XL autocross tires vs regular load rated tires in the same size?

I'm trying to find a good autocross tire for my 15x6 rims for my 06 Focus wagon.  It has a good bit of body roll with maybe -1deg front camber.  The factory 195/60R15 tire has a 87 load rating, but for a couple years I ran some sport comp 2's in 195/55R15 with a 85 LR.  They worked great on the street at 35psi but needed low 40s psi on the front for autocross to stay off the sidewalls most of time and they could overheat the shoulder at the end of a run.  Would switching to a 89 load rated XL tire in 195/55R15 change anything?  I think I'd have to run the same pressures unless the sidewall is much stiffer?  

Also I could run a 205/50 with an xl 89 load rating like a Falken RT615K +, but I read running a 205 on a 6" rim this could be a waste, but perhaps the extra load rating might help? 

I'm very tempted to try some Sailun ATREZZO R01 SPORT in 195/55R15 with an 89 load rating as they are 60% the price of the SC2's or RT615k+ and are marketed to be comparable to the 200tw tires.  

Here's a pic of my former 2007 wagon that had the SC2's in action!

Switching away from the SC2 to an actual autocross tire will do more than any load rating differences. The SC2s in particular are not up for the task on the front end of a soft fwd car. I melted most of the outer tread blocks off of the front tires on my fiesta st over the course of like 10 runs. Even among the 300TW crowd there's better options, but I'd probably go with the falkens.

We ran a 205/50/15 set of 615's for years on both our Focus ZX3's on stock rims.  Never had any issues, tires werent too wide for stock roms

We also ran a 225/50/15 R compound on the stock wheels for a bit when a used set came up cheap.  Again just fine for our purpose.

Are you bound in stock class wheel requirements? Do you mind swapping wheels before an event or at an event?

205/50R15's are stupid cheap though since every Civic and Spec Miata runs them. There are also a huge selection in that size from popularity so alot of cheap choices for 200tw rated stuff like the Federal RS-RR($340 shipped a set).

Grab a set of 15x7 wheels from DTD or Tire Rack and slap some 205/50's on them. DTD has some 15" and 16" wheels that are under $140/ea shipped. My personal choice would be the Sparco Terra in 4x108, 63.4mm hub bore and 4x108 bolt pattern. They are a +40mm offset to widen the stance a little but they are still under 16lbs per wheel. I ran them on my Fiesta ST for a while and loved them. Eventually going wider for more tire under the car.

Or find someone liquidating their stock Fiesta ST wheels. The ST wheels are 17x7  +49mm 4x108, which are the same size, bolt pattern and offset as the 2003-2004 SVT Focus along with being able to fit any other 4 lug Focus. You can sometimes find them with the sticky OE Bridgestones RE050A for under $400 on Facespace Marketplace.

What are your goals / expectations on autoX performance?  None of the tires you mention is worth a look if wanting to be anything other than casually having fun.  Current hotness is Yoko A052s, Rival 1.5s, and the new Falken 660s.  I prefer the RE71Rs (RIP) for the stiff sidewall / crisp turn-in.  Rivals like more slip angle, A052s are $$$ and seem to be happiest on lots of camber / needs lots of longitudinal bite cars.  Hankook RS4s are off the pace, but the enduro teams seem to like them for wearing well.  A052s are reporting death after 60runs from some heavy FWD / no camber cars, so that one may not be the droid for you.

Also, in use on a (i assume) Street class Focus - you are a little-to-no camber FWD car.  It's going to eat outside shoulders.

How's your driving?  I recall when I started, in my NC Miata, I also ran 45PSI "to stay off the sidewalls".  In reality, I was ham-fisting the front of the car.  Once I learned to use brakes to slow (not just push the front to scrub speed), and to set up for corners early (instead of ALL THE WHEEL!  I'm A DRIVIN'!) I was able to steadily drop pressure and not destroy outside shoulders every weekend.

rkammerer said:

What are your goals / expectations on autoX performance?  None of the tires you mention is worth a look if wanting to be anything other than casually having fun. 

I feel like the first sentence and the photo answer that question.

In reply to rkammerer :

Good points to bring up everyone, I have been club champ once years ago and actually finished a close 2nd one year with the focus wagon and SC2's but we are a small fun club, not many were building their cars to the rule book, and we had some smaller venues, so staying in H street was an advantage. 

Now our local club has a bigger venue and decided to just lump everybody into the street touring classes as most people have modded their car to roughly into those classes, so the days of my car doing well are over and I'm just looking for a better replacement of my dead SC2's for cheap.  The next club over still uses the full range of classing so if I stay in H street then I can get a bit of an idea how I'm driving in their events.  Or I can get some 17x7 fiesta ST wheels and get a 205 tire working better on them and finish a bit better in STU and have a sharper handling car. 

I guess I liked to do well locally with a POS car and street tires, but those stars aren't in alignment anymore, no matter which tires I get.  Sorry for publicly airing my analysis paralysis!