Copper280z wrote:
In reply to GameboyRMH:
No to the SPT's for autox fun, they're a good DD tire, but they don't tolerate abuse well and will disappear in a hurry. Or at least mine did.
I also agree on starting with street tires, I think it's the way to go.
I only ran the SPTs once, drove my Mazda6 in HS on a street tire index at an event when my "race car" was broken. I found them to be excellent. I beat a well known MINI driver that had XSs on it. So while I cant comment on longevity, I can say with certainty that they are capable of putting down times not far off the "uber" street tires.
Results; see "F" class
Mine lasted super long, at 6 years old with tons of events on them they still weren't slick. But that's on a low-2000lb car.
My rears were corded after ~6-7 events and the fronts were just a bit above the wear bars. Thinking back, for the first 2-3 events, they felt alright, but after that, grip seemed to go away. I was learning the car at that point, by the time I had it figured out, I didn't seem to notice much shift in my times relative to people that were more consistent in driving and setup.
To get the full picture, the car I had them on was a 2500lb 280z that made 340ftlbs of torque with an open diff. I picked up on how to drive it without obliterating the tires after 2 events or so, but I never got faster compared to the field. Maybe they just really disagreed with my car? Maybe they would have lived longer if I had learned how to drive it a little sooner?
Driving a friends Mazda 3 with PSS's and another friends EF with star specs, I was astounded at the grip both of them made, seriously big difference. Some could be the car, mine has ~2x the stock spring rate with bilstein shocks, the others were stock, and the EF had a sway bar and konis. The alignment on all 3 were mostly zero'd out.
