Tires - which of these would you recommend?

[ramblin_wreck08]

Looking to get some new tires before AutoX season starts in a couple weeks. My rear tires are really close to the tread line, so I might as well get them now and enjoy them all season. Being my first season I realize that I won't be too competitive, so I'm just looking for some tires that will provide good grip on the weekends while getting me to and from work throughout the week. Want to find a good mixture of tread life and grip. Would love to get 20k miles out of them, but not sure if that will be possible. They will be on until I wear them out, so they may also have to go through a winter. Fortunately I live in GA so snow isn't that big of a concern.

My current setup (have the previous owner to thank for the epic fail) is: Bridgestone Potenza re92 on front and Genearal Exclaim UHP in the rear. Both 195/55/15

After doing a good bit of research I've narrowed it down to two options, but if you have any other recommendations I'd love to hear them. Which of these would you choose?

205/50/15 BF Goodrich G-Force Sport
205/50/15 Kuhmo Ecsta SPT

 

[Ominous G2]

I'm really looking forward to getting some Dunlop Star Specs. They come in 205/50/15 and have gotten some good reviews.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Direzza+Sport+Z1+Star+Spec&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=05VR5Z1SS&tab=Sizes

 

[BeatBox]

BFG's hands down not even a choice. i have them on my car and they are quiet and grip pretty good. price on them is also good on them.

 

[ramblin_wreck08]

BFG's hands down not even a choice. i have them on my car and they are quiet and grip pretty good. price on them is also good on them.

What kind of tread life are you getting with them?

 

[jcrabb13]

My Kumho's are very quiet, AST i think they are...I've heard from people on here though that the Kumho's get loud when they get low...no experience with that personally yet.

 

[BeatBox]

just bought them, prob have less than 1k miles on them but so far so good.
i really wanted the kdw's but they dont make them in the size i wanted

 

[ramblin_wreck08]

I'm really looking forward to getting some Dunlop Star Specs. They come in 205/50/15 and have gotten some good reviews.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Direzza+Sport+Z1+Star+Spec&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=05VR5Z1SS&tab=Sizes

Those look really nice, but just not enough tread life for what I'm looking for.

 

[Samurai_Blue]

do you need a specific tire class?
i run falken azenis rt615k for circuit and auto x

i want to try the Khumo Ecsta XS or the Dunlop Star Spec.

 

[ramblin_wreck08]

do you need a specific tire class?
i run falken azenis rt615k for circuit and auto x

i want to try the Khumo Ecsta XS or the Dunlop Star Spec.

I don't need any particular class. I'm just looking for something that will give me decent tread life while also providing enough grip to post some decent times at auto x. 10k mile minimum, but would much prefer to get 15k or 20k out of them. They'll be my daily's as well as auto x tires, and I'm gonna have about a 45 mile commute one-way to work this summer. They'll get lots of miles on them in a short period of time. Easily 5k miles on them this summer, with the majority of that being highway mileage.

My GS-R is all stock aside from a SRI. Don't know what class that puts me in, but I don't expect to be competitive anyway considering this will be my first year doing auto x. Just want to get some good seat time. It's a lot of fun and I want to become a better driver. So ideally the tires would be somewhat forgiving, but not so much that they mask my problems.

 

[red.line]

I've heard great things about the Star Specs.

And by the way..what is so fail about your current tire setup exactly? (Besides them being worn out.)

 

[Godlike]

half of the cars at my club are wraped in falken azenis. Your first priority is tread life though so im gonna say kumho ecsta supra 712s. ive had these on 4 different cars. Got 1st place for 3 season championships with these on my 1st gen. I could get 20k out of them driving pretty hard all the time but I also run my tires through the cords before they get pulled off the car... when you burn them down to slicks they still do really well at autoX. These tires OWN rain events too, but not when there slicks

 

[ramblin_wreck08]

I've heard great things about the Star Specs.)

Any idea what kind of tread life you get with those?

And by the way..what is so fail about your current tire setup exactly? (Besides them being worn out.)

Having all season tires on the front and high performance summer on the rear only amplifies the car's tendency to understeer. The front tires break loose well before the rear ever come close to their limit. The front just pushes, and there's nothing you can do about it except wait for it to catch again.

I had an experienced driver (who used to drive an Integra for auto x) take it around an auto x after insisting that he had a technique that would allow the end to rotate around a bit once the front had given out. Apparently it would allow the car to rotate around the corner a lot better and allow the front tires to regain traction. Even he couldn't do anything with it but wait. The back tires just have that much more grip. The only good thing that came out of it was that he had to admit that I, a newbie to auto x, was right about the way the car responded to driver input. :lol:

 

[red98teg]

BFG's are awesome if your not gonna get the Falkens

 

[ramblin_wreck08]

Since the Falkens keep coming up, what kind of tread life are you guys experiencing with them?

 

[Godlike]

maby 13k for me. Daily driving + 10 events. I run the opposite settup as you. Stickies in the front and less grip in the back. Then you can snap the rear out by trail braking or lifting in the corner. much more fun. 3rd gens are stable and controllable in a slide. Not too quick to come around on you like 1st gens, crxs, neons...