Tire opinions

[luciano136]

Just read an article in the latest Car and Driver about a tire comparison test. The overall number one was Goodyear Eagle F-1 tires. Anybody has experience with this tire? It had 0.94g on dry surface and an impressive 0.82 on wet roads. Tests were conducted with 225's on a 325i.

Just doing my research before I actually HAVE to change my tires ;)

Let the opinions flow :thumbup: !

[kevjandon]

Read the issue before that one. They put those same good years on one of their test cars and said they were crap. :dunno:

It really comes down to do you drive in the rain or in dry weather only.

Also, how long do you want them to last.

[MZ.368]

I have been pleased with the ones that came on my 2.8.....much better than the dunlops that came on my M

[Pinecone]

Tire Rack tests show them as very nice. I am considering a set for my LTW because of the great wet performance. That way they will be my wet autocross tire as well as street tire.

Realize (which I didn't at first) is that the C&D rankings include cost.

And they include the tire wear rating. Which is a WAG at best and not standardized, and not supposed to be used to compare between brands. A 200 in one tire is a 100 in another brand and a 300 in another.

And with truely high performance tires, what is life anyway? You run them until they are gone. :)

[luciano136]

One thing I don't really care about is wet surface performance. I mean, living in Socal, it doesn't rain! (if you take that sprinkle out of consideration that they call a 'storm' here :rofl: ).

I think I mostly care about cornering, as grip in straight line acceleration is plenty.

What would you guys pick as a great tire for dry roads?

[John Danskin]

I like Michelin PS2s. the PS2s are a little more precise and responsive (which you could interpret as twitchy) than the old PS tires., which were pretty good.

Tirerack thinks that the PS2s edge the F1s in the dry, and the F1s edge the PS2s in the wet.

I think 20K miles is common on PS2s if you don't track them or do burnouts. By way of comparison, the Michelin (something)energy tires on my X5 went 67000 miles and still weren't at the wear bars when I freaked out and replaced them (with the same tires).

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/bs_RE050A_rd.jsp

[muzzgail]

I have them on the front and they are good wet and dry on my M ragtop. I am putting them on the back in the next couple of weeks.

[Svezel]

I'd go with Toyo Proxes T1-R, an astonishing grip in the dry and very fair tred life

I had T1-S(the old model) on my m-roadster and I loved them. If I heated the tires (burnout) a little I could drop the clutch at 3krpm and just fly from the start, made those cocky impreza guys look stupid with their 4wd traction :bigpimp:

[sthoma9]

I’ve had my F1’s on my Coupe for 2 years. First year I did mostly low-speed auto-x’s and the second was more high speed track events. IMO, I really didn’t care for their performance during dry racing. As for an all-around street tire, they’re not that bad; comfortable and quiet (relatively speaking) if not a little expensive.

The Goodyears are shot now and next season I have to replace them before I go to the track again. Im leaning more towards a higher dry performance tire like the ADVANs or KDs. My friend replaced his OE Goodyears (not the F1s in question) on his Z06 with KDs and is very pleased with them. Granted it’s a different car but if you just compare the “tread area-to-groove area” ratio between them and the F1s, the KDs look much better. Understanding that there are many elements that contribute to a good dry performance tire, but the size/shape of a tire’s tread block is a good rule of thumb to go by- my 2cents.

[Pinecone]

Just hope it doesn't EVER rain running KDs.

And no street tire is completely at home on the, unless they are seriously shaved. ANd even then an R-comp will be better and last longer.

[sthoma9]

Just hope it doesn't EVER rain running KDs.
Funny you should say that because we did run in the rain at Blackhawk this past summer. my friend (with the KDs on the Z06) said it wasn’t that bad. Granted we wernt running as hard as we would in the dry.

And no street tire is completely at home on the, unless they are seriously shaved. ANd even then an R-comp will be better and last longer.
True, but I personally feel Im not ready for R-compounds. I need to learn how to fix my mistakes on the track rather than mask them and I think street tires do a good job in this respect. Anyways, I really don’t have the financial backing right now to afford a set of r-compounds w/ dedicated rims and a trailer to carry them in. this is still just a weekend hobby to have fun, nothing too serious. but dont get me wrong, putting r-comp on is one of the best changes you can do to lower your track times.

[luciano136]

Well, taking a closer look at my tires, it did seem time to change them. As the Goodyears were not too far from twice as expensive (?!), I went with the BF Goodrich G-force. I read they aren't very good on wet surface (not an issue for me) but according to C&D they had the best dry surface performance (0.95g).

I'm not sure about all of those claims but one thing I do know, the grip is a LOT higher than my previous tires (they were Kumyo or something; previous owner had them on there). I cannot believe the difference! I took a fast turn and was prepared to lose grip; nothing!! :yikes: Feels like I'm on a rollercoaster! I finally experience the true essence of the car :thumbup: !

[TR6]

I switched from Kumho Ecstas to Yokohama ES100s and have been pretty happy. The Yokos seem to grip a little better than my previous Kumhos and were reasonably priced. But I don't track them so cannot comment on that. I have an extra set of wheels that I bought to dedicate to that purpose. When I get ready to start tracking, I'll buy a set of racing tires to put on those wheels.

[MGRMLN]

Ok, so they are essentially a street legal autocross tire but I have found them to be an amazing set of street tires as well. Awesome grip in the dry. Really settles the twitchy rear end of our cars. That said, I live in Atlanta and I have another car to drive when it's wet but after having driven on them in several rainstorms, I can tell you that their wet performance is still better than Kumho Escsta MX's.

I replaced SO3's with the MX's and the MX's were way better. I replaced the MX's with the Falkens and they are another level better. I can't wait for my next set of tires...
;)

(autox means I rarely get more than 10k miles on any tires on the Shoe)

Minsoo

[reidconti]

I replaced SO3's with the MX's and the MX's were way better. I replaced the MX's with the Falkens and they are another level better. I can't wait for my next set of tires...
;)


Wow, really? I have *never* driven anything that was better in the wet than S03's...
Interesting.

New S03's going on the front of the coupe tomorrow... hmmmm......

[Pinecone]

Funny you should say that because we did run in the rain at Blackhawk this past summer. my friend (with the KDs on the Z06) said it wasn***8217;t that bad. Granted we wernt running as hard as we would in the dry.

True, but I personally feel Im not ready for R-compounds. I need to learn how to fix my mistakes on the track rather than mask them and I think street tires do a good job in this respect. Anyways, I really don***8217;t have the financial backing right now to afford a set of r-compounds w/ dedicated rims and a trailer to carry them in. this is still just a weekend hobby to have fun, nothing too serious. but dont get me wrong, putting r-comp on is one of the best changes you can do to lower your track times.

They were probably running MUCH less hard than the dry. Everything I have heard is that they are SCARY in the wet. :)

Good move. My suggestion is get a set of cheap tires aand tear them up learning. I got a set of Sumitomos for track use on my M3. Not a great tire, but they worked, work fine i teh wet, and are cheap enough to not care.

No reason to go out and tear up over $1000 worth of tires, when you can learn as much, and have as much fun tearing up $600 worth of tires. :)

[Pinecone]

Check out Tire Rack tests. The Yoko ADVAN Neova AD07 is BETTER in teh dry than the KD, and better in the wet than the Goodyear. Talk about the best of all worlds.

Just don't let them get too cold. Seems the rubber will undergo serious changes if the tires get below 14 degrees F. :) Hmm, just like race tires. :)

[MGRMLN]

Wow, really? I have *never* driven anything that was better in the wet than S03's...
Interesting.

New S03's going on the front of the coupe tomorrow... hmmmm......


Oh no. I didn't mean in the wet. The MX's were NOT as good as the SO3's in rain.
But they did grip much better when it was dry.
I ran a few wet autox's with the MX's and they slide really badly.
Surprisingly, The Falken RT-615's handle the wet pretty well.