Best tires for Solo II events?

[Steve-O]

I tired a few searchs and i basically found comments for TOYOs, YOKOs and KUMHOs but I wanted to ask the panel of experienced racers as well. I was thinking of getting the A032s strictly for SOLO II events but I've been told to get KUMHOs as well and I'm not sure which way to go.

Basically I just would like to know what would be a good event tire to buy (KUMHO, YOKO, etc..) and costs for each that I can expect to pay. I've only raced in two WOSCA SOLO II events so far and I'd like to get a good tire just specifically for racing for next year. I know that R-compound tires will cost more than regular tires.

Any info you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Martini Focus]

I've used the Falken Azenis this year and been very happy with them. The respond well to pressure changes and take my abusive driving style without coming apart.

I wasn't quite ready for R compound tires and wanted to get all my basic learning done on tires that I could afford to damage.

I got mine for $68USD each petty cheap if you ask me.

[roooo]

Hoosiers are fastest (Autocross compound for Solo 2)

Testing in the USA came up with the following results in terms of speed:
1 - Hoosiers A3S03
2 - Kumho V700 (Victoracer I think)
3 - Toyo RA-1
4 - Yokohama A032R (old HC version)

[Marsh]

From experience I would agree with Rowan's list whole heartedly.

[Guillermo]

It would appear that the brand new, soon to be released,
Kumho ECSTA V710 will probably sneak between tire #1 and #2 in that list.

Look near the bottow of this page:
http://www.vcmc.ca/mainpage.html

Steve,
You are off to a very good start with your smooth driving at your second auto-x. Your video game driving experience has paid off!

The best bang for the buck are 195/60R14 Falken Azenis Sport tires for only $67 Canadian at
www.driverfx.ca

Falken Azenis tires grip almost as well as R-compounds for 1/2 the price and last much longer.

But I'll admit i'm seriously considering 13" R-compounds for my Insight....

[Guillermo]

Holy smokes, check out these results:
http://www.sccaforums.com/cgi-bin/ul...;f=45;t=000176

[ice/solo racer]

I have victoracers for dry and soft compound 32R's for wet,you can't go too wrong with either.I was forced to use the 32R's in the dry at one event and was quite surprised at the grip offered considering they are only 185's wide.I was only half a second behind Tony M in the cooperS on hoosier's(225's) so they can't be too bad.I'm still waiting to try them in the wet!!might have to use'em at the shootout-and that would suck again.I told Renalto in the other ae86 that if it rains we'll have no chance so we might as well have our own drift day!.
Looks like another new tire out soon so now I'll have to wait to pick rim sizes/tire size untill more info is out.

[JAYh]

Ouch! DriverFX is now charging $86 for 14" Azenis! Glad I got mine when I did.

- J

[281ESP]

Falken Azenis are now second to Kumho MXs... looking at the SCCA street tire class results. I have a set now for my daily drivers and I have to concur.

[281ESP]

Regarding the Hoosier vs Kumho tire choice.. Hoosiers do provide more ultimate grip (not counting the soon to be released V710s of course) but they are much more difficult to drive on. When Hoosiers break traction they REALLY break traction. Kumhos are more gradual in their approach to traction limits so if you are relatively new to the sport, they're a better choice. That, and they last longer so they're more forgiving to newbie driving (lack of smoothness, overdriving, etc.)

[ice/solo racer]

After reading this thread I e-mailed the khumo tech guys,just received a reply.
There will be 3 15" sizes of the new 710 comp tire,205-50,225-45 and 225-50.I had asked about the availability of this tires and the tech guy said he had no answer to that question yet.
Just passing it along.

[Steve-O]

Originally posted by Guillermo
It would appear that the brand new, soon to be released,
Kumho ECSTA V710 will probably sneak between tire #1 and #2 in that list.

Look near the bottow of this page:
http://www.vcmc.ca/mainpage.html

Steve,
You are off to a very good start with your smooth driving at your second auto-x. Your video game driving experience has paid off!

The best bang for the buck are 195/60R14 Falken Azenis Sport tires for only $67 Canadian at
www.driverfx.ca

Falken Azenis tires grip almost as well as R-compounds for 1/2 the price and last much longer.

But I'll admit i'm seriously considering 13" R-compounds for my Insight....

Thanks G. At the risk of sounding high on myself I was pretty happy with the amount of time I shaved off each run seeing as how it was only my second event around the cones. I tried twice to beat my final and best lap time (49.32) during fun runs but I wanted to bring my g/f in the car with me and the two of us could only manage to pull off a 49.6. It was fun either way.

Thanks for the link to the site G. I didn't know they were that inexpensive. One driver at the Sept 14th event had a 2002 or 2003 stock blue Civic sedan with a set of steel wheels with the Azenis' on them and he seemed to be hooking up pretty good getting the rear wheel off the ground. I think I'm going to go with the Azenis for my street and competition tire next year.

I have always had a thing for YOKOHAMA especially after seeing a lot of the Japanese race cars run ADVAN (the racing division of YOKO) but they are expensive and they seem to wear down a bit faster on the street than I'd like them to. I know two other people who had a set of the AVS ES100s and they barely got a summer out of them like I did. The A032Rs are pretty pricey from what I've seen and now that i'm laid off and trying to get a racing/parts/detailing business venture underway, I can't afford to be spending a boatload of ducats on tires all the time.