Hankook RS4 or Dunlop ZIII for street/autocross/track?

For the last 10+ years, I've always run separate sets of dedicated wheels/tires for street verses autocross/track which has served me well.  I'm only driving my roadster 1,000 miles annually between working from home (pre-COVID), having young kids, and when the Connecticut weather permits plus a handful of autocross/track nights.  I'm debating if switching to something like the Hankook RS4 or Dunlop ZIII would be a reasonable compromise for a multi duty street/autocross/track night tire.  I loved my RE71R tires and ran my fastest times ever with them however, I also destroyed them on a hot 100 degree lapping day.  Not sure how the current top EPS tires like Rivals, RT660, and A052 would fair with some limited street/highway use (i.e. short drives and dropping my older son off at camp) or if I would need to worry about wear/heat cycles.  Alternatively, I could get new tires for my street wheels so as not to compromise performance of my track/autocross tires but, it just seems like both sets will age out before they wear out due to my limited mileage usage.

Anyone else operating under a similar condition have alternative tire suggestions for this dual duty role?    

I loved the RS-4's. I had multiple track days and several thousand street miles on them. They were good. 

For that little amount of time spent street driving any of the top tires will be fine except maybe the A052. At 1k miles/year plus a handful of autocrosses/track nights they'll probably age out before they wear out no matter which tire you choose. Assuming you don't overly care about autocross competitiveness I would probably pick the RS4 just because they're cheap and probably the best suited for track use, but realistically just about any of them will do fine.

Thanks guys!  The autocross that I run is more of a lapping day on a mini road course/small go kart track however, the timed portion is 3 consecutive flying laps like time attack.  I want to be somewhat competitive for the 3 timed laps while at the same time not wearing excessively during the lapping portion.  How much off the pace is the RS4 from the top EPS tires like Rivals, RT660, and A052 on a 60 second autocross course?   Would running lower or higher cold pressures help the RS4 heat up faster for an autocross run??

In reply to killeen_john :

I suspect that the new Continental/Hoosier  tire is worth waiting for. 
  It's supposed to be a high traction track nights tire with endurance capability. 
 GRM will give us the low down as soon as possible. 

RS-4s are my "compromise" tire on the M2.  I run them for both autocross and lapping.  I am not worried about times for either event, so the compromises of the Hankooks with regards to outright grip aren't worrisome to me.

I'm a big fan of the RS-4s! 

I don't autocross anymore, so I can't really comment on their competitiveness there, but on a ~1:45 lap road course they're about a .7-1 slower than the RE-71r, but they last an extra 5-10 hours of use for me.   I use them on my personal track car (Miata) and we also use them on the Champcar (240SX).   In a real race, RSs will last 24-30 hours, Re-7s will normally last about 15ish, but we've also burned through one in a single 7 hour race before with a really competitive driver, too.  When they're in stock, I use the RS-4s.  When they're not, I pay the penalty for Re-71s, and try to avoid super hot track days.

I've raced on the Dunlop Direzzas, and they're about 1.2ish seconds slower than the Re-71s.  They got good life, but felt a little greasier than the Rs-4s for us after heating up and they didn't last as long.   No worries about them, though.  I'd happy slap a set on if they were available, but they're probably 3rd choice for me.

For reference, on my track miata, I generally hit at least 2 or 3 track days a month, so I go through a set of tires every 4 months in season, probably about 2-3k of street driving and 1k of track driving (~25-30 hours).

I will say that I would avoid the Toyo Proxy R1Rs, I was really unhappy with those tires.  Understeer/scrubbing for days, and subsequently a crappy life as ground off the outside corners. Some people seem to like them, though.

Thanks for the feedback!  The Dunlop Direzza ZII's were pretty good for me in a combined street/track role and is why I was also looking at the ZIII's.  How livable are the RS-4 's on the street?  TireRack's tests seem to rate the RS-4 poorly for ride quality and noise however, all of my EPS tires have been noisy on the street.    

killeen_john said:

Thanks for the feedback!  The Dunlop Direzza ZII's were pretty good for me in a combined street/track role and is why I was also looking at the ZIII's.  How livable are the RS-4 's on the street?  TireRack's tests seem to rate the RS-4 poorly for ride quality and noise however, all of my EPS tires have been noisy on the street.    

I thought they were fine for street use, but I really only drive this car to and from the track.  Sometimes that to and from is 6+ hours, though, but it's a fully caged car with no interior, so tires aren't the biggest of my concern.  And I used to daily drive on Falkin Azenis without concern...

Really, I'm not the best judge of that character here :)

I have a set of RS4s for my GTI. They sound like M/T tires on a truck. 

I had a set of RS4s on the Cayman, they never seemed to be as grippy on the street or an autocross run as they are on the track, and they sucked to live with the rest of the time.

Some of our testing feedback on the Hankook Ventus RS-4.

I'll add another vote for the RS-4s.  Not the fastest tire out there but great performance and excellent longevity.  Great bang for the buck.