Budget street/hpd tires

[Duane Black]

Looking into what tires I should buy for a good street tires and decent track/autoX tire. This will be my first season for lapping so I’m almost certain tires won’t be my limiting factor in lap times. Looking for something durable good for street and track and budget friendly

You've gotten some great feedback here... but I will add a few points to what's already said...

I ran 3 years of track on 300TW summer sport tires. Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Pilot Super Sports, and Pirelli Pzero.... a year of street driving (figure 10-15,000 miles), 3-5 track events... and you've given those tires a good beating.

Avoid Pirelli like the plague if you go this route. Those didn't even make 10,000 miles. The Continentals will got 10-15.... but I will say this, my Pilot Sport PS2 ran 6 track events and 20,000 street miles... and 20,000 street miles is what those babies were warrantied for from the manufacturer....

The Michelin Pilot Sport PS4 is not as good ast the Continental, mentioned below, in my opinion. I never drove them on a dry track, but they were not as good in moderate to heavy rain, and I actually replaced them with Continetnals and sold the Michelins for $500 for 4 tires on Marketplace. In my experience, I 3-4/32nds Continetnal are better than a brand new Michelin in heavier rains.

Also, how fast are you? If you drive fast enough, you will grease up anything shy of a 200 treadwear tire, no problems. If you're still getting your track day feet under you, the 340 TW Contiental Extreme Contact Sport is EXCELLENT!!! It's a great tire on the street, an excellent wet weather track/autocross tire (this is what I use it for, and I can get ~20-25,000 miles out of a set), but I can tell you from experience it will grease up if you push hard enough on a Corvette.... on a Mustang, it seems like the grip just goes away and the car still handles the same, albeit a little slower.

I have driven the new 200TW Continetnal Extreme Contact FORCE (don't get the names mixed up, they're a drastically different tire), and it is excellent as well. It picks up more OPR than some tire I will mention later, but it has better street manners than any 200 TW I have driven (quite honestly, I couldnt' even tell I wasn't on the Extreme Contact SPORT when I was running them on the street to knock the mold release off), and they track straight, and they're quiet.... and they just drive well.

While I am still investigating this and wont' have an answer until likely the end of the year... I don't know how ti compares to the king of all endurance track tires, the Hankook RS4. I have owned 4 sets of RS4 tires for the track and love them. Are they fast? eh. Do they grease up? I never really noticed. They don't pick up much if any OPR, and I think they're near impossible to kill before heat cycling out. I would get as many as 10 events on a set before they just got slick and a little unpredictable with heat cycles. Figure on throwing them out in a year anyway due to heat cycles from street driving and a few track events. It autocrosses, but its' not the fastsest and you'll never have the heat you really need. They are also NOISY as hell on the street, and on my car, it pulled to the left and wandered more than the Extreme Contact FORCE or any other summer tire developed around street use. But... my last set had 20 hours of track time and 45 minutes of skid pad time and they still had tread... but for the heat cycling mentioned above, I threw them away.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

What tires are available to you in Canada, as that is often the main issue, because there are some tires not available there and since you are getting started that is also key. Tires that are good at both are limited , so what is your main focus? As noted check with some of your fellow Trackrats about Atlantic Motorsports Park as track surface and condition can often dictate your tire purchase.

 

[Tim.ocon]

You've gotten some great feedback here... but I will add a few points to what's already said...

I ran 3 years of track on 300TW summer sport tires. Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, Pilot Super Sports, and Pirelli Pzero.... a year of street driving (figure 10-15,000 miles), 3-5 track events... and you've given those tires a good beating.

Avoid Pirelli like the plague if you go this route. Those didn't even make 10,000 miles. The Continentals will got 10-15.... but I will say this, my Pilot Sport PS2 ran 6 track events and 20,000 street miles... and 20,000 street miles is what those babies were warrantied for from the manufacturer....

The Michelin Pilot Sport PS4 is not as good ast the Continental, mentioned below, in my opinion. I never drove them on a dry track, but they were not as good in moderate to heavy rain, and I actually replaced them with Continetnals and sold the Michelins for $500 for 4 tires on Marketplace. In my experience, I 3-4/32nds Continetnal are better than a brand new Michelin in heavier rains.

Also, how fast are you? If you drive fast enough, you will grease up anything shy of a 200 treadwear tire, no problems. If you're still getting your track day feet under you, the 340 TW Contiental Extreme Contact Sport is EXCELLENT!!! It's a great tire on the street, an excellent wet weather track/autocross tire (this is what I use it for, and I can get ~20-25,000 miles out of a set), but I can tell you from experience it will grease up if you push hard enough on a Corvette.... on a Mustang, it seems like the grip just goes away and the car still handles the same, albeit a little slower.

I have driven the new 200TW Continetnal Extreme Contact FORCE (don't get the names mixed up, they're a drastically different tire), and it is excellent as well. It picks up more OPR than some tire I will mention later, but it has better street manners than any 200 TW I have driven (quite honestly, I couldnt' even tell I wasn't on the Extreme Contact SPORT when I was running them on the street to knock the mold release off), and they track straight, and they're quiet.... and they just drive well.

While I am still investigating this and wont' have an answer until likely the end of the year... I don't know how ti compares to the king of all endurance track tires, the Hankook RS4. I have owned 4 sets of RS4 tires for the track and love them. Are they fast? eh. Do they grease up? I never really noticed. They don't pick up much if any OPR, and I think they're near impossible to kill before heat cycling out. I would get as many as 10 events on a set before they just got slick and a little unpredictable with heat cycles. Figure on throwing them out in a year anyway due to heat cycles from street driving and a few track events. It autocrosses, but its' not the fastsest and you'll never have the heat you really need. They are also NOISY as hell on the street, and on my car, it pulled to the left and wandered more than the Extreme Contact FORCE or any other summer tire developed around street use. But... my last set had 20 hours of track time and 45 minutes of skid pad time and they still had tread... but for the heat cycling mentioned above, I threw them away.

Im definitely not fast. In the same car I’m 6 to 7 seconds slower then my dad around the track (dad runs a 1.19 on a good day) I think the continentals are definitely going to be the answer is I decide with going with a single set but I’m leaning toward having a set of street tires and then a set of track tires. I appreciate all the input!