Miata Street Autox Trackday Tires

I just purchased a 1996 Miata M roadster. I'm going to use it primarily for Street use, but some autox, and Trackdays. I totally realize that ST class tires are the way to go for all around max performance tires (Kumho XS, Star Specks, RE-11's, R-615's etc.). What I'm wanting though is something that has decent grip, is cheap ($60-70/tire rather than the $100-130 that the ST class tires are), and won't get totally greasy and kill me at a track day. So basically decent summer tires that can handle a trackday. I'm not expecting incredible performance tires, I just want tires that will survive a trackday without overheating and exploding. If I must I will just get the Star specs, but I'd like there to be a lower cost option.

What say you GRM?

In Cheap Skates http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/cheap-skates/ It seems the winner of the mortals is the ZE-912, however this article seems to be more focused on the Autox environment less on open track. So I'm hoping to draw from the huge experience on here with miatas.

Sizes would be either the 195/50/R15, or the 205/50/R15 on OEM M roadster wheels.

Thanks,

Daniel

Spec Miata takeoff RA1s.

/thread.

The Kumho's are only $92 at tirerack. I'm not sure, but I thought the starspecs were not so good for track use s they didn't like heat. I could be totally wrong, but that's what I had heard.

I have the Fuzion ZRi from that Cheap-Skates article. Like you, I bought them for my Miata to save money.

Bridgestone makes a very nice road tire, as the ZRi are quiet and comfy. An excellent choice for the street.

Shortly after getting them I did a trackday weekend with them at Nashville Superspeedway. They drive a lot like the ST tires, and I never felt like they were getting greasy or slowing down. However, running them at full tread on the track was probably a bad idea as they show heavy and uneven wear as if they were overheating. It would probably be cheaper to run RE11s or one of the other ST tires as you would almost certainly get better tread life on the track with them.

MCarp nailed that one. Cheap tires don't hold up to track abuse well. That said, my Fuzion ZRi tires were great as street tires, even with the t-t-turboboosted power.

I recently moved to a set of Yokohama ADVAN AD-08 tires that are magically delicious and holding up to a lot of abuse. Unfortunately they're about twice as much as the Fuzions, but...

I got a killer deal on brand-new Toyo Proxes ZF 4 and was planning on using them for a track day this weekend. Anyone had any experience with these tires?

The ($92) Kumo XS seem to really like the heat. They hate the cold, and at least in my expereience on a STS MR2 they seem to hold up pretty decently.

We got at least one season out of our first set. At the end of the season handling got funky and we thought the tires were going away so we replaced them.

Turns out the source of our problems was the cold weather and not too many heat cycles, since we suffered on the new tires until the weather warmed up again...

We haven't had them out at a track day yet so I don't know how they hold up there, but since they seem so fond of heat I would anticipate that they would be a good tire...

That's because it's bloody stifling hot where they come from...

We're running the Dunlop Star Specs on one of our cars. It had the Kuhmo XS previously in a much smaller size.

I've run the Dunlops both at Laguna and our local little tight track, and never experienced heat problems. This is based on seat-of-the pants feel, not timing, but they never seemed to go off. Plus the Dunlops come in an excellent range of sizes and are stupendous in the wet.

The XS is terrible in the cold. Not "oh look at the pretty snowflakes" cold, but "I think I'd rather leave the top up" cold. It didn't make a lot of fans here. If it were my money, I'd go with the Dunlops. And given the current rule set at Targa Newfoundland (140+ treadwear), I'd probably choose the Dunlops there for their cool and wet behavior.

Actually, that's a lie. If it were my money, I'd go with ReverendDexter's suggestion and run RA1s. Because that's exactly what I do

I second Keith. I have used the Star Specs on a track prepped E30, and now have them on my own DD E30. Great tires! Never experienced them going off/getting greasy. Are there better Auto-x tires? Yup. But as a daily tire you can take to Auto-X AND track days, they are hard to beat.

So I assume the Star specs don't have any problems with me using them for daily use as well as track? It sounds like I will be happiest with the $110 family of tires than the $60, and that's ok. I just want to make sure they aren't like V710's that I have to feed nicely and keep the street uses down.

The problem with the star specs is that they are in the $100-130 range that the OP was hoping to avoid.

Keith's comments about the XS are right on target, good thing it rarely gets that cold here (I would hate to have to put the top up)

What does a set of Spec Miata takeoff RA1s cost these days anyways ???

I have a set of Bridgestone RE760 Sports on my Miata right now and they are great! Beat the snot out of them at Waterford and Grattan for three days total, and been DDing them too. No issues so far and they are wearing excellent.

Star Specs were really close in price to RA1s, so I figured why half-ass it. I bought a set of brand new ($661 out the door taxed, mounted, balanced - I don't know what that ends up per tire) and I am running them for autocross and street driving at full depth. I haven't hit a track day yet but I plan to free up time and money for two or three by the end of the year.

CGLockRacer wrote: I have a set of Bridgestone RE760 Sports on my Miata right now and they are great! Beat the snot out of them at Waterford and Grattan for three days total, and been DDing them too. No issues so far and they are wearing excellent.

I wish they made those in a 15" size :(

MCarp22 wrote:

CGLockRacer wrote: I have a set of Bridgestone RE760 Sports on my Miata right now and they are great! Beat the snot out of them at Waterford and Grattan for three days total, and been DDing them too. No issues so far and they are wearing excellent.

I wish they made those in a 15" size :(

Oops...i missed the OP's statement of 15".

Nocones, add the damn car to your GRM garage.

nocones wrote: So I assume the Star specs don't have any problems with me using them for daily use as well as track? It sounds like I will be happiest with the $110 family of tires than the $60, and that's ok. I just want to make sure they aren't like V710's that I have to feed nicely and keep the street uses down.

Nope, no special care and feeding (other then the normal don't let them sit out when it gets below 40ish degrees.).

Tom Heath wrote: MCarp nailed that one. Cheap tires don't hold up to track abuse well. That said, my Fuzion ZRi tires were great as street tires, even with the t-t-turboboosted power.

And they are still doing great! That being said, if I go to long through the mountains, they DO get greasy, much more so than the RA1s that are on the E30 that I transport for a friend to the track. The RA1a are what the Fuzion ZRi wish they could be in the dry. In the wet, I'll take the ZRis... Nahh, I'll take a set of full tread depth RA1s. Couldn't complain on the price of the ZRi's though...

• A lot for the "Dunlop Direzza Z1 Start Specs" - a tire that is a great as it is ridiculously named.

I put a set on my M3 for STU autocross and a rainy track events in March of '09. Somewhere along the line I grew lazy and stopped taking them off between events so they remained on for street driving, autocross and track days for the past 15 months.

I've beaten on them mercilessly. Thus far this year they've done 3 days at Summit Point Shenandoah - and 1/2 a day at NJMP thunderbolt. I was unsure the last couple sessions on them if they'd finally heat cycled out or if it was just the astonishing amount of rubber pickup I was getting - as in literally pounds of veal scallopini and small snake sized rubber chunks - that made the grip simply disappear.

I had a fresh set of shaved RA1s on 17x9s on the ready so I put those on for the rest of the weekend. Which by the way were like sex I tell you.

Anyway - my Miata has a well used-up set of 615s on right now and the suspension to take full advantage of them. I'm looking at Kumho XS or the Star Specs.

we run the star specs on our lemons/chump cars, and love love LOVE them. they stick, they don't get greasy, and they wear like iron.