Junkyard Dog said:

How does

Tire Rack

www.tirerack.com

measure tread width?

Click to expand...

good question so many variables hard to say. Probably can get a rough estimate. Just like offroad tires they are all over the place no standardization

Trofeo RS was worth 3 seconds at Spa Francorchamps v. the NanKang Sportnex CR-S tire

The trafeos are sticky that’s for sure pick up tons of track crud

Junkyard Dog said:

Out of curiosity, what do you personally run for tires?

Click to expand...

'Stones or Yokes. The Bridgestones are better for track duty. Yokohama's probably have a small advantage in a parking lot.

Tires are kinda like engines....you're always looking to get more out of them. You just have to make a call on what's 'good enough.' If you're racing, then find out what the fastest guys out there are running and start there if it's not designated for you.

I am not sure I see Trafeo RS and Nankang even in the same class of tires for that test (which I did not watch) The Trafeo is 180TW, right? And really an aggressive 180. The Nankang is a 200 on the endurance end of the scale. And not that TW really means much of anything anyway, but it's an indication.

You kind of have to watch the marketing based tests and comparos. What are they selling and what are the real results in whatever your use case is?

Not a comprehensive list of suggestions, but maybe this will help....there are no miracles in any tires. Faster = more wear and less tolerant of abuse, which your 4000lb Dark Horse provides plenty.

Fastest

Bridgestone RZ71 - barely tolerant of abuse
Yokohoma AO52 - not remotely tolerant of abuse
Michelin Cup 2 - $$$
Trafeo - you have more experience on these than I do, but seems fast but very expensive
Vitour P1 X compound - not going to like abuse
Hoosier R8....err Track Attack Pro - $$$$$$$$$$, not streetable

Slower, but better wear

Goodyear Pilot Sport 3
Vitour P1 Orig compound
Hankook RS4
Nankang
Continental Extreme Force

Stuff like the Michelin PS4 and Conti Extreme Contact Sport2 can wear better, but as a 300ish TW "street" tire you run the risk of hurting them badly with heat so I'd stay away.

And the Gorilla in the typical room, Toyo and Nitto. I am not a fan of anything these guys make for performance. If they are the spec tire for whatever class one might run, then they are great but in general all variations are old designs and old compounds.

HTH,

DaveW

DaveW said:

I am not sure I see Trafeo RS and Nankang even in the same class of tires for that test (which I did not watch) The Trafeo is 180TW, right? And really an aggressive 180. The Nankang is a 200 on the endurance end of the scale. And not that TW really means much of anything anyway, but it's an indication.

You kind of have to watch the marketing based tests and comparos. What are they selling and what are the real results in whatever your use case is?

Click to expand...

Well, since you did not watch it, he heavily pushed the Nankang, not the Pirelli, in spite of the 3 seconds gap.

So unless it was some sort of ingenious, reverse psychology marketing, that was a fail.

The YouTuber was commenting upon the cost difference, mainly, to which you point as well.

Junkyard Dog said:

Well, since you did not watch it, he heavily pushed the Nankang, not the Pirelli, in spite of the 3 seconds gap.

So unless it was some sort of ingenious, reverse psychology marketing, that was a fail.

The YouTuber was commenting upon the cost difference, mainly, to which you point as well.

Click to expand...

No judgement intended...of the tires or anything or anyone. It just seemed like an odd comparison pair?

DaveW

Some base everything on cost. Look at all the chinese crap last 40 years. Price is a factor but in the world of quality and performance cheaper is not better. If there is a reverse polarity vortex somewhere where this is true let me know.

I had multiple experienced drivers and a club instructor ride along and all were very impressed with the stock setup
on the dark
horse including the tires. According to my in car g meter i got a high of 1.5 g’s while catalyst says a hair over 1.4. In any case that’s pretty decent grip and the highest i’ve recorded far at firebird west track

I’ll say the trafeos are good and the car was set up with them in mind but since i burn through them at a rapid rate i’ll have plenty of opportunity to try others lol

DaveW said:

No judgement intended...of the tires or anything or anyone. It just seemed like an odd comparison pair?

DaveW

Click to expand...

I understand. There just are not a lot of comparisons out there with the Trofeo RS, so I shared one I had seen. There is another one by the Tyres Review guy, and the Trofeo RS beat all of the others in that one, too. It really is a great tire. I wish it was significantly less expensive.

DaveW said:

Yokohoma AO52 - not remotely tolerant of abuse

Click to expand...

This is how my Front A052 looked like after today track day (104 laps on them / 193 track miles and 1933 Street Miles). I did 5 new PBs with them and they still perform reasonably well. I think this tire handle abuse very well.

bnight said:

View attachment 110109View attachment 110110

This is how my Front A052 looked like after today track day (104 laps on them / 193 track miles and 1933 Street Miles). I did 5 new PBs with them and they still perform reasonably well. I think this tire handle abuse very well.

Click to expand...

Some people are easier on tires than others. Some overdrive, some drive off the rear, some tracks murder certain tires (Gateway Roval is my home track). Yokohama are not tolerant of these things.

I suspect that the Pirelli might work well for you too where it doesn't for the OP. That doesn't make one way right or wrong or someone fast or slow.

DaveW

The old standby Goodyear SC 3R is right there with the trofeo, Hoosier TA, R7 etc. in most tests, and I believe the 2026 USAA GY discount is 25 percent off. Plus the 3R is a more affordable tire even before the discount. You can get a whole set of 305/30/19 for around $1500. It’s a solid all around performance value imo, especially if you want a lot of dry grip relatively cheap. It’s a little slow to turn on and doesn’t last very long but I don’t think anything really does at that level of grip.

Gunslinger55 said:

I’ll say the trafeos are good and the car was set up with them in mind but since i burn through them at a rapid rate i’ll have plenty of opportunity to try others lol

Click to expand...

It's mostly a question of life. If you don't mind bolting them on, Trofeo's are as good as anything. I wouldn't be that concerned with a difference in lap time. OF COURSE the longer wearing tire will be slower. I'm sure there's a tire 3 seconds FASTER than the Trofeo out there. It's wear would reflect that performance level.

200-220TW tires are a good compromise of Grip and Wear in a situation where lap times are completely meaningless. When you start getting in the 40-140TW range, wear is measured in laps and heat cycles, as much as it is tread depth.

stevbd said:

The old standby Goodyear SC 3R is right there with the trofeo, Hoosier TA, R7 etc. in most tests, and I believe the 2026 USAA GY discount is 25 percent off. Plus the 3R is a more affordable tire even before the discount. You can get a whole set of 305/30/19 for around $1500. It’s a solid all around performance value imo, especially if you want a lot of dry grip relatively cheap. It’s a little slow to turn on and doesn’t last very long but I don’t think anything really does at that level of grip.

Click to expand...

Might just try these. Thanks for the suggestion

DaveW said:

Some people are easier on tires than others. Some overdrive, some drive off the rear, some tracks murder certain tires (Gateway Roval is my home track). Yokohama are not tolerant of these things.

I suspect that the Pirelli might work well for you too where it doesn't for the OP. That doesn't make one way right or wrong or someone fast or slow.

DaveW

Click to expand...

It's also a matter of the right pressures and suspension. If you are not taking good care of your tire pressures during a track day aka checking in/center/out temperatures and making sure your pressures are not rising to the moon by bleeding them out after sessions your tires will hate you. If you are not rotating them front to rear after a few track days aka always try to have the most fresh tires on the front your tires will hate you. If your suspension is soft or stock and you are only loading the outside of the tires your tires will hate you. If your camber and toe settings are not right your tires will hate you. And all of this will be obvious if you get tire temperatures during track days. Taking care of the black donuts is a science more than anything else.

Again, not a treaded tire guy, but we ran the Goodyear supercar F1 at Daytona in a 12 hour race and they were as fast at the end, as the beginning

Good to hear. And a set cost about half what the trafeos do. I’m gonna try them

Question is tire rack hear cycle worth it? I did it on this last set of fronts and they look worse than my much older old ones but it could be other factors

Gunslinger55 said:

Good to hear. And a set cost about half what the trafeos do. I’m gonna try them

Question is tire rack hear cycle worth it? I did it on this last set of fronts and they look worse than my much older old ones but it could be other factors

Click to expand...

IMO..no

Ok thanks

blacksheep-1 said:

IMO..no

Click to expand...

blacksheep-1,

Could you elaborate a little? Is this something with which you experimented and found that it makes no difference?

I have a hazy memory of reading something on the internet where somebody tried with and without, but I cannot remember even if it was on this web site.