Best of the rest... or would you rather...

Currently our (stock) 128i is on Sumitomo HTR3 tires (TW300). My wife and I are fairly close in times, despite these tires, to those on more AX accepted rubber. Oh, either 225/45/17 or 235/40/17's is all that I think I could get on my 8" rims without too much rollover.

Although I'd love to buy either the RE71 or Rival S for our BMW 128i for our autocross season, I'm afraid the 120 mile round trip (at least... there's one event that's probably closer to 300miles round trip) commute, would eat up those tires real fast between the commutes and dual drivers. Two seasons of use... is this even a possibility? Through in a HPDE event or two that we'd like to attend. I'm thinking that these two would be toast before the end of the season.

What does the hive like for more "endurance" minded AX rubber... Hankook RS3's, Falken 615K's, Nitto NT05's? The Yokohomo's and Toyo R1R's look good, but since they're TW180 (not 200), I don't think they're stock class friendly in SCCA.

Both the Falken's and Nitto's seem long in the tooth as far as revisions, am I wrong? Seems like they're popular in Crapcan racing and time trials?

What does the hive think?

You need an extra set of racing wheels. And a little trailer to carry them on. Or find a way to pack 4 wheels with tires and a jack in the car. Then you change to the racing wheel/tires at the track.

You have a few options

If none of those options work for you. It looks like the RS3s hold up well locally.

No first hand knowledge of this but just casual observation of my friends' cars at autocross.

I do know the Dunlop Z2 lasts well but I didn't like it on my Miata. YMMV

Here you will find what I wrote about my RE71s that have 4,500 street/hyw miles and about 4-6 autox events. I consider them to be half worn.

I would get a second set of rims.. but I doubt I would take them to the track. I would consider putting them on just to do the commute to the AX, the AX, and then return.. that is all I would use them for. Keep your current tyres for regular DD use

Oh. These are the second set of rims, and they do commute only the day of to and from the auto cross. I guess I should add I'm in the Seattle area. Plenty of cold, wet events to drive too. I'm not really wanting to do tire changes at the event, so no racks or trailers. I'm not going to be national champion, but we just like to have fun. Looking to step our game up a bit. New struts and tires are where we're at now.

How many autocross events do you consider to be a "season"? That makes a huge difference. If you do like 5 events you will be more than fine. Last year I put 160 runs on my RE71r and they were not dead yet. I also drove them all over the place, including commuting, and like 27 events all of which were 50-150 miles away.

They still make the original rival.

The r1r was 200 treadwear last I checked.

The hankooks are good, but I like the rivals better for trackdays.

4Msfam wrote: Oh. These are the second set of rims, and they do commute only the day of to and from the auto cross. I guess I should add I'm in the Seattle area. Plenty of cold, wet events to drive too. I'm not really wanting to do tire changes at the event, so no racks or trailers. I'm not going to be national champion, but we just like to have fun. Looking to step our game up a bit. New struts and tires are where we're at now.

+3 or 4.

I really dislike changing tires at the event. Especially if I am running street tires as my event tire. I would think you will be totally fine running any top of the line autox 'street tire' 200-300 miles on the street each autox day. Compared to the event itself, I don't think you will see really any wear from the commute to and from the event.

We run probably about 6 - 7 events per year, plus two "skills days," and if I'm lucky, an autocross beginner school as well.. and this is a dual driver car, so double all that a season? I can't find any retailers for the original spec Rival.. Tirerack doesn't list them being available. OR maybe not in my size?

Decisions, decisions. Although, truth be told, I think anything would be better than the tires I'm running now.

I got close to 30k out of my z1 *specs on wholly aggressive driving and the retarded camber specs my car liked. Id imagine the z2 is similar.

Ok, bit the bullet and ordered some BFG Rival S's... hope they come in before the Memorial Day event. Per Tirerack they're a bit better in the cooler weather here. I'll update this after I get some time in with them. Thanks!

mndsm wrote: I got close to 30k out of my z1 *specs on wholly aggressive driving and the retarded camber specs my car liked. Id imagine the z2 is similar.

Z2 and the z2 star specs suck compared to the original....

I think it is Jackson racing that sells the original rivals.

wvumtnbkr wrote:

mndsm wrote: I got close to 30k out of my z1 *specs on wholly aggressive driving and the retarded camber specs my car liked. Id imagine the z2 is similar.

Z2 and the z2 star specs suck compared to the original.... I think it is Jackson racing that sells the original rivals.

Sad panda. The z1s were brilliant.

ANY BFG distributor can get you non-S Rivals, you just have to ask for them. Or better still, give them the BFG part number (from the BFG website) you want and have them order them.

In the scheme of things tires are cheap. Running one set of rubber all summer long means not having to swap wheels over and over. Put the sticky rubber on the car and drive it.

Interesting about the Non S Rivals... the rep at Tirerack specifically said they weren't available anymore, and they were having fulfillment issues with "most of the other sizes" in the "S." Shopping around, none of the big distributors advertise the Rival. Discount Tire (whom I've had great service locally) didn't list either of the Rivals. I called my local DT, and after a quick check with their warehouse in CA, was able to have Rival S's shipped free to me, and at a very competitive (cheaper) price. Since I bought the tires from them, I'll also save on mounting fees.

Thanks for the tip about asking around, even if they weren't the standard Rivals.

In reply to 4Msfam: One of my local hotshoes said that the original Rival sucked compared to the RE71R and the Z2, so you will be good with the Rival S.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to 4Msfam: One of my local hotshoes said that the original Rival sucked compared to the RE71R and the Z2, so you will be good with the Rival S.

The original rivals are better at track days. The rival S wear quicker and are better for autox.

Just to update this thread. Had a great RAINY time this weekend with the local PCA chapter. My wife and I got second and third for the time only BMW group. I was pretty happy to be only beat out by an e90 M3. The Rival S's worked very well in the water. Never had time to get up to temp, but did way better than I would've expected. They ride even smoother than our normal Bridgestone runflats, and seemed pretty quiet as well. Overall, a great thumbs up. Can't wait to try them in the dry.

Here's a video of my wife finding the edge of adhesion (spinning off into the grass at the end), Wife finds the edge of adhesion Sorry about the wind noise. I love the fact that she's laughing at the end!