East Tennessee Region SCCA

So I've been autocrossing regularly for around a year now in my BMW 318ti and the RE760's that it was wearing when I bought it are officially Worn Out™.

Now, being a college student I don't have unlimited budget and I'd like these tires to do double duty to a point (i.e. not really interested in 200 TW stuff). Stock size is 225/50R16 but I know that's a bit odd and would be fine moving to a 205/50R16 or 205/55R16. So far on my short list are Bridgestone RE760 Sport, the BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp-2, Yokohama S-Drive and the Conti ExtremeContact DW. All of these are around $500-600 for a full set installed.

Something else I've had my eye on is a set of Federal SS-595's in 205/55R16. They are weirdly cheap (literally $65/tire plus shipping) but rated 260 AA A and I've seen blurbs here and there about them actually being pretty good as a budget autocross tire.

Thoughts? I'm running an open diff 140hp car in HS but it's got Bilsteins and is really fun on a curvy road.

These old 760's are just plumb worn out and I'm wondering what you more experienced racers recommend.

I have the 595rpm federals on my street rims on my gt500 and they are way better than the 510.00 each goodyears that came on the car new. I like the federals a lot, but look at the new kumho's they seem to be better that the stones re71r.

I'd recommend Hankook RS3's. They are 200TW but they seem to do well in rain and cold weather. And they're a really good AX tire.

The ss595 kinda sucks; the 595rsr is ok, but 140tw and will wear quickly.

The comp 2s would be my choice of those listed. The s.drives are fairly sticky at first, but wear down to a near-tungsten-hardness compound rather quickly. Not fun.

For what it's worth, a tire that tries to compromise and do everything well always ends up being poor at everything. I didn't really enjoy autox until I tried the 200tw (or below) crack.

You know what they say, opinions are like aholes - everyone has one. The Contis and the Hankooks would work, but the Kooks only if you plan to have snow tires for the winter. I'd never put BFG other than the Rival S on my fleet - had bad experiences otherwise.

I have had BFGs on my Camaro and been pretty happy with them for anything but snow. Not a fan of the Hankook mentioned, Yokohama mentioned, or the Bridgestone mentioned.

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When I say double duty I mean more of "I can drive to events and run mountain roads and my tires will last more than a year". I have a Subaru for the winter and am only really worried about wet weather performance as far as not dying goes.

Lucas have you had experience with the SS595? I like the BFGs as well, plus it is easier to find and install a set obviously. Federals are tempting but if they harden quickly or have structural issues I'm not interested.

I'm leaning toward BFGs or the Conti's...I see a lot of Conti DW's on cars driving around but they never seem to be first choice for autox stuff.

Bridgestones RE71s will do that. Ask Curt Boegemann.

tauntaun wrote:When I say double duty I mean more of "I can drive to events and run mountain roads and my tires will last more than a year". I have a Subaru for the winter and am only really worried about wet weather performance as far as not dying goes.

That pretty much eliminates most of the possibility for being a lot of fun on the autocross course. Can't have your cake and eat it too, blah blah.

Lucas have you had experience with the SS595? I like the BFGs as well, plus it is easier to find and install a set obviously. Federals are tempting but if they harden quickly or have structural issues I'm not interested.

Not personally with the SS, but the people I know who've run them didn't think much of them. I ran the RSRs, complete with delaminating tread splices throughout most of their life. I didn't die, but you might. Not a tire I'd recommend if "structural issues" are gonna be a deal breaker. Taiwanese tires; you get what you pay for. The grip on the RSRs is pretty good. They certainly wouldn't hold you back like any of the 300tw stuff would. just gotta be vigilant about them not coming apart or showing the carcass or anything.

I'm leaning toward BFGs or the Conti's...I see a lot of Conti DW's on cars driving around but they never seem to be first choice for autox stuff.

I see Contis on lots of cars at work, and on the gf's e90. Nice ride, quiet, long-lasting....not so much in the grip department. I'd recommend them to my Mom or something, lol.

A year is a pretty arbitrary unit of measurement for tire life, but I'd say most of the ST tires are going to last 10k miles or less. Probably closer to 5k on something like the re71r, although I know Curt has had his on for a long while now. My g-force sports (back before the comp 2) were lasting 15-20k miles as I recall, and I definitely wasn't kind to them.

Honestly, given what you want, I'd really recommend a second set of wheels to be bolted up for events or mountain runs. That way, neither tire has to be a compromise--one for going fast, one for daily driving.

Between anecdotes and how my tires have worn so far, I think I can get 10k miles and close to 200 autocross runs from a set of RE71R's. I don't do mountain runs, so I don't know what kind of impact that would have..

If it's not driven in the winter I wouldn't go with anything other than Hankook RS3, Bridgestone RE71, Dunlop Direzza Zll, Kumho V720, or Toyo R1R. But, those are 200TW tires. Once you go 200TW or less you'll never go back.

I got a year out of the RS3's and the RE71r's. I like the Bridgestones a little better, but they cost more...

Neither seem to mind street miles or heat cycles.
Both sucks at interstate speeds, in the rain. I slow down.
Both start to lose grip at about 45 degrees.
Both are great AX tires, but the stiffer sidewalls on the RE's work better on my car.

It's silly, but I chose my tires for the 10 minutes I spend autocrossing a month. No regrets.

I would also seriously consider the new Kumho V720's

I'm really considering the V720's this time around. The R1Rs were pretty good but I feel like 195s on an 8" are a bit stretched. You can get the V720s in a 225/15 for the same price of the 71r's in a 205/15. I wish JB wouldn't had put up a half second faster time when he switched form the V720s to the 71r's at the last event.

He did go faster but I think I heard him say he straight lined the slalom which would account for the better time. I know at Dixie on a 28 second test n tune JB was .5 second faster on the kuhmo's than he was on the stones.

What Curt said. If you don't need an all-season tire, go with the Rival-S, the RE71R, or the RS3. Done. Should last you two seasons/years depending on how much you drive.