Wet race tire recommendations

[GregR]

I'm looking at getting a second set of tires for wet Solo-2 racing, wet lapping days, and wet racing days of any kind that come up! Which tires would be best? Only requirements are DOT legal, sticky in the wet (and dry for driving to an event), 225/50-15 size (could be 205, should fit onto a 15x7 rim), and I expect to get no more than 10,000km out of them before they're totally junked.

Okay, I'll admit that I do want to be able to drive these on the street pretty well all the time (gently, of course, like under 80km/h for 90% of the driving, mostly in straight lines), to and from work and to get groceries and stuff. I save my hard driving for the track, so I'm unlikely to wear down these rain race tires THAT quickly on the street. But that IS why they need to be DOT legal - used on the street (so the hand-grooved Hoosier Wet tires are out).

Prefer not to have them tooooo expensive - under $200 Cdn a piece is ideal. So which tire do I go with? Yok A032R-SC (new soft compound)? BFG g-Force KDW? Bridgestone S-03? Toyo RA-1? Something else?

Thanks!

[ADAM]

i vote for new ra1's

[John Hannaford]

I used the Yok A032R pretty much that way. They worked well and only sand blasted the car and threw rocks for the first month or so when they were new. (you knew that about R compounds, I hope) I wouldn't expect the new softer ones to last as long, but the repeated heat cycles from daily use should make them rock hard in short order and that will help with the wear.

You know, when I put it that way... ;)

I used to favour the Toyos and Yoks for daily use on light performance cars and I'll still use up my old ones when their best track days are done - if they have decent tread left - but I don't think I'll ever use fresh R compounds that way again. They are so much faster when they're treated right.

[Nissan Racer]

Theres a huge difference between the Toyo's/Yoks as they are R compounds and the Bridgestone so3/BFG KDW which are street tires. I have the SO3's which have a wear rating of 220 as opposed to 50 for the A032R's for example.
I really like the SO3's but I doubt you'll find them that cheap, but they are a fantastic tire, especially in the rain.
Kumhos new MX looks like it might be a winner too.

[roooo]

Dunlop SP9000 is a great wet-weather tire as well.
If you watch the DTM races, you will notice that they use the SP9000 as their rain tires. Although they are probably shaved a bit from their full tread depth.

( In case they aren't actually the same compound as the normal SP9000, and I haven't really done my research, they sure have the same tread pattern! )

[soloZ]

I really liked how my RA1s were in the rain they held more then any street tire I have ever driven on and that was with just the four grooves on the tire no other tread. For instance at the Top gun this year I raced on them from the start of the day and I was loving them. My choice at the start of the day was run my Avid H4s witch are crap(they are old junk tires that have dried up) or run my RA1s so it was actually an easy choice.

[TYSON]

S-03's are awesome in the wet, my 7 would get bad axle hop in a downpour (standing water) with them. When it gets around 5 degrees they become slippery. I doubt you will find them for $200, if you do, tell us where!!

Where do you other guys buy R-compounds? Wheel & Tire Zone? Any others?

[GregR]

Hmm, turns out I can't use BFG's anyways since they don't make a 15" size. The S-03 on TireRack's page do have very high wet traction ratings. Hmmmmm...... Now that I think about it, my first set of RA-1's were really good in the wet when new, but they did go downhill after getting worn down a bit.

I guess I didn't think that R's would get hard that quickly from daily driving. Sure would be a shame to ruin a nice set like that. Has anyone tried the Azenis in the wet?

[andrew1984]

i have about 15k experience with the azenis.

they are a great street tire for the dry.
when its wet, they do well - until you drive it hard.

if you want wet performance, id stay away from them. PLUS they are VERY heavy.

[ice/solo racer]

I didn't do any street driving on my azenis,only solo 2 and in the dry they're pretty good for a bargain price.The only wet event was at the shootout,they were ALOT better then the used victaracers I started on but didn't offer the grip of the new kumho's/toyo's and way less than AO32R's.