Autocross Tire Question

Hope everybody finds themselves well during the current quarantine.

So I'm getting ready to enter my second summer of auto cross and that means one thing - basic upgrades. I'm currently running a 1986 Porsche 944 NA that is bone stock. That said, we have decided it is time to ditch the current 600 TW tires (not a joke) and put on something that is a little less - ummmm - concrete like.

We are still running the stock 15"x7" phone dials so the choices are a bit limited. We did a bit of searching and it appears our choices on are limited to the following (all 200 TW):

Kumho ECSTA V720 - 225/45/15R

BF Goodrich G-Force Rival - 225/45/15R

BF Goodrich G-Force Rival - 245/40/15R

Nexen N FERA SUR4G - 225/45/15R

Toyo Proxes R1R - 225/45/15R

Yokohama ADVAN A052 - 225/50/15R

Any suggestions on what might be the best performers? Comments? Would fit be an issue at all? Aside from the Yokohamas they all appear to be roughly around the same price point so I'd try to avoid the Yokohamas unless they are worlds better. One other side note, the 944 is basically limited to track duty with some daily driving use from time to time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The Yokohama's are hands down the best of the tires you have listed(if not the best current 200tw tire overall).  

*edit, just realized you had rivals on the list too.  The Rivals will be a very close 2nd to the Yoko's.

You may not want to run them if you plan on a bunch of street driving though.  I really comes down to how competitive you want to be.  I've heard pretty good things about the Kumhos and Nexens but those are going to be a tier down from the Yokohamas.  Probably 1 or 2 seconds slower on a 60 second course, just guessing.

I thought the Kumhos were 180tw?

You have autocross in your area? Ours is on hold right now because of the virus quarantine. 

Some of those choices depends on the class you plan on running. But BF Goodrich G-Force Rival - 225/45/15R would be what I'd run. In fact I just put a set on my NB Miata on 8" wheels. Think the 245 is a bit of a stretch on the 7" wheels though.

I struggled with the decision and went cheap. Federal rs-rr. Figure my driving still needs to catch up to them after coming off all seasons. No reason to drop big boy money unless im a big boy behind the wheel. 

These tires are way ahead of me.

In reply to wlkelley3 :

No, everything around here is closed down as well so we are trying to prepare the car as best we can with the extra time.  Current plan is to replace the clutch and replace the tires. We were hoping to do some full on track days this summer as well so perhaps new pads/rotors as well (still up for debate/budget approval).

I highly recommend the Nexens. Ran them last year. Lots of grip, but you can slide them around a little and have fun. Much better in the cold or wet conditions than the BFG Rivals. The Nexens are also symmetrical, so if you start to chew up the shoulders, you can flip them. And they are quieter and tramline less on the street. Plus, a good bit cheaper

The rivals need a little heat in them to be at their best. Considering your location, you'll probably need a codriver for autocross. They definitely are a fast tire. 

They're pretty useless in the rain when new, ranging to seriously scary in the wet after they're worn.

While they do have an inside and outside, they can still be flipped.

In reply to Patientzero :

The 944 has more-or-less been limited to track duty aside from some weekend cruises, trips to and from the office (obviously not an issue currently), and driving to and from the track. I'm not terribly concerned with being the fastest on the course, but we are trying to become more competitive. I assume the change from our current tire (215/60/R15 with 600TW) to any of the listed tires will be day and night and should at least get us out of the cellar and try to push the car a bit harder.  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to invest in a dud of a tire and tried to get the best bang for my buck.

Yokohamas are arguably the best, but only under the right circumstances. On your application they might be fast but will last about three runs until the outer tread blocks melt off. After that the best options are the rival and the re71r. I'm not sure the rival is necessarily the best suited to the car, but it does come in 225/15, where the re71r I think only exists in 205 width. The rivals aren't great in the rain. After that would be the new falken 660k (not sure what 15" sizes they have) and the nexen you listed. Then after that you have the old falken 615k+and thing like the hankook rs4 which will be noticeably off pace but still plenty fast and will last forever. Generally the prices get cheaper as you go down that list as well, it's up to you to decide where on the price/performance curve you're most comfortable.

I had a set of maxxis vr-1s that I liked a lot. Reasonably good autocross and track performance and decent on the street. 

In reply to BrewCity20 :

I'm legit curious on how the 944 ran on 600tw Tires.

I noticed the absence of the RE71r from the original post, and assumed that was due to the size availability.

We may eventually get them in 225/45-15; they're available in Japan.

Why are you avoiding 205 section tires with 7" wheels?  If you aren't worried about running the absolute best equipment, I would run a size that fits your wheels best instead of running the widest possible tire. 

If you are doing full track days and autocross on the same tire, I would avoid the super sticky autocross tires.  Maybe the RS-4 or Falken 615K just so you don't kill the tires in a single track day.

In reply to chada75 :

In two words - very slippery. Had loads of understeer and the tires loved to lock up but I'm not sure if that had more to do with the fact I'm a rookie driver or the tires themselves. I would have been curious to see what a seasoned driver thought about the car as we were driving it last summer. I can say the size of the sidewalls did bring about some chuckles.

In reply to ojannen :

The tire sizes we were looking at were actually a result of some advice we got here on the boards and since some tires were actually available in those sizes we ran with it. We were hoping to get as much tire as possible but just weren't ready to get new rims to do so. Basically get as much out of the current equipment as possible without going crazy.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the RS-4 or Falkens. I didn't put this in my initial post but we are hoping to have these tires last a respectable amount of time, we definitely don't want to be changing them out every track/autocross day at this point in our (un-experienced) careers. Do you think an RS-4 or Falken would last an entire summer of autocross and a track day or two?

In reply to dps214 :

Seems like something toward the RS4 / Falken side of the list is what I'm looking for as I'm willing to trade some grip for longevity as I'm still very green behind the ears on this stuff and not chasing tenths at this point and the money could probably go more effectively to other places on the car. 

Depending on what your idea of a season of autocross looks like, even the good tires would probably last a season plus a track day or two as long as you rotate them sufficiently. The lesser tires should last even longer than that.

In reply to BrewCity20 :

I don't know if it's applicable but check the height of each brand of tire.  Depending on what the track you tend to run on you may want a taller or shorter tire.

 
Tires effectively change final drive ratios maybe only slightly but if you are off the sweet spot of your power curve or have to do an extra shift while on track it will affect your times dramatically. 

I ran the 615k+ on a BRZ for a full season of autocross (I think it was 10 weekends, so ~80 runs), plus 4 track days.  I'm sure I lost some time to the top guys in DS, but if I'm honest with myself most of that time was on me, not the tire.  I did still manage 2nd in class that year.  They work well for track days, staying pretty consistant and only falling off toward the end of 20min session.

By the end of that they definitely had seen better days.  Still plenty of tread, but they had began to heat cycle out, and had gotten a little spooky when the weather cooled.  It made the onramp on the early morning commute fun though! 

In reply to carczar_84 :

That's great to hear. 10 weekends and 4 track days is plenty for me to feel like I got my money's worth out of a set of tires.

In reply to ojannen :

Is there anything I should be concerned about with the wider tires I have listed or are you just asking about how more tire options would be available if I included some 205s?

My autocross class limits me to 6 inch wheels. A 225 will fit, and is fast even though it is pinched (which affects the wear).

No expertise here, but I would think that a 225 would work on your 7 inch wheels.

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

It will.