Learn me autox tires

I went to an autox today and in typical noob fashion I plowed a few cones and whatnot and had one hell of an amazing time, thanks to everyone at SNYR SCCA, it was awesome. I also need new tires. I'm on the original tires that came with my RX8 5 years ago (I think bridgestone maybe, run flats of some kind), and they are wayyyy worn out. What would GRM buy? I don't drive this car much at all, if I could get 10-15k street miles out of a set they would likely last me many years. I want to stay in the stock class. A lot of people there had star specs i noticed, they all spoke highly of them, but tirerack doesn't show them in a size that fits my wheels which are 19" x 8". I'd prefer not to buy new wheels. I'd also prefer not to break the bank, but since all 19" tires cost a bloody fortune I don't care so much about the price.

What say GRM?

Really any of them in the 200tw range.

If you aren't concerned about being ST-legal, but want same performance range, same wear range, and much less price, look into Federal 595 RS-R if they're available in your size.

Otherwise, RE71R, RS3, R1R, ZII, RE720, Rival.

I would suggest to not start out with the hottest street tire since you don't know how to race yet (most likely), but that's ok. Also, they likely won't last as long in case you end up not wanting to autocross more than one season. I would suggest you go with either BF Goodrich Sport Comp 2, Continental ExtremeContact DW, or Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position. They are good street summer tires and good at the auto-x for beginners, and they're relatively inexpensive in 225/40R19. I have the Continentals on my Camaro, and they're great.

Is the RX-8 your DD? What size tire do you have now?

If the car isn't your DD and you don't mind tires which will wear out (maybe 10,000 miles depending on your frequency of racing/alignment/etc) then I can't really recommend anything other than the Bridgestone RE-71. They really are better that anything else out there right now so why handicap yourself?

Also, get out there and race! Travel around a bit, take some road trips to events, get seat time and have fun.

Swank Force One wrote: Really any of them in the 200tw range. If you aren't concerned about being ST-legal, but want same performance range, same wear range, and much less price, look into Federal 595 RS-R if they're available in your size. Otherwise, RE71R, RS3, R1R, ZII, RE720, Rival.

This is sound advice. Do this and all you need to work on is your driving. Don't skimp on tires as it is the easiest way to drop time, besides improving your driving.

The RX8 is not my DD, i put -maybe- 1000 miles on it in an average summer. The tire size is right now is 225/40-19

Are these the RS3's mentioned earlier?:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+R-S3+%28Version+2%29&partnum=24WR9Z222V2&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Mazda&autoYear=2009&autoModel=RX-8&autoModClar=R3

Those fit my car and are suspiciously cheap. what's the catch?

also star specs (the ones recommended at the event) come in 245/40-19, a little wider than the tires I have now, but would they work? or are they too fat?

The stock size is 225/45/18. I have 245/40/18 ZII star specs on my RX-8 right now, but I did have to roll the rear fenders a little. 245/40/19 is probably a little big. I would go 225/40/19 or 245/35/19 to be closer to stock size.

Rufledt wrote: Are these the RS3's mentioned earlier?: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+R-S3+%28Version+2%29&partnum=24WR9Z222V2&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Mazda&autoYear=2009&autoModel=RX-8&autoModClar=R3 Those fit my car and are suspiciously cheap. what's the catch?

I can tell from the link that they're the RS3s i'm talking about. Good tires. No idea if the price is good or not though, since Tire Rack's new site doesn't work at all on any of my non-Windows devices.

tomtomgt356 wrote: The stock size is 225/45/18. I have 245/40/18 ZII star specs on my RX-8 right now, but I did have to roll the rear fenders a little. 245/40/19 is probably a little big. I would go 225/40/19 or 245/35/19 to be closer to stock size.

I think he has an R3, but yes i would suggest a 245/35-19 if you need to go wider on stock wheels. I'd probably just roll stock size on this thing for the time being unless wider is cheaper.

Yes i have an R3. I don't want to roll the fenders at all, i don't think it's allowed in the stock class anyway. I can only find the RS3's in my stock size so i'll probably go with that just by process of elimination. I looked at the stock rules and it says I can go 1" smaller on the wheels as long as they are the same width and about the same offset, but I don't have space for another set of wheels laying around, plus the whole money thing. Besides, i'd still need to buy new tires for these wheels anyway since they are about bald.

At least I got a good run out of my original tires, most people on RX8 club say they get 12k out of R3 tires, I got 15k on these!

Also I think i figured out the price thing, many of the tires listed were runflats (including the ones that came on this car) and they are way more expensive. Still, the RS3's are about the cheapest good ones that fit. It seems like all the performance tires are for small diameters or wider wheels.

I ran 245/35 19 with my R3 on track with no issues at all. And they were a fat 245.

The "catch" with the RS3 is that they suck in the cold and in the rain, which in upstate NY, you will have to deal with at the beginning and end of the seasons. They don't really start to come in until ambient is over 75 or 80 and track temp is over 100-110.

Other than that they are a good match for your car.

that explains why the RS3 V2's say they changed something to make them heat up faster. Don't know if it works, but it seems the marketing department knows about that issue! Oh well, the only recommended tires that come in the stock size pretty much sells it for me. I'm going to try to get my local shop to price match, I could probably have them by the glen region autox school I want to go to.

RS3 V2s are not bad at all, I'm driving on them now, but the hot tires of the moment are the BFG Rival S and the Bridgestone RE-71R. If you can get either of those they will outperform the RS3s at autocross. Apparently the RS3 v2 is giving up a second on a large course to those two tires.

Dragged my feet a bit too long and RS3 v2 prices on tirerack went up

I looked up your suggestions again but by type of tire instead of size and the only other one in a similar size is the RE-71R at 225/35-19 (vs. 225/40-19). Its still $200 a set more than the RS3 V2's, but is the performance gain worth the price for a noob who isnt going to be winning any championships anytime soon? Ive heard conflicting arguements here, get best tires vs dont get top tires just yet. $200 could pay for a few more events but time is the main problem there not money.

On the other hand ill have these tires for years at the amount I drive this car. any advice?

Also looking at the tires I have now, the outer half is worn more than the inner half. Not a ton, but enough to notice with the naked eye. should I get an alignment with a little more camber, or could I expect the new tires to behave differently?

I think most people are telling you to not get the fastest/softest tires for two reasons. The first is that, until you learn to slow down for corners, you will push a lot, which will wear out your expensive new skins pretty quickly. Second, if you start on less sticky tires, you will learn more car control. From a purely a "being fast at autocross" standpoint, this may not be the best situation, because stickier tires require a different driving style, so you will basically have to learn how to drive twice.

My recommendation is based on your goals. Do you want to become a better all-around driver? Get the cheaper tires. Do you want to become competitive as soon as possible? Get stickies.

I know this doesn't really help, but I hope it's slightly more than useless.

That's a good distinction.

In reply to snailmont5oh: Actually, I was the only one to suggest getting slower summer tires, mostly since the OP is a beginner.

in this case, the "slower" tire is not all that much slower … it is equal to last yrs top tires .. for that much money saved, I'd run the RS3's until my driving got to the point where I was wishing for more grip to go play with the big boys

I might even look for less expensive tires that would hold up to the abuse of a-x … last yrs Rival's … Dunlop SS's … (TR has/had the Rival's on close out sale) .. then I'd go to as many schools as I could … go to as many a-x's as I could … get some of the big boys to ride with me, drive my car, give me feed back … sorta make each a-x an a-x school … after a season of this… maybe even a couple of seasons, then I'd start looking for the fastest tires I could get

just my 2¢… good luck learning to live with the addiction that is "racing in parking lots"

I will say it's super rare to roll the fenders on the rx8, hell people at nationals are running a 275/35 on the stock 8" rim, this car can take some tire.

Personally I think your best bet is some continental DW tires, I say this because at a track day a guy with a clone R3 of my car was running some RE-11's and I was on the stock RE-050a's and I still had him by about a second, guy was nice enough just blown away a sport beat the top of the line R3.

Learn what your car will do first at the limit then put on sticky tires after say a season, trust us, it's worth it.

Adding one more brand to the performance/value mix you should look at the Falken 615K's. They are still not going to be your DD rain friendly choice, but I did have a set on my car for the VARA school at Buttonwillow on a damp morning track on Sunday.

I have used them at autocross events and have overtaken cars that I use as benchmarks. The first time was a pleasant surprise, but it is now been a total of five events. For the money, they have made a difference.

At this moment, since you're not on the pointy end anyways, i wouldn't pay an extra $200 for RE71Rs over RS3s.

For that matter, i'd also be looking at even cheaper, like the Federal 595 RS-R if it's in your size. It's a 140tw tire, so not technically legal in ST class, but if your local people are so srs bzns that they care even if you aren't winning the trophies, then i wouldn't want to hang out with them anyways.

They seem to wear about the same as RS3s, will be much cheaper, and nearly as fast.