them all in ranked order in this post #1.

Any suggestions on this proposal will be appreciated

1) Nitto 555RII - DOT competition - dry - ? wear - ? G
2) Nitto 555 - street - dry/wet - 300 wear - ? G
3) BFG KD - street - dry - 300 wear - ? G
4) BFG KDW2 - street - dry/wet - 300 wear - 1.0 G

Legion5

Hoosire D.O.T. is the best track tire, end of story.

If you care enough, you care enough to drag along tires that will make you crash in the rain or over a seam in the road on a trailer (yes they make trailers for the mustang).

All those R compound tires are are for are jokers who want to drive their car to the track, and then have a lazy stroll around the corners at 6/10ths usually in a Ferrari and pretening to be Jenson Button.

Sometimes for enthusiasts who are practicing their driving skills and want to experience an aggressive tire they think that an r-compound is a good idea, my advice in that situation is to just get what's cheapest, you're just practicing after all.

If you must spend double the money to get .0031234584g in a corner which will be about the difference, as far as I'm aware the Micheline Cup tires are the most aggressive tires you can run that will still give you a good chance of making it to the race track in one piece. They are double the price of NT555RII's though.

Sometimes organizations require tires with a certain wear rating but some r-comp street tires can have a lower wear rating than most of the rules organizations use to determine what a street practical tire is, so I don't believe this minimum wear rating applies to you.

Hope that points you in the right direction, get the cheap ones brother.

jahudso2

I don't have any personal experience with these tires yet, but I have seen really good reviews for the Sumitomo HTR ZIII tires. I plan to order some 235/55/17s in the next couple of weeks to replace the crappy stock pirellis. I dont know what size wheel you are running, and you may not be able to get the ZIII's in your size, but you should do a google search and read some of the reviews. Tire rack praises them, and so does every other review I have seen. They are supposed to be pretty sticky and also last a very long time which kind of contradicts itself, but that is what everyone claims. I have seen a lot of people claiming they are better than the michelin ps2 tires and less than half the price. Hopefully some others on here will have first hand experience to help you.

jayel579

Your best R-Compound Autocross tires will be the Hoosier A6 or Kumho v710. For the ST, "street tire" classes (ST, STS, STX, STU) there is a shopping list of tires to choose from and they are all pretty close.

Best Track Day R-Compound tires will be the Hoosier R6, Toyo RA-1 or R888, Nitto NT01.

I personally have driven on the Hoosier A6, Toyo RA-1, the Kumho v710 and V700(an outdated tire). For autocross the A6 is the best tire by far but for me I do not have the budget to run them, hence I run on the v710. The price is about the same for these tires but the v710 lasts like twice as long. I am not as good as Sam to win a new set every event I run. For track events I ran on RA-1s in the mustang, lasted forever. I sold them used to a buddy I autocross with and he is using them as a first set kind of learner R-compounds before he buys a new set.

Philostang

The general advice I've heard from different sources is to work your way up the tire food chain. That is, don't jump into a full-on race slick before working through mid-level R-comps, and don't do the R-comps before becoming proficient with sticky street tires.

The idea seems to be twofold. First, the super-grip tires will hide a host of driving mistakes as they just compensate for a bunch of bad driving (making you think you're better than you really are). Second, race slicks are super quiet all the way just prior to letting you go, so as a novice driver you don't get as much warning on the tire's state (this can make them dangerous as well as make you think there is something "wrong" with that particular tire brand or your car set up).

But, you asked for feedback on specific tires, so the best I can offer is my experience with the following:

Toyo R1R - "street" - dry -140 wear - 1.23 G

I put "street" in scare quotes because Sam once said he doubted this figure (thinking it was really lower). The lateral G was taken from data on multiple tracks, it's a max G figure, and the tire consistently delivers 1+ G during cornering. It's a nice tire that I'm thoroughly enjoying this year. If I was sticking to the same wheel I run on the street, I wouldn't hesitate to get another pair.

I'll be moving on next season to a dedicated track wheel shod with a mid-level R-comp, likely the Nitto NT01. I've heard very good things about it, mostly its longevity for such high levels of grip. We'll see how the following year feels, maybe then I'll step up to the Hoosiers. For now I'm happy to push the envelope at each level.

Best,
-j

14901490

I have been running the" NITTO NT 05- street - dry/wet tw 200" for 10 track DEs so far this year. Very impressed - good grip - no feel of losing traction in the corners - some squealling , but nothing like the stock tires. They are wearing extremely well - appear to have lots of life left in them.
? Will these cord or simply lose grip? They are my first set of track tires , so other than the stocks I have no real comparison. My Instructors have liked them though...

also thinking of NT01 when these are used up

Argonaut

I'm in the camp of those with two sets of tires. I pull a trailer behind the car since I can't even get ONE tire in the Vette...LOL. In the Mustang you can get four tires in the car, I did it all last year. So...get two sets. Colin, I'd think you'd really benefit from a dedicated set. You've been doing this long enough to use them properly.

Personally I tried the following:

Falken RT-615: 200 tread wear. Asymetical tread pattern. Cheap. Decent grip. They do squeal at the limit. Pretty good life for a track tire. A bit outdated.

Nitto NT-01: 100 treadwear. Asymetical tread pattern. You can actuall wear them down to the two deep grooves around the circumfrence and then flip them on the rim. They really last a long time for a 100 treadwear. They will sqeal a little. Very good grip. Get a little loose after 20 - 25 minutes but not as bad as the RT-615s. Great tire.

Nitto 555RII - 100 treadwear. These are directional, which kind of bites. I like this tire a lot but between this and the NT-01 I'd take the later. These are probably a little better in the damp though but not quite as grippy in the dry. Better on the street (the NT-01s on the street throw up all kinds of dirt and gravel).

Hoosier Koni Challenge endurance tires (Sept 13 2009 - Pocono). Slicks (by the time I get them) so I can run on either side. These are the tires off the Mustang teams that compete in the Koni Challenge series (one of the crew chiefs is a friend of a friend). The cats meow, sweet tires. Very quite, at the limit. They kind of grip, grip, grip and then break away quick but easy to catch for an experienced driver. Very stiff sidewall. The turn in is immediate and you feel every bump. Because they are endurance tires they actually have pretty good life to them. Unfortunately they are not sold to the public. But I'd think the Hoosier R6 is pretty close.

UPDATE Hoosier Koni Challenge endurance tires (Sept 28-29 2009 - VIR): The first time I tried these tires (see above) was after running street tires for a day and a half at Pocono (rain) and then switching to the Hoosiers. The switch from streets to the slicks made a huge difference, as you'd expect, and led to my glowing review above. But...I just got back from two days at VIR in the dry and now have more experience with them. They are not as sticky as I first thought. I was having a little bit of trouble getting on the gas coming out of corners and getting the rear end loose (keep in mind these are 275/30/18 tires on a 400 HP car, so loose is to be expected). As an experiment, I put a set of 275 NT-01s on the rear. Sure enough, more rear end grip. Not a big difference but just enough to give me a little more confidence. But on the plus side, they are still pretty good, last a long time and are cheap ($50 a tire), so all in all I can't complain.

danbevsv6rumbler

stay away from the nt555s (street tires) for the track.

they worked nice when I (with my lack of experience) was still learning the track. Now that I have a few more track days under my belt I feel these are starting to hold me back. I'll probably be making the swap to nt05s, which I can find for less expensive, and have gotten good reviews from fellow trackmates.

RodeoFlyer

Street tires are all like condoms - one might feel a little different or better than the other, but in the end they all do the same thing. Slick is always better. : )

Paying high dollar for slightly better street tires in order to drive on them to the track is a waste of money. If you drive with them on the street you are heat cycling them more often, wasting them anyway.

If you simply don't want to lug tires or change them at the track (you're pulling the fronts off anyway to change pads aren't you?), then get some Toyo RA1's or Nitto NT01's, and drive to and from the track on them - but no more. Both of these tires last forever. It's like having her on the pill. : )

jayel579

Matt, that is by far your best post ever!

I always said racing on street tires is like playing basketball in dress shoes, you really need to be in sneakers.