I'm looking at using these for early and late auto cross here in new england. My 200 tw hankooks don't like april and october, so I was wondering about these tires to bookend the season. I was also wondering about some 300 tw tires as well. The 300 tw tires would be summer tires.
Any input would be appreciated!
Are these tires going to be dedicated for autocross? You can do a lot better than Indy 500s if you want something that works well in colder weather.
IIRC the gold standard is the non-snow Contis (I think extreme contact DW?), but I havent ever bothered. I think they are also supposed to be the best heavy rain autox tire out there (other than hoosier wets). I just ran whatever 200tw I had mounted, even at events where it was snowing (but not sticking to surface).
I learned the hard way to leave the F500 at home for colder events. Bias ply hoosiers no-likey the cold. Considering I have a mustang with a good heater as a backup car, i'm gonna go for that.
The Conti ECS is certainly a good performer in cold weather. They're not sketchy at all down to freezing (haven't driven them in anything colder). And even in the mid to high 30s, they're still good in the wet. They definitely get better as they warm up a bit, but they don't seem to turn into hockey pucks in any conditions I've tried them in.
In reply to red_stapler :
They would just be the tires that were on the car when the auto cross tires were not. I have to buy tires for this set of rims, so I was wondering if I could kill two birds with one tire. I can autocross on the hankooks, I just wondered if all season performance were any good in the cold.
thedoc said:In reply to red_stapler :
They would just be the tires that were on the car when the auto cross tires were not. I have to buy tires for this set of rims, so I was wondering if I could kill two birds with one tire. I can autocross on the hankooks, I just wondered if all season performance were any good in the cold.
Indy 500s aren't an all season, they're a 340tw summer.
Apexcarver said:IIRC the gold standard is the non-snow Contis (I think extreme contact DW?)
The DW has been 99% replaced by the ECS (ExtremeContact Sport). I say 99% because I think Tire Rack still has a single size left of the DW.
I love my Indy 500's but wouldn't call them an autox tire at any temp. Great mix of street performance and better in the cold and snow than my Sport Comp 2's though.
As mentioned, the 500's are not all season. Got them on the Abarth. Not terrible.
Thanks guys. I'm just going to get some summer tires on my other set of rims, save the hankooks for warmer days. I was stuck two years back and had nexen surg (sp) on the car. They were a nightmare in the cold and wet.
I am thrilled to even think about autocross in a few weeks!
buy high performance all seasons and have them shaved to 2/32"
I've autocrossed on a set of the Indy 500, and they're okay. I only took that car since the Miata had a dead battery.
Im very impressed with the tires on the street, and they were excellent in the rain when new.
We recently had an event with torrential rain, and the ES winner ran his Indy 500 street tires and crushed all of us.
You'll need to log in to post.
