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Tires

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What does everyone plan to use for tires for daily use? I looked up tire prices on Tire Rack and wearing out the stock tires on a regular basis will get expensive. A set of tires for the LS is over two grand, and for the standard Boss is over 1,200 :eek:
 
I'm planning to run the stock tires on the street. I have one set of Toyo R888s on a set of Enkeis that I'll finish off at the track and a new set of Enkeis that I'm going to try NT01s on once the car gets here.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Stock wheels/tires for the street. Would consider replacing the stock tires w/ Nitto NT05s or Hankook Ventus V12s when they wear out.

Separate wheels w/ Nitto NT01 275/40/18s for the track.
 
ArizonaGT said:
Stock wheels/tires for the street. Would consider replacing the stock tires w/ Nitto NT05s or Hankook Ventus V12s when they wear out.

Separate wheels w/ Nitto NT01 275/40/18s for the track.
For the street are the Nitto's or Hankook's better than the Pirelli's or just less expensive?
 

2012 Boss racer

Stock tires in summer, with different tires and wheels for winter. My car will probably only see 8,000 miles a year and that is as a daily driver!
 
roketman said:
Stock rims and tires for the street.
For the track 302r wheels with Hoosiers
R6 or slicks? I already have a set of NT01 275/40/18s on a square set of 18 x 9.5 Enkei PF01s. I just finished off my last set of R888s (305/35/18 & 275/35/18) on a staggered set of 18 x 10.5 and 18 x 9.5 and am looking for new tires for that set. I was considering slicks, but not sure which ones. I've had R6s but they wear out so fast. Looking for suggestions.
 
cloud9 said:
roketman said:
Stock rims and tires for the street.
For the track 302r wheels with Hoosiers
R6 or slicks? I already have a set of NT01 275/40/18s on a square set of 18 x 9.5 Enkei PF01s. I just finished off my last set of R888s (305/35/18 & 275/35/18) on a staggered set of 18 x 10.5 and 18 x 9.5 and am looking for new tires for that set. I was considering slicks, but not sure which ones. I've had R6s but they wear out so fast. Looking for suggestions.

For the track R6’s.
There is no better track tire in my book.Ok They don’t last as long as we would like .But oh boy do they stick!If you swap sides every other track day you will get more out of them. I have worked with Hoosier durning my racing years and can attest that they are generally 2 seconds faster a lap compared to there competitors.They are truly a wonderful company.Plus there only focus is on racing and track tire performance.I suppose we could use slicks.But than you would probably need a bigger rear sway .Also the added stick may wear out other suspension parts a lot quicker.
One thing I have learned over the years is , you cannot out smart the factory engineers .They do this stuff 40 hours a week!
For example ,Messing with aerodynamics.They do hours upon hours of wind tunnel testing.The car is set up so nicely,why mess with it .
But really isn’t that the beauty of the car? A wonderful street and track car !
Anyway ,sorry to ramble on .Just my 02
 
roketman said:
For the track R6’s.
There is no better track tire in my book.Ok They don’t last as long as we would like .But oh boy do they stick!If you swap sides every other track day you will get more out of them. I have worked with Hoosier durning my racing years and can attest that they are generally 2 seconds faster a lap compared to there competitors.They are truly a wonderful company.Plus there only focus is on racing and track tire performance.I suppose we could use slicks.But than you would probably need a bigger rear sway .Also the added stick may wear out other suspension parts a lot quicker.
One thing I have learned over the years is , you cannot out smart the factory engineers .They do this stuff 40 hours a week!
For example ,Messing with aerodynamics.They do hours upon hours of wind tunnel testing.The car is set up so nicely,why mess with it .
But really isn’t that the beauty of the car? A wonderful street and track car !
Anyway ,sorry to ramble on .Just my 02
Cool thanks. I appreciate everything you're saying. OK, I'll get the R6s again. Hopefully the fronts will last a little longer on the Boss than the nose heavy GT500. So for my rim sizes what would you recommend?

For the fronts I'll go 275/35/18. For the rears would you recommend the 295/30/18 for the 10.5 wide rims? They will be 1.6" and 1.8" shorter than the stock wheels/tires, which is good for lowering the car, but will change the gearing. The 315s look like they want an 11" rim. That isn't necessarily bad either because it will be more conducive to running 4th gear for many of the corners and keeping RPMs more in the power band.
 
While I agree that Hoosiers are very fast, I won't be using them. I guess I can't get my head around using a more expensive tire that doesn't last as long just for open tracking. I can understand if you are racing W2W or TT, but not for playing around. To each his own and we all have different budgets.

I don't have a lot of track tire experience. We had to use Toyo's RA1's and R888s. I didn't care for the 8s but loved the RA1s. They had decent grip and they lasted a long time which was perfect for our spec tire in American Iron. A friend of mine that tracks a lot said he prefers the Nitto NT01s over the Toyos so I may be trying those. Gary - How did you like them at MAM? I guess I'm looking for a consistant long lasting tire that has decent grip. 8)
 
Dean#4AI said:
A friend of mine that tracks a lot said he prefers the Nitto NT01s over the Toyos so I may be trying those. Gary - How did you like them at MAM? I guess I'm looking for a consistant long lasting tire that has decent grip. 8)
Well I'm struggling. I ran the square NT01s 275/40/18 and the grip was good and I showed almost no wear running for a half a day. I wasn't crazy about the feel, but can't tell if it was the square setup or the 40 profile. I've never run either, I've always had staggered 30 or 35 profile tires. I liked the square shape of the R888s and lower profile better, but I only got 1.5 days out of the fronts! I had been getting 2-4 days out of R888 fronts and 4-8 days out of the rears. My lap times were about a second faster on the R888s, but I also had more seat time at that point in the day.

It looks like the NT01s hold up good and provide decent, but not great grip. I could go with a 315/30/18 NT01 with a 275/35/18 front. Nitto recommends a 10.5-11.5 rim so they must run a little narrower than the R6s. They are only about $20 less than the 295/30/18 R6s, so it would only make sense if they would last a lot longer than the Hoosiers. I don't have enough experience with the NT01s to know.

I guess I'm struggling since we don't have enough data out there yet on the Boss for tire performance, but need to make a decision before the next track event in 3 weeks.
 
cloud9 said:
roketman said:
For the track R6’s.
There is no better track tire in my book.Ok They don’t last as long as we would like .But oh boy do they stick!If you swap sides every other track day you will get more out of them. I have worked with Hoosier durning my racing years and can attest that they are generally 2 seconds faster a lap compared to there competitors.They are truly a wonderful company.Plus there only focus is on racing and track tire performance.I suppose we could use slicks.But than you would probably need a bigger rear sway .Also the added stick may wear out other suspension parts a lot quicker.
One thing I have learned over the years is , you cannot out smart the factory engineers .They do this stuff 40 hours a week!
For example ,Messing with aerodynamics.They do hours upon hours of wind tunnel testing.The car is set up so nicely,why mess with it .
But really isn’t that the beauty of the car? A wonderful street and track car !
Anyway ,sorry to ramble on .Just my 02
Cool thanks. I appreciate everything you're saying. OK, I'll get the R6s again. Hopefully the fronts will last a little longer on the Boss than the nose heavy GT500. So for my rim sizes what would you recommend?

For the fronts I'll go 275/35/18. For the rears would you recommend the 295/30/18 for the 10.5 wide rims? They will be 1.6" and 1.8" shorter than the stock wheels/tires, which is good for lowering the car, but will change the gearing. The 315s look like they want an 11" rim. That isn't necessarily bad either because it will be more conducive to running 4th gear for many of the corners and keeping RPMs more in the power band.

I have not yet looked into the sizes for our cars yet.I will however look into it on Monday .
In terms of cost …….If this is an issue buy what you can afford……
I am a Hoosier fan and believe they are worth the money.Your Driving level should also be a factor in your decision when purchasing tires .It makes no sense to get Hoosiers if you are not going to receive the full benefit of the expenditure.Learn to drive on a less expensive R compound tire.
As they say in the racing world .It costs to go fast!
My drug is driving!!!
 
roketman said:
As they say in the racing world .It costs to go fast!
My drug is driving!!!

LOL, yeah I hear what you're saying. That's one of the biggest reason I sold the race car last year. ;D Just trying to go a little cheaper route and yet get to hit the go fast crack pipe once in awhile. lol
 
roketman said:
I have not yet looked into the sizes for our cars yet.I will however look into it on Monday .
In terms of cost …….If this is an issue buy what you can afford……
I am a Hoosier fan and believe they are worth the money.Your Driving level should also be a factor in your decision when purchasing tires .It makes no sense to get Hoosiers if you are not going to receive the full benefit of the expenditure.Learn to drive on a less expensive R compound tire.
As they say in the racing world .It costs to go fast!
My drug is driving!!!
Thanks for checking sizes, but again the track wheels I have that need new rubber are 18 x 10.5 and 18 x 9.5 which are both wider than the stock wheels.

I can afford either, it's just a value proposition. I push hard on the track, so the correct answer is probably the Hoosiers.

Yep, it's my drug too, but unfortunately drugs would be cheaper :-\
 
Dean#4AI said:
roketman said:
As they say in the racing world .It costs to go fast!
My drug is driving!!!

LOL, yeah I hear what you're saying. That's one of the biggest reason I sold the race car last year. ;D Just trying to go a little cheaper route and yet get to hit the go fast crack pipe once in awhile. lol
Just wait until you hear that exhaust with the discs out on the track. You'll really be addicted then.
 

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