Tires?
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Nobody likes the tuna here
iTrader: (51)
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From: Somewhere San Mateo County, Inside A 911 Ambulance
Car Info: 03 SRP WRX Street Class Prepped, 17 Chevy Duramax
It's QQ thankyouverymuch
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From: San Jose
Car Info: 2011 SWP WRX Hatch
The vast majority of i-club falls into one of two camps:
1. The 'Stance' camp, who believes they can somehow fit 10" wide 20" rubber band tires on, regardless of if they scrape going in and out of the driveway. They're also typically the ones who won't drive more than ten miles in any direction for any reason...
and
2. The 'Performance' camp, who believes that you can run 17's and 18's and run a 235 or possibly a 245 wide on the track. They're more likely to use their cars to track them or drive aggressively.
Unless you have the money (and I'm talking $1,000's and $1,000's of dollars) to heavily modify your suspension system so you're not rubbing, your tires are going to wear out quickly...as well as more expensive suspension components.
Just my .02
I'll re-think my position if there's a group of ten or more individual old-timers who chime in doing track days on 265's or wider.
1. The 'Stance' camp, who believes they can somehow fit 10" wide 20" rubber band tires on, regardless of if they scrape going in and out of the driveway. They're also typically the ones who won't drive more than ten miles in any direction for any reason...
and
2. The 'Performance' camp, who believes that you can run 17's and 18's and run a 235 or possibly a 245 wide on the track. They're more likely to use their cars to track them or drive aggressively.
Unless you have the money (and I'm talking $1,000's and $1,000's of dollars) to heavily modify your suspension system so you're not rubbing, your tires are going to wear out quickly...as well as more expensive suspension components.
Just my .02
I'll re-think my position if there's a group of ten or more individual old-timers who chime in doing track days on 265's or wider.
Your version of the stance camp is a bit extreme. I feel like the stance guys care a lot about wheels and don't give a **** about tires. They get a really nice wheel and pair it with a ****ty tire that doesn't fit the wheel but will barely fit the fender.
The performance you described is outdated IMO. On the newer models (widebodies) 235 is stock and there's enough room to comfortably fit a 265. 285 if you want to push it. You can do a 265 with stock suspension and a fairly inexpensive wheel. The biggest expense is the tire.
To me, the trick to tire selection is what you want to do and what your budget is.
For me, I want to AutoX. I don't have the budget for slicks or even a short lifespan tire. I also don't believe in "too much tire" but I also don't want to go beyond rolled/pulled fenders.
I started with, "How much tire can I fit?" After some research, I came to the conclusion that a 255 would be about the limit. Next was wheel diameter. 255 tires can be had for both 17" and 18" diameters. 17" will be lighter and less expensive. That was easy.
Tire brand.... This is difficult. I was able to narrow it down to TireRack's Extreme Performance Summer category.
That narrowed it down to 7 tires. After considering a bunch of other ****, I came between the RS3 and the Direzza ZII. The RS3 was less expensive but I liked the cold and stiff characteristics of the ZII. I went for the ZII.
Go out the AutoX... Most of the grid is on ZII. I think I made a good choice.
Most people come between the RS3 and the ZII and there are fanboys on both sides. I have ZII, I like them a lot.
Moral of the story. Do some research and figure it out for yourself. Don't ask i-club to pick stuff out for you.
Last edited by JourdanWithaU; Nov 7, 2014 at 05:42 PM.
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I chose cheap/****ty tires because I knew I was going to run a fair amount of camber and didn't want to wear through an expensive set.
Nobody likes the tuna here
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From: Somewhere San Mateo County, Inside A 911 Ambulance
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A lot of autox guys run z2s because they don't need much heat. A lot of track guys will preferably run rs3s.
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Pretty much guaranteed the OP ain't gonna make it to the track.
Don't buy tires based on "wishful" thinking. The best street tires you can get are Michelin Pilot Super Sport, or the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Positions.
As for the Federal's 595-RSR, I don't understand Japanese but here's a review - there's an STI on the vid too. Very affordable, I wanted to run them but they don't make them in either 245/45/17's or 245/40/18s. Would be nice to run 255/40/17's but not a good idea on my 8 inch wide spare wheels (06 GD BBS wheels).
Probably need to pair this up with Mach V's Awesome 17x9's for the track for a good affordable track oriented setup..
http://www.streetfire.net/video/federal-tires-595-rsr_643696.htm
Don't buy tires based on "wishful" thinking. The best street tires you can get are Michelin Pilot Super Sport, or the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Positions.
As for the Federal's 595-RSR, I don't understand Japanese but here's a review - there's an STI on the vid too. Very affordable, I wanted to run them but they don't make them in either 245/45/17's or 245/40/18s. Would be nice to run 255/40/17's but not a good idea on my 8 inch wide spare wheels (06 GD BBS wheels).
Probably need to pair this up with Mach V's Awesome 17x9's for the track for a good affordable track oriented setup..
http://www.streetfire.net/video/federal-tires-595-rsr_643696.htm
Last edited by Funks; Nov 7, 2014 at 09:41 PM.