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Tire question

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21
24
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Wild Wonderful WV
Gonna need tires for the Trak Pak and would the thoughts of this community. Probably two trak days a year and will have other tires for daily use. Prefer to stay with original size 275-40-18 but may consider RE71s that are off just a bit. I am looking at the NT01, RS4 and the Advan AO52 primarily and really am not sure which way to go. I will drive to the track and on an occasional run to the Dragon or something so I want them to be reasonable for that. I loved the RE71 for my GT350 but because the size is off a little, I am gonna look at some others.

Anyone have strong opinions or experience here?
 
You are a little all over the place on your tires there.

RE71 - Discontinued - newest of these you will find was probably built in 2018 or 2019. This tire is dead, forget it ever existed.
NT01 - This is a (crappy) r-comp, not remotely comparable to the others. I am not a fan of this tire at all, and regardless it is not street friendly.
RS4 - Endurance 200tw tire. This is a good tire, takes a beating, wears well. Not the fastest but pretty good.
AO52 - NOT an endurance200tw tire at all, very heat sensitive, camber sensitive. This is an autocross and time trial tire. Its not going to be happy when beat on for 20 minute sessions. When I say not happy, i mean you will kill them in a weekend.

You have 4 very different tires there. Not one of them is like the others.

You didn't say what size wheels? I wouldn't get terribly hung up on stock size tires.

For streetable track day tires, I would look at the following:

RS4
GoodYear SuperCup3 (not the 3r). Good wear, heat tolerant.
New Continental ExtremeContact Force - by all reports, a good mix of speed and wear and streetable. Expensive
Falken RT660 - most similar to RE71 in both good and bad ways (bad being heat and wear)

DaveW
 
1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
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5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
At least try the 295
The Falken RT615K+ is roughly equivalent to the Hankook R-S4 and is available in 295/40-18. It's about 1/2" taller (1/4" vehicle height) than the 275/40 but that extra diameter gets you a slight increase in contact patch too.

For HPDE I run the Falkens on 18x10 Apex EC-7s with a 3mm spacer up front. These are the older EC-7s with ET42. The newer ones are ET40 so, depending on your camber, you may not need spacers at all.
 
21
24
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Wild Wonderful WV
Wow, I have been out of it a couple of years and seem to have lost touch.

I hate that about RE71s as I loved them, thanks for the update.
The Roush came with 275/40/18 on 18x10 wheels. I ran almost 3 degrees camber on the old Trak Pak I owned, so I may not get quite there with the 295s.

I will read up on the Falkens and continue my search.

Thanks so much for the help, I needed it. Any other info is much appreciated.
 
1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
By the way, Tire Rack seems to have only limited sizes of the R-S4.

It is also available in 285 & 295 directly from Hankook.

 
43
23
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Fresno, ca
I've run all the tires you listed. Of those still being made:

NT01 - I've run PBs with this tire on my other car. They stay really consistent until they cord. They handle heat very well. I like that I can go really fast on them but get a LOT of laps from them. They get faster as they wear and you get to the tread bars. Probably fastest just before they cord. I heat cycled the crap out of mine; about 6 track days worth ( I don't do all 20mins of every session and usually only three sessions per event). They are even semi-decent to drive to/from the track on. My fave tire and what I will be running next, now that I've decided on a size which they are avail! I'm super stoked LOL

RS4 - Nowhere near as fast as these other two. Wears like IRON. Actually fairly predictable and communicative. I had these also on my last car and was running it's OEM size (I had no track tires for this event). Anyway, these are a really, really, really good tire for daily driving and flogging around tracks and autox. I had a lot of rambunctious fun with these. Get sideways, abuse them, and they will ask for more.

AO52 - Fastest tire of the group. By how much, exactly, I haven't logged, as I haven't been to my local time attack course. My autox runs they were much faster than the NT01 (which is, admittedly, a HORRIBLE autox tire), the spec tire for the TA series I used to run, and I'm seeing impressive lap time improvements (full seconds) from my track day and TA buddies. Will not last anywhere NEAR as long as either of the two tires. If going for all-out lap times and they had my size, I'd run this tire.

in order from best grip/worst wear to worst grip/best wear is the A052, NT01, then RS4.

Not sure if that helps, but just my experience. The car was 3200lbs, AWD, minimal aero, and 430whp. Not the same car, but tire wear is tire wear, IMO.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,429
8,358
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Two things ------ listen to BS1 as he is " The Tire Guru " for numerous Pro Teams and I agree with him 100% on using the tiny tubes! Also, DaveW is the owner of Soloperformance.com ( 20+ years selling and maintaining Autocross and RaceCar supplies, accessories, tires , etc. ) and he is around all the newest tires and compounding throughout the year.

RT660, RS-4, new Continental Force, BFG Rival S 1.5.

Like DaveW mentioned the NT01 is not really for the street and if you compare it to the tires it competes with it, it is a laggard. I would politely disagree with Coz only on the RT615K, because it has not been universally liked and it is, frankly, the main reason the RT660 was designed and put into production.
 
21
24
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Wild Wonderful WV
Two things ------ listen to BS1 as he is " The Tire Guru " for numerous Pro Teams and I agree with him 100% on using the tiny tubes! Also, DaveW is the owner of Soloperformance.com ( 20+ years selling and maintaining Autocross and RaceCar supplies, accessories, tires , etc. ) and he is around all the newest tires and compounding throughout the year.

RT660, RS-4, new Continental Force, BFG Rival S 1.5.

Like DaveW mentioned the NT01 is not really for the street and if you compare it to the tires it competes with it, it is a laggard. I would politely disagree with Coz only on the RT615K, because it has not been universally liked and it is, frankly, the main reason the RT660 was designed and put into production.
Thank you, is the list you mention, in order of your preference?
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,429
8,358
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Not necessarily, and I would probably not go with RS-4s as there have been shortages for awhile and until things get a bit back to normal you could have supply issues. I like the BFGs because they are made here along with the new Continental Force also --- same reason. You can also call Luke Pavlik ( ext 4362 ) at Tire Rack , as he was our Rep for the Wholesale Acct. we used to have for Woodhouse Motorsports ( part of Woodhouse C,D,J, R and Woodhouse Ford ). He now does Retail and I have known him for over 20 years --- the big plus is he is a certified track rat so you are not just talking to someone who sells tires you are talking to a fellow Asphalt Assaulter!!
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,429
8,358
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Bob, you misunderstood, when I said I would get rid of Toyos and go back to Hoosiers that is not what I meant by re-tired! I am just getting old, so I am tired and retired and worn out and pooped.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,429
8,358
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
The Viper is just a songbird, singing prettily as any proper " Garage Queen " should. I get criticized by friends as I always ran most of my other Vipers ( especially the ACR ), but now I have one I exercise only on sunny days. The Boss is for bashing the berms, cremating the concrete, assaulting the apexes, and ravaging those 7700 rpms. She treats me good too, so I only feed her quality fluids, and I let her gallop past Corvettes whenever she wants ----- the power of the Horse!
 
1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
I would politely disagree with Coz only on the RT615K, because it has not been universally liked
Bill, I will certainly defer to your experience but "universally liked" is a pretty high standard. My experience crewing with a team that runs in AER (albeit a lightweight E36) is that the 615K+ is better than the 660 for longevity, especially in hot weather.

They're still making the 615K+ so the 660 supplements it rather than outright replacing it.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,429
8,358
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Dang, Coz when you are right you are universally right, ha! I had my Autocross hat on and was just thinking of all the guys who were super pleased that the Spec Class no longer had to run the 615K+ , because the 660 is so much better through the cones. Well, I would imagine the 615K+ would last longer and is likely a better endurance tire, so I defer to your expertise and will be more specific in the future. Falken can really thank their VP of Retail Sales ( who auto crosses himself )for pushing for a faster Autocross tire, but that does not always mean it will be better on a road course.
 
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372
CA
Dang, Coz when you are right you are universally right, ha! I had my Autocross hat on and was just thinking of all the guys who were super pleased that the Spec Class no longer had to run the 615K+ , because the 660 is so much better through the cones. Well, I would imagine the 615K+ would last longer and is likely a better endurance tire, so I defer to your expertise and will be more specific in the future. Falken can really thank their VP of Retail Sales ( who auto crosses himself )for pushing for a faster Autocross tire, but that does not always mean it will be better on a road course.
I learned exactly this lesson the hard way when I put 660's on my car:

The fast autocross tires simply don't work for a heavy, crudely suspended car in HPDE.
 

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