Any news on new 200TW tires for 2018?

Hey guys, 

Has anyone gotten any news on new street tires for 2018? It's been a while since the new Star Spec ZIII has been teased, and the RE71R may be due for a refresh (please dear god give us 225/45/15 size). V720's could be due for a refresh too. 

Anyone have an tire talk to share? I'm holding out until spring for new tires, but I don't want to have to choose between the excellent but fairly slow RS4's (compared to Re71's), and the literally terrifying in the rain Rival S 1.5. Both great tires, but any new 200 TW tire would be welcome to be thrown into the mix. 

I have no new news. But I would sure like 225/45-15 availability to expand and stick around.

We were very impressed with the RS4 last year.  245/40 15, good wear, feels better than a Rival, and goes as fast easily. 

I find the Rivals weird feeling.  They seem to reward bigger slip angles, or ignoring the edge of grip, or something- Think you are turning as fast as you can?  Wind in some more lock and see what happens!  I'm talking about the pre- S tire, i suppose that might have changed.

Does the RE71R really need a refresh? It was still the fastest what I remembered last year.

Blaise said:

Does the RE71R really need a refresh? It was still the fastest what I remembered last year.

No, it just needs an expansion of available sizes. :)

I'm in a stock 1.6 with 15x8s so 205s work fine for me :)

Did you see the article about how the Nexens are in the mix earlier this month? It also showed the RS4s just a tick behind, but with better versatility IIRC. 

I guess the question is... What are you using them for?

The RE71R are stupid good for autocross.

The RS 4 are awesome for endurance racing.

I can tell you from personal experience that the Nitto NT05 is garbage. Wears way too fast, too soft of a sidewall, and gets greasy when hot. That said, they make an excellent budget drag radial and the acual drag radial NT05R is good for drag racing.

The Falken Azenis RT615K+ is long in the tooth and not as fast in the dry, but it wears great (so take them to track days) and they are still one of the best in the wet. I like them up here in the cold and rainy Pacific Northwest. Did not like them in the hot and dry Florida.

Er I seem to have lost my way...can someone tell me where the  500TW  aisle is at .....after 3 years it might be time to get me some new treads

The Nexens are serious bargain and no longer a joke tire. I always prefer Michelin non X tires for my long wearing stuff or Continental

https://www.nexentireusa.com/tires/high-performance/n-fera-su1

this isn’t 200tw, but it has a 1yr or 2/32 tread warranty and includes free tow and tire change! 

The “n-fera su2” is 200tw though. (I think it’s pronounced “infer? Sue You 2!”)

I'm curious to know what today's fast tires are like to live with on the street since that's where my car spends 99.9% of its time.

Javelin said:

The Falken Azenis RT615K+ is long in the tooth and not as fast in the dry, but it wears great (so take them to track days) and they are still one of the best in the wet. I like them up here in the cold and rainy Pacific Northwest. Did not like them in the hot and dry Florida.

Good to hear, planning to run these on my M3 for mostly street and rare track days. Definitely deal with some rain here in Wisconsin.  Not many options in the sizes I run.

nderwater said:

I'm curious to know what today's fast tires are like to live with on the street since that's where my car spends 99.9% of its time.

They're the tire equivalent of a straight piped rotary engine.

If you want a tire you can live with, Firehawk Indy 500s if you're cheap, Pilot Super Sports if you aren't.  

In reply to red_stapler :

No 15”! What kind of future is this? Lol. 

Trackmouse said:

In reply to red_stapler :

No 15”! What kind of future is this? Lol. 

Continental Extremecontact Sport can be substituted for Pilots where applicable.

In the market for autocross tires as well, but in the also difficult 16" wheel size (with ~24: o.d.).  Right now leaning towards ZII Star Specs, although I'll accept they aren't the top tire these days. 2018 will be a "re-acclimation" season for me anyway. 

fwiw I did my first year of autocross on 14" star specs and they are a very good tire still

nderwater said:

I'm curious to know what today's fast tires are like to live with on the street since that's where my car spends 99.9% of its time.

I ran both RE71Rs and ZII Star Specs on the street on my Miata. The ZIIs wore longer and still had plenty of tread when I got rid of them after 2 seasons of autocross and 18k street miles but had turned hard as a rock and had no grip.. The RE71Rs were practically corded after 12 autocrosses and 8000 street miles, although part of that might have been due to cranking in a much more aggressive alignment. Both were easy to live with on the street (as long as temperatures were above 45) and I could do 70mph in the rain without any issue. Very noisy though, especially with it hucking every pebble and grain of sand up in to the wheel wells.

NickD said:

nderwater said:

I'm curious to know what today's fast tires are like to live with on the street since that's where my car spends 99.9% of its time.

I ran both RE71Rs and ZII Star Specs on the street on my Miata. The ZIIs wore longer and still had plenty of tread when I got rid of them after 2 seasons of autocross and 18k street miles but had turned hard as a rock and had no grip.. The RE71Rs were practically corded after 12 autocrosses and 8000 street miles, although part of that might have been due to cranking in a much more aggressive alignment. Both were easy to live with on the street (as long as temperatures were above 45) and I could do 70mph in the rain without any issue. Very noisy though, especially with it hucking every pebble and grain of sand up in to the wheel wells.

Seeing as how I'm shopping for tires for a fiberglass (fibreglass?  ) deathtrap, I hadn't thought about the erosion that might happen from the tires slinging up all the gravel on the road.

We ran Dunlops Z2s and RS3s on the LeMons Datsun.  Both wore well with the Dunlops coming out a little ahead in lap times.  I'd love to see a 225-45-15 Dunlop on the market.  Sure, they give up a little time to the RE71R or Rival S on both the autox and track, but they certainly last longer.  I was hoping that the Nitto would fill that void, but I've only heard negative reviews of them.  I guess the RS4 will have to do.

I just saw that the 245-40-15 RS4 is coming out.  It'd be interesting to see a comparison between that and the 225 on 15x9s.

Which of the current tires functions best in the rain? Not light mist, but proper standing water. I'm about to put tires back on the V wagon and with the miles I've been driving it makes the most sense to just get something functional and not swap wheels. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

IIRC, the "go-to" full-wet  tire was the Conti DW, but it seems those are NLA. 

In reply to Ian F :

I also need a 275-40-18 which isn't the world's most common size. 

Edit: Leaning toward the RS4. I just don't want to die in a sudden Houston downpour.