The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

I'm trying to pick a tire, please help

Which tires should I get??


  • Total voters
    11

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

First let me say that I do hate these kind of posts. This group is the only one whose opinion I will listen to.

Background. I am a novice driver. My car has the usual modifications (see signature). I drive a total of 6,000 miles per year, about 300-500 of those miles are track miles.

Currently I am on a set of rock hard Michelin Pilot Super Sports. They have about 6/32 tread left after 4 years of the above type driving.

I don't know if I'm ready for the jump to a 200TW tire. Will moderate street driving shorten the life of a 200TW tire??

A guy here at work is trying to get me to go to NT-01 tires. No, mainly because they don't come in the size I want.

I put the Michelin Cup 2 on the poll just because if most think I should go 200TW and my friend here at work wants me on the Nitto, I figured the Cup 2 would split the difference.....

Please vote and if possible explain why you are voting the way you did. Thanks.....
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
I can't really vote for just one, they're all decent choices.

But if I rank them:

Dry:
Cup2
RE-71
R-S4
4S

Wet:
4S
RE-71
R-S4
Cup2

I think for your use and mileage, I would worry more about age of the tires over a concern for street miles. JMO.
 

TymeSlayer

Tramps like us, Baby we were born to run...
3,787
2,740
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
Brighton, Colorado
The Michelin PS4S tires are really nice on the track and great on the road. I think I put about 1500 miles on my Boss last year and usage was about split even. I'm a novice as well and although PS4S aren't cheap, they are damn good dual use tires. I can't speak to the others you mention but after these two sets of PS4S are torn up, I'll be looking at the NT-01.
 
For street tires bang for the buck-wise The Michelin Pilot PSS or the newer PS2 summer tires have been the best tires for me in terms of handling and longevity. For track use, they are a good choice as well up to the grip limit of the car in question, at which point they will chunk. So ideally, have the Michelins for street, and the cheapest 200+ treadwear performance tires you can buy on a separate set of wheels with as much camber as you can get so you are not wearing out the tires as quickly. Do that until you consistently drive at the limit of those tires on track without upsetting the balance of the car. That may be an indicator that it's time to upgrade to a Pilot Sport Cup or R-compound. And usually the best money spent for a novice driver is on coaching-the tires won't make much difference until you know how to consistently drive them near or at their grip limit.
 
Last edited:
I am currently running a square set of Hankook S4's. I am showing 10K of street driving and 6 track days and there is good tread left for at least one more track day. I've had similar success with a couple of sets of S3's.

Dry traction is good, predictable at the limits but not as sticky as an NT01 would be. Rain performance is pretty darn good, track or street.

I've run NT05's that stick a touch better than the S4's but were awful in the rain. And when it rains where I live, it rains like its trying to strangle every frog in the state... for 15 minutes. Given the tread design on the NT01's, rain performance would be very poor. Treadwear would also be very poor. Barely street-able.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Have friends and customers in Sugar Land, and folks who don't know that area, they are a suburb of Houston, so rain is in the picture!! I would recommend the latest generation of the Pilot Sport, the 4S......faster than it's predecessors and the top one on your list for driving in the wet stuff. Good luck , I voted based on your driving needs and where you live -- good luck!!
 
Last edited:

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
One item I missed , and maybe others, is are you on F14 18 inch Forgestars or 19 inch? That could also change some of our recommendations, or even open up more tire selections?
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
You could definitely put a 305 on the rear, if available in the tire size you want. Go to TireRack and look under Specs for the tire you decide on. Easy to see if the diameter is close and will match rim width, so some Brands may find it ok to run the 285?
 
Last edited:

Duane Black

Curbs go brrrppp
567
401
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Durham, NC
If you ever get new wheels, get a 18x10 square to rotate. Honestly, the tire savings over 2-3 years will pay for the wheels.

I’ve tracked on older Pilot Sport PS2 (220tw), Pirelli pzero (220tw, pile of crap but i got them REAL CHEAP), abd Re71r. Bridgestones wont last and unless you’re a prodigy, you wont feel the max grip potential of those so strike it in my opinion. The older michelins had a softer sidewall vs the modern 200tw tires, so faster turns would feel sidewall flex and just werent up to standard as my skills progressed. Mind you, i was in nasa de4 and still holding my own, but decided i wanted better than a michelin. The pirelli and michelins did me well, pirelli lasting a season of 10,000 street miles and 3-4 track days a year. The michelins doubled that. The re71r for me were old autocross tires i didnt care about wear and i got about 18 autocrosses followed by 2 hours of track time out of those. I’m moving to rs4 and hsve a set mounted to go, but i havw never driven on them, only have feedback from others i followed.

Anywho, if i could bote twice it would be a draw for me between the michelin and hankook. Your short street miles made mr say hankook. If tread noises are a concern for you, i wouldnt go the 200tw route on street.

Nittos heat cycle too. I’d avoid
 

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
I have RS4 and RE71R mounted on my 2 sets of 18" track wheels. I'll buy more RS4 when I wear out the RE71R this summer. I think they're pretty close to each other, but the 71s get greasy after about 6 laps and I don't like that (grip may still be there, but I don't like the greasy feeling). RS4 are more consistent thru the session and don't seem to be wearing as fast either. The 71s scuff off tire boogers almost like an R compound tire.
Good news is, we've got lots of great tires to chose from, and on this list, you're splitting some fairly fine hair differentiating them.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
AD08R Yokohama is another strong choice in 19 sizes. The A052 is insane , but often on backorder due to demand - 200 treadwear , but not good in the rain, m super fast in the dry.
 
Last edited:

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Drano is a guy who is really quick, especially since he runs on bicycle tires --- we are all working on him to acquire some tires with a little width!!! I am going to suggest you look into the Falken 615K+ or the Yoko A052, Drano. Yoko is really quick and looks like a Pilot Sport Cup with a 200 treadwear rating. The Falkens are supposed to be quicker than the S4s, newer generation tire, and should last about the same. Get at least a 295, though we would all love to see what you could do on an 18x11 inch rim with some monster rubber --- heh, just sell one of your sets of rims and get in on the group buy with Apex? You are already doing alot with very little, we wonder what you could do with Le Fat Tire!?
 
Last edited:

Norm Peterson

Corner Barstool Sitter
939
712
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
a few miles east of Philly
Sorry. 19x9.5 front 19x11 rear. I didn't put down sizes because I really kinda know what size tires I want. I'm kind of sold on 275 on the front, maybe someone could talk me into a 285. I like 295 on the rear.....
1.5" of wheel width stagger is too much, too understeerish. I would absolutely put wider wheels up front with more than 275/xx tires into at least the long-term plan.

And a bit more roll stiffness (note: I have no idea what sort of rates the "P" springs might have, or whether you've upgraded the shocks & struts to suit). Suspension-wise, I'm seeing the usual list of mods aimed at street appearance, curing wheel hop, and improving straight line acceleration performance (lowering, LCAs, UCA, relo brackets).

Street driving can and will shorten the life of a 200-TW tire as measured by how well it maintains its grip goodness. Even your 300-TW MPSS tires are seeing this, just slower/more gradually than the 200's.

Out of curiosity, do you do more passing than pointing of other cars by or do you have other indications that you're ready to move up? Are the tires singing to you in the corners or howling at you? Fronts or rears?

If there's any chance of rain at your track day or if you have to drive in much rain otherwise, PS4S.


The picture in my sig is 285/35-18 MPSS on 18x11 Forgestar F14. About -2° camber, car not lowered in the picture, though it's been lowered about half an inch since. I consider myself an intermediate-level driver.


Norm
 
Last edited:

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top