Auto-x + tire ????

[00zx2s/r]

So I was recently talking to my uncle about auto-x + tires and he said that back in the day when the sport was really big, they usually ran on tires w/ lil tread left. He said that nobody liked running on brand new, full tread, tires because something about how they gripped. He said that most people liked a little sliding and not a lot of grip. Apparantly new tires would grip too much which would cause a lot of 3 wheeling and sometimes 2...

He and his brother raced porsches so idk if that makes a difference or not.

So is it bad to race on new tires? My tread is wearing down and figured I'd need new tires but he says I could probably do better w/ worn down tires.. Thanks!

[Entropyman]

Most of the people competing at the national level on street tires (STS,STX, and STU) run brand new tires that have been shaved to a minimal tread depth. This is done to prevent "tread squirm" and improve grip. I don't have the budget to shave off perfectly good tread and I'm not competing nationally this year so I run full tread depth and enjoy wearing them down.

[iceracer]

That's why most of the DOT "R" tires have only 4/32" tread.
A shaved tire doesn't work too good in the rain.

[zxtwou2]

tread squirm is the only reason i can see running shaved tires...i have no idea what you mean, jake..by 3 wheeling with full tread. i still 3 wheel and i'm down almost to where my tread blocks are fading away.

[iceracer]

To a small extent, the less tread the better, for performance driving. The reason is tread squirm. The tread blocks,not the tire, tends to lean over and lose traction.
On a race track, a full tread tire tends to overheat and chunk.

I would think more traction would cause 3 wheeling more.

[00zx2s/r]

autozx2- ya idk.. I was kinda half listening when he gave his "lecture" so I might have misunderstood.

everyone- so if I have the money should I see if discount tire or someone has some worn street tires that people replaced and buy them for cheap and race w/ those? Would they make times that much better?

[capitalcrew]

No.

[STS-ZX2SR]

autozx2- ya idk.. I was kinda half listening when he gave his "lecture" so I might have misunderstood.

everyone- so if I have the money should I see if discount tire or someone has some worn street tires that people replaced and buy them for cheap and race w/ those? Would they make times that much better?

Worn out street tires are going to be heat-cycled out...a good full depth Max-Perf tire like the RT615, Z1, RE01 etc. will out-perform it. Easily. These tire have little void area relative to a typical all season or 'basic' perf tire. They dont need shaving, but may benift (to a degree) from it.

Again, shaving reduces squirm and therefore heat; it will keep the tire from chunking apart and often increases the usable life for tires that see AutoX or track duty.

[trekkor]

What treadwear do you want to use?


KT

[iceracer]

As STS said . Used tires are not a good option because the rubber by now is hard and will have less traction.

[TSmiley98]

they make better tires now, look into some nitto 555r's or bridgstone g009 pole positions, or any other similar tread tire,,

[zxtwou2]

^he'll be running STS with me...so he'll want 140 or higher. Bridgestone RE-01's or Falken Azenis RT-615's are probably his best choices. the Falkens have better bang for the buck...but almost all of the nat'l champs this year in STS had the RE-01's.

[tre2000zx2]

grassroots has a good article this month about BUDGET friendly auto cross tires.. pros and cons of each.. might find it usefull..

[Manbearpig]

Between the Falkens and the bridgestones is a hard choice. The RE01's will run you almost double the 615's so its hard to opt for the more expensive...plus the tread on the Falkens looks so much more badass.

My pops just picked up the 615's for his MS Miata...he likes them but then again he doesn't push the car enough for me to be sold on them.

[00zx2s/r]

grassroots has a good article this month about BUDGET friendly auto cross tires.. pros and cons of each.. might find it usefull..

grassroots?

And I'll look into the Falkens and Bridgestones and see what works... I'm basically looking at cost mostly.

[godspeed]

Some guys in our club are using Dulap Direzza's. I guess they are very close in price to the Falken's. I know of two people in my class that switched to those from Falken RT-615's and they are running faster with them.

I'm using RT-615's and love em, but I might try the Dunlaps next year.

[Entropyman]

I borrowed a set of the Dunlops and I was quite impressed with them compared to the Falkens. The Dunlops were narrower (195/55/15 vs 205/50/15) but felt much better. They're significantly cheaper than the RE-O1Rs.

[STS-ZX2SR]

We run Direzzas as well. 100% pleased.