Looking for new tires

Emeraldage

New Member
Oct 13, 2011
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Ohio
Hey I'm in the market for new tires for just the rear. Summer tires are fine don't need all season. I'm on work 3p 18". The current tires at DOT azenis 265 35s. I'd like to save those for the track and they suck for trip on the street. Possibly looking at ultra high performance tires. My supra is making like 400ftlbs so if you have an idea of something that will hold that power on that street or a good recommendation I'd appreciate it. Or should I just go go to local car shops and see what I can get a deal on?
 

emiliorescigno

Supramania Contributor
Sep 17, 2006
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Woodbury, MN
Emeraldage;2037485 said:
Hey I'm in the market for new tires for just the rear. Summer tires are fine don't need all season. I'm on work 3p 18". The current tires at DOT azenis 265 35s. I'd like to save those for the track and they suck for trip on the street. Possibly looking at ultra high performance tires. My supra is making like 400ftlbs so if you have an idea of something that will hold that power on that street or a good recommendation I'd appreciate it. Or should I just go go to local car shops and see what I can get a deal on?

I think we'll need a little more information to make a decent recommendation. How important are factors like price, treadwear, and wet traction to you?
 

Emeraldage

New Member
Oct 13, 2011
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Ohio
Well originally I wanted to just keep getting used shitty tires from my brother's auto auction. Or I just may use factor wheels to burn them up and not care about it. But these are low profile wide wheels so I looked up and pretty much you can mostly only find ultra high performance for them. I have neve rbought new tires before so I don't know about pricing, just really looking to different tires to check out. Wet traction I don't really care as long as it's not dangerous under normal driving. I'm on Falken Azenis DOT tires, I still have some negative camber so that affects it (Getting fixed soon) but they don't grip for shit. I'm going to guess because they only grip super hard when they're clear and on flat tar not concrete and gravel street lol. I'll look up the toyo thank you :)
 

Emeraldage

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Oct 13, 2011
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Ohio
SideWinderGX;2037511 said:
Go right to using Toyo R888s and don't look back.

I think those would be a bit out of my price range. I thought DOT tires need to be warmed up and very clean to do a street pull to get some grip? I can't just run a guy that pulls up next to me. My falken azenis spin in 3rd, but I will take those tires to the track when I actually go to the track :).
 

emiliorescigno

Supramania Contributor
Sep 17, 2006
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Woodbury, MN
To start: DOT just means "Department of Transportation", pretty much any tire you can buy is DOT legal, so it doesn't really describe what you're looking for. (Or what you have for that matter)

Do you know what model of Azenis you have? There are a lot of really large variations between the different models (Azenis RT615K, PT722 A/S, FK453, etc.)

What are you goals with this tire? Are you looking for cornering grip, or more of a launch/drag racing situation?

The tires that I am deciding between are BFGoodrich G-Force Rivals, Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Specs, and Toyo R1Rs. My objective is to have the best cornering grip possible for autocross, while still having it be acceptably streetable.
 

Atlas

You call this a sandwich?
Aug 22, 2012
102
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Clovis CA
Hankook V12s, good grip if all you're looking for is a street tire. There are also Continental DW and Michelin pilot super sports, if you want to spend some more money for a higher tier street tire.
 

emiliorescigno

Supramania Contributor
Sep 17, 2006
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Woodbury, MN
Atlas;2037721 said:
Hankook V12s, good grip if all you're looking for is a street tire. There are also Continental DW and Michelin pilot super sports, if you want to spend some more money for a higher tier street tire.

I've driven on a set of V12s and wasn't very impressed. They have a soft sidewall and not very good on-center feel. I currently have Kumho Ecsta LE Sports on my car, which are quite similar in price and performance to the V12s, and they leave a lot to be desired versus the more aggressive tires that are available.
 

Atlas

You call this a sandwich?
Aug 22, 2012
102
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Clovis CA
I didn't say v12s are competitive, but they are just fine for street use. I don't think the op is looking for a Nationals level tire. I really like the Michelin PSS, and I've been wanting to try the Bridgestone RE-11A as I've run the RE-01R on my mr-s and mr2 turbo. Alas OP, if your just looking for a sticky summer tire for the rear and don't care much about the handling characteristics maybe the Nitto nt-555.
 

DeMoN2318

New Member
May 24, 2012
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Arizona
I am running Kumho Ecsta XS and love them, great traction from a dig and feel good when cornering, but since you are looking at only rears, cornering shouldnt matter too much.

I would not recommend driving on them in the rain though...
 

black89t

boost'en down 101
Oct 27, 2007
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humboldt, ca
ive run a hand full of the extreme performance tires and ill say any of the 200tw tires will hook 500whp cars up on dry pavement. i currently have 255/40/17 re11a's all around and i like them a lot. they do well in rain and are pretty fast. my next set im going for the rs3's but if you want the ultra cheap bang for the buck tire hands down its the federal rsr. my buddy loves those and has been running them on his s2000 for years and he is lays down some fast times. i think you can get a set for under 500. and r888??? those are a r compound tire and will last like maybe 5000 miles prolly less if you're hard on them. really you need to be in the 600ftlbs range to really need those. i have a pair or toyo tq drag radials and they similar compound maybe a little softer and they wouldn't last long at all driving on them all the time. plus you'll die with them in the rain lol
 

SideWinderGX

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Aug 8, 2007
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Syracuse, New York, United States
black89t;2037832 said:
ive run a hand full of the extreme performance tires and ill say any of the 200tw tires will hook 500whp cars up on dry pavement. i currently have 255/40/17 re11a's all around and i like them a lot. they do well in rain and are pretty fast. my next set im going for the rs3's but if you want the ultra cheap bang for the buck tire hands down its the federal rsr. my buddy loves those and has been running them on his s2000 for years and he is lays down some fast times. i think you can get a set for under 500. and r888??? those are a r compound tire and will last like maybe 5000 miles prolly less if you're hard on them. really you need to be in the 600ftlbs range to really need those. i have a pair or toyo tq drag radials and they similar compound maybe a little softer and they wouldn't last long at all driving on them all the time. plus you'll die with them in the rain lol

If you're hard on a tire and want them to last long you're sacrificing traction. If you want traction and you're hard on a tire, you'll be replacing tires often. There's no getting around that...and if you're easy on the R888s they'll last for over 10k miles. R888s work fine in the rain.

I have the Toyo TQs and they absolutely suck on the street, they spin at the top of first.

I have RE11s on the front and they're an awesome tire, I agree there.
 

black89t

boost'en down 101
Oct 27, 2007
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humboldt, ca
SideWinderGX;2037867 said:
If you're hard on a tire and want them to last long you're sacrificing traction. If you want traction and you're hard on a tire, you'll be replacing tires often. There's no getting around that...and if you're easy on the R888s they'll last for over 10k miles. R888s work fine in the rain.

I have the Toyo TQs and they absolutely suck on the street, they spin at the top of first.

I have RE11s on the front and they're an awesome tire, I agree there.


yeah i agree you have to sacrafic tread wear for grip but the r888 are a little extreme for the op if you ask me. And r compounds will heat cycle out and turn into a rock if you don't used them up sooner than later. ive never really hammered on my tq's on the street but i never noticed them to have less grip than my street tires which will hook every gear unless its on shitty or wet pavement of course. how much hp are you running? cause thats something that has to be factored in of course.
 

emiliorescigno

Supramania Contributor
Sep 17, 2006
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Woodbury, MN
Atlas;2037757 said:
I didn't say v12s are competitive, but they are just fine for street use. I don't think the op is looking for a Nationals level tire. I really like the Michelin PSS, and I've been wanting to try the Bridgestone RE-11A as I've run the RE-01R on my mr-s and mr2 turbo. Alas OP, if your just looking for a sticky summer tire for the rear and don't care much about the handling characteristics maybe the Nitto nt-555.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come down as hard in my post as I did. I've driven a quite a few cars with V12s and I've been very unimpressed with them, so it struck a nerve with me a bit.

I very much agree with your Nitto suggestion. OP sounds like he's only worried about straight line grip, and that tire like that makes a lot of sense for that application. OP also has two other problems to address to improve straight-line traction: zeroing out camber for a squarer contact patch, and moving down to 17" wheels. Those super low-profile tires and negative camber aren't doing the car any favors.
 

Emeraldage

New Member
Oct 13, 2011
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Ohio
Sorry I disappeared for a bit. But now I'm looking for new tires to replace my front tires. I'm pretty sure their 225 40 r18s. In the rear I have Falken Azenis Track DOT tires. This car is going to be used for weekend cruises or some days on the track or drag strip, basically whatever I can get it on. So I'm wondering what would be best to go with a ultra high performance/max performance or a Track DOT tire? Wouldn't it feel weird on the track once I get into it and good at it when your fronts are street and your rear are track?

Wet traction probably isn't very important on me as any bad rainy day I'll be driving my Yaris and I doubt I'd track it when wet, that just sounds too scary to risk my precious supra on as a novice driver. Treatwear is pretty important to me because I'm not a pro driver so I bet I'll be too scared to push this car as hard as it can go anyways, and I don't have deep pockets for new tires every once in awhile.

We had just spent about 1200$ to get my car all energy bushings installed everywhere, this included getting new tie rods for the front because those adjustable bolts were also frozen and junk. Now we got a great alignment finally, everything feels pretty tight and less rickity. I believe on the sheet all my tires are at 1.5 degree neg camber for the street currently. I live in BG KY they have the Corvette test track thi ng here that my car will be on sooner or later!
 
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