Tires make a difference
 

Did an autocross today with new tires and what a difference

I put Dunlop Direzza Star Spec's on my Boxster and could not be happier

One of the cars in my class that generally is around 3 seconds faster, was 3 seconds slower that me today. Compared to the rest of the field, I am usually around 15 seconds off the fastest cars that included 991 GT3's and other much more powerful Porsche's. Today, I was just 5 seconds slower!

The only thing I can attribute it to is the change in my tires

My next test will be at the track in late january

Yup, all the difference in the world!!

What tires were you running before you changed to the Dunlops?

Please keep us posted on the track day. I need to buy a new set of tires for the CSS in the spring. Been leaning towards SS's again but if there's a decent alternative that (hopefully) is cheaper, then I'm all ears.

Sweet!!!!!

i'll find out in April...
 

The Boxster had its tires replaced right before its winter sleep.
I had the worn out Bridgestone S02a rubber replaced, as the rears were nearly totally bald at the inside edges and howled mercilessly at speed.
The fronts weren't worn too badly, but they were 8 years old, and I figured it was about time.
The car was shod with a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports, for two reasons.
Firstly, they were rated very favourably on Tirerack and other sites, and secondly, I have a retired uncle that had an unused set of tire coupons that had to be used before year's end.
Nothing better than a roughly 25% discount on a set of premium tires. That and another $70 rebate directly from Michelin too.
Sadly, I'll have to wait until the spring to report on new tire awesomeness.

There is one thing better and that's winning a set of PSS which I did in the Werk's Facebook photo contest. I had been using Hankook and Sumitomo tires due to cost but these PSS are all they are cracked up to be. Ride quality, low noise and superb handling with the best warranty and customer service around. When the rears wear out this time I won't pinch pennies and I'll replace with a new set. You'll have fun with these.:cheers:

Sumi HTR ZIII.
They are great street tires, but not really meant for the track

Surprisingly, they were OK on the track, much better than the hankook V12's I had before them

Now the Sumi's were free as a brand new set came with the used 17" wheels I bought for $500.

I will be putting Sumi's on my 18" wheel for DD use

I autocrossed my 914-6 yesterday and spun probably 4 or 5 times. Running on 6 year old cheapos ...yes tires do make a difference! Been planning on getting new tires but wanted to do it after the AX - should have done it before. Oh well, it was still fun!

Anyone running Bridgestone 03 Pole Positions ? A 280 wear rating and a decent price currently on Tire Rack for 18's which is what I need.

Tires make more difference than anything else!

they are awesome, we got a little bit of snow here for a day and i could not resist giving them a try in the snow haha was surprised i was able to make it up the hill and down the road to the store and back no problem at all been driving on them all winter the lowest has been about 0 - 4 celsius

I can only give 2nd hand experience, I have heard nothing but good things about that tire.

Steve

Edit: My bad, the S-04 pole position was the one I was thinking, looks like there are several, although I bet they are all good.

Yay! It's all about the contact patch and for track days and AX the Star Spec, RS-3, RE-11, and AD08 are all a good choice. They have excellent grip and hold up well to the heat of continuous lapping. Far better than Michelin SS, or Bridgestone S-03/S-04 IMO.

The latter tires are great all around street tires with good grip and manners but suffer under track day continuous lapping or AX events.

Basically "Extreme Performance Summer" tires are going to do better at the track with the trade off being a UTQG rating of 200 or less plus they generally cost more then "Max Performance Summer" tires with a UTQG of about 260 to 320 and lower costs. For the track you gotta pay to play.

For the street the Sumi HTR Z III can't be beat for value.

Going with a BFG G-Force R1 track only tire I imagine is another huge jump in performance but then we are talking a UTQG rating of 40 and at that point the car is likily to need other mods to handle the huge grip potential.

Actually Hankook RS-3 are very comparable in price to Max Summer Tires like S0-4 and Super Sports. They are also a great value.

Yep, R1s need lots of negative camber and stiffer suspension to control the contact patch. Generally running R-comps to full effect requires about $4k or more in suspension work. Otherwise you just eat up the outer shoulders and kill em in one day.

It's a slippery slope I have slid down many times. :)

I noticed that about the RS-3.

In my car the driver still needs upgrades before even thinking about something like R-1's. Plus I'm out there to have fun first and don't want to take myself too seriously because as you said it becomes a slippery slope.

Are you talking about Super Sports in the snow ? I couldn't get out of my drive, and I would want to be driving around in traffic on them. It may be that they are brand new? Even the wet performance drops once you get to half tread depth.

Super sports are summer tires, not for use below 40 deg. You need either winter tires or all season

^ one year we had an unusually warm winter like this one. It was around Thanksgiving and I hadn't yet switched over to the winter tires. I left Manhattan at about 10 pm and it was about 45 degrees if memory serves but no wind chill. I drove back to NJ where the temps dropped quickly, I mean REAL fast. Within a single stretch of road, maybe a mile or two, it started to snow, and then it started really coming down. Oh boy was I in big trouble. My summer tires could not hold a straight line whatsoever. I had to drift the car off the highway practically side ways and dumped it at the bottom of the exit just off the main road.
Lesson learned... don't be an idiot. Keep summer rubber far from icy temps even if there's no snow in sight.

As for the autox tires, on my very first lap of Azenis I sliced 2.5 seconds off my time from the cheapo tires that a my Ebay-sourced BBS RK's came with.
I think they were Kuhmo Ecstas or something. TERRIBLE. They stepped out from the first corner to the last. Kinda of fun though on a closed enviornment like that.
With the Azenis the car was on rails. I also mounted smaller lighter wheels. Your first performance mod should always be adequate rubber.