This thread ( or a similar one ) will become an information gold mine for the majority of the TrackAddicts on this Forum , because it is ever changing, due to corporate rethinks for some companies and an aggressive philosophy change by others. In the 80s the battle for supremacy was between BFG and Yokohama and others fell away, deciding they did not want to be in the performance tire market. How many folks out there remember the Phoenix Stahlflex 3011 , ha? Though I was primarily competing in Autocrosses back then , the concerns are the same for road course usage as tread patterns, compounding, sizes , and other factors seem to change faster than we, as consumers, are often aware of.
What happened during the first wave of ultra competition in the tire wars ( auto crossing ) was a compound would change mid year and the Yokohama would vault ahead of the BFG rubber, and bingo , right at Nationals time the BFGs ( having a Plant in the US ) would gear up a new compound and sneak in for domination in some Classes. Now , don't get me wrong , sometimes Yokohama was ahead of the curve , beat the competition to the punch on compounding and folks did not find out till it was National Trophy time.
Take away the internet , live anywhere but the California or East Coast , and be one of the drivers who did not find out about a new compound , a new tire size , etc until it was too late and you just bought the wrong air filled inflatable car supporters.
Now the reason I am bringing all of this up is because, in my humble opinion, we are going through a very interesting and dynamic competition between tire manufacturers that is as aggressive and consumer motivated as at any time in the past 4 decades. So, it is very important for all of us, as members of TMO, to voice the new observations we find at the track or autocross course, because we can help each other awaken to the newest , hottest products. We also, have to overcome some of our biases on what is the best rubber tyre for competition, because often a Tire Manufacturer just changes a product name or redoes a tread pattern with little advancement. They are not really committed, they are just wanting to stay in the fray with no real advancement. This is understandable economy of scale for the amount of sales in this niche market , but great for us to know about what is happening with various manufacturers.
So, this thread could continue or, and LudaChris may kill me for this statement, it might even be good to have a tire subset area for constant updates and comments. I am a complete proponent of the rationale that drivers often fall prey to the impressive mods for their cars than the realization that tires are the number one performance enhancement to every machine ( after seat time ). We often read about the guy/gal who has spent 10K on mods and is just now asking about tires and rims, because we have ALL done that. Yet when we go to the track we are so aware that a Hoosier will give us 3 seconds over the tire we are using , yet we ignore the fact that another tire may be only a second faster. One second on a two mile track is 10 car lengths ( rule of thumb ) , so that is 100 car lengths in ten laps. Hmmm, wonder why the guy running a BFG Rival S 1.5 is kicking a guy's butt in a similar car on RS-4s?
Lastly, since this is getting quite long, the reason I am bringing this treatise on tires up is much has changed in a short period. This Forum of TrackAddicts , is a wonderful source for the guy in Vermont who is viewing nothing but snow on the ground, to find out a racer in California is on the new Falken and it is kicking butt. Updates can save all of us money, or make us aware of changes even in specific brands and that is so beneficial. Right now we have some interesting situations going on, and just a few examples are listed below ( there are likely others ):
BFG gforce R1Ss no longer are doing 315/18s
Toyo, who made some calculated moves to further dominate Spec tires and their NASA commitment , dropped the manufacture of their 315
/18s.
Bridgestone RE71Rs have abandoned 305/19s
Yokohama has added a 315/18 with the A052
Falken has 315/18s in the R660
Now some of these listed above are fairly recent , some changed in the past year, but this is just being used as an example of constant change. I recommended a gentleman on this site look into the A052 about 3 years ago with the rules, and he almost bought them , but his racing group banned them, and not long after Yokohama changed the initial tread depth and the tire became legal again. We can all bring new info to each other on TMO and since this is the mod that will give you the quickest bang for the buck, it is great that we discuss it often.
Bridgestone seems to have abandoned the 305