Tire Information Thread

[CanadianR]

Thank you for the reply and info aw614, much appreciated.

I am starting off the season (2 events) on the stock suspension as I want to see how the car feels in it's stock configuration before I switch out to the Tein flex suspension I have here for it. Camber will be added at that point once Tein's are installed but for now the stock suspension will be aligned to stock specs for the start. I want to start stock and appreciate the differences the changes make as this is my first Type R. Ride height will not be lowered considerably as I do not want to roll the fenders.

I have read that the A052's are sized larger than indicated, in that case I think your suggestion of a 195/55/15 might be the ticket, even with the price premium. I think I remember reading that the 205/50 on an oem 15 can lead to a bit of a vague steering feel in some conditions due to its additional width. Not too concerned about wear and Im happy to try anything once.

[aw614]

Starting off on the stock suspension is the way to go, exactly what I did for for nearly 4 years with adding a camber kit sometime between those years to minimize front tire wear, starting about -2ish until I added the coilover sleeves to my bilsteins.

You are correct, the 205/50/15 on a 15x6 can be a little sloppy, but still usable with some handling being pinched better than others.

If you do get the 195/55/15s mounted on your stock wheels be sure to post pictures on how they look mounted and also any reports back on your experiences with them for others to see.

[coolhandluke]

Lots of good info here for a new owner!

I have been looking at the Advan A052 in 205/50R15 for my ITR on the OEM wheels. I will be lapping the car 2x/month once it is finished and I'm thinking these will be a good choice. Anyone with experience with them?

Is your suspension setup stock or close to stock? The A052 might not be ideal for you.

Based on what I've read from others on another forum, they are fast tires, but known to wear out quick and the (A052) 205/50/15 is known to run really close to a 225 width tire. From the posts from stock class levels of autocross, they like camber and not being pinched, on a 15x6.The 195/55/15 might work better on the stock wheels, but the cost of nearly 30 USD more on tire rack almost makes them not worth it. But the consensus is don't pinch them. If you can get left over stock re71rs or even BFG rival S 1.5s, those might work better on your Integra.

These are two good areas to revisit:
-Tire wear ratings fluctuate, sometimes, just to be allowed into certain classes
-Actual tread width varies by MFG or individual tires, as noted above

[Xian]

Lots of good info here for a new owner!

I have been looking at the Advan A052 in 205/50R15 for my ITR on the OEM wheels. I will be lapping the car 2x/month once it is finished and I'm thinking these will be a good choice. Anyone with experience with them?

Is your suspension setup stock or close to stock? The A052 might not be ideal for you.

Based on what I've read from others on another forum, they are fast tires, but known to wear out quick and the (A052) 205/50/15 is known to run really close to a 225 width tire. From the posts from stock class levels of autocross, they like camber and not being pinched, on a 15x6.The 195/55/15 might work better on the stock wheels, but the cost of nearly 30 USD more on tire rack almost makes them not worth it. But the consensus is don't pinch them. If you can get left over stock re71rs or even BFG rival S 1.5s, those might work better on your Integra.

These are two good areas to revisit:
-Tire wear ratings fluctuate, sometimes, just to be allowed into certain classes
-Actual tread width varies by MFG or individual tires, as noted above

Piggybacking onto this... but first a disclaimer: I haven’t been playing with cars much lately but still keep tabs on the hot tires. As such, the following info is not first hand experience like a lot of my prior feedback.

The new Yok’s are SOFT. All reports are that they wear quickly on autox cars and CAN wear really quickly on track cars. Like a lot of the softer tires, folks find that they have accelerated wear when they get hot. Track layout, setup, and driving style are huge contributors to wear rate. The same can be said of the new(er) Falken. I’ve got a buddy who killed a set in a single track weekend (2 drivers, both tough on tires). In comparison, tires that a few years ago were considered “fast wearing” are now the go-to for a longer lasting 200TW option (like the Rival-S).

Sidewall design and stiffness are all over the place still. You can pinch tires but wear suffers... you may be able to put power down a little better or corner a bit faster (depending on stretched vs pinched) but find that lap times don’t change. The only way to know what’s fastest for you is to test, test, test. IMO, the safe bet is to get something that’s pretty square relative to the wheel width so the turn-in doesn’t feel like a bag of smashed assholes.

As new options come out, I’d expect wear rates to continue to increase... because, as Ryan mentioned, there’s a ton of wiggle room on how tires are rated. Based on my experience plus what I’ve read/heard/discussed with folks closer to the manufacturer side than I am, the actual requirements to hit the “200” metric are pretty easy. Hypothetically a grooved Hoosier R7 could be rated at 200TW... yes, really.

Speaking of Hoosiers, I haven’t run them for years and years but folks are getting fantastic track wear rates out of them relative to the current crop of 200TW’s. I think we’re getting dangerously close to coming full circle here...

[coolhandluke]

I pulled the trigger on new tires for the RS today. After price shopping, the OEM Pilot Cup Sport 2 were inline with other tire options in the Extreme Performance Summer category like the Hankook RS4, Bridgestone RE71R, and Advan AD08R's. Here is my cost breakdown (pre-tax) w/ rebates:
-AD08R: +$55
-Pilot Sport Cup 2: Benchmark
-RE71R: -$77*
-RS4: -$14
*Added tire warranty for equal cost comparison across

Given this car does not see the track but is mainly a weekend/hobby car, I leaned heavily on my experience with the OE tire.

[Sporky82]

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

[aw614]

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

Are you running additional camber up front? With the RE71R being discontinued, I think I will be going with the RT660s in a few months also because of the price. Any impressions on wet performance in comparison to any other tires you've run?

[Sporky82]

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

Are you running additional camber up front? With the RE71R being discontinued, I think I will be going with the RT660s in a few months also because of the price. Any impressions on wet performance in comparison to any other tires you've run?

Camber is set to -2.6 front and -1.5 rear, still figuring out the right camber settings for this course but at this setting tire Temps were pretty even across the surface.

I wouldn't say these have the greatest wet traction, the week before the event I was putting some kms on the tires to break them in and in the rain on the highway they did not like any sort of pooling water, on the track with a damp surface I pushed in majority of the corners and forget about using the throttle, could feather it a tad but the combination of cold track surface, damp/wet sessions these were less than ideal. Had fun spinning 2nd and majority of third gear to redline trying to accelerate out of few corners.

[coolhandluke]

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

...With the RE71R being discontinued, I think I will be going with the RT660s in a few months also because of the price. Any impressions on wet performance in comparison to any other tires you've run?

This was news to me! Now we need to research and post up the impending replacement options.

[aw614]

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

...With the RE71R being discontinued, I think I will be going with the RT660s in a few months also because of the price. Any impressions on wet performance in comparison to any other tires you've run?

This was news to me! Now we need to research and post up the impending replacement options.

Tirerack has some remaining stock left on closeout with some specific sizes. So it might be worth picking up a set if they are cheap. But they've been on closeout since late fall/early winter so some sizes may not have the same discount or many are left.

300 kms and one track day on my RT660's and they seem to be holding up well. I guess with the first batch they had issues with the center rib delaminating. But with the front tires lowered to 30 psi and rears at 32 psi even a cold/wet day at the track they seemed to perform well. Few dry runs and hot some heat in the tires and they felt good. Not bad for a "cheaper" tire. Running 215/45R16 on JDM ITR wheels

Are you running additional camber up front? With the RE71R being discontinued, I think I will be going with the RT660s in a few months also because of the price. Any impressions on wet performance in comparison to any other tires you've run?

Camber is set to -2.6 front and -1.5 rear, still figuring out the right camber settings for this course but at this setting tire Temps were pretty even across the surface.

I wouldn't say these have the greatest wet traction, the week before the event I was putting some kms on the tires to break them in and in the rain on the highway they did not like any sort of pooling water, on the track with a damp surface I pushed in majority of the corners and forget about using the throttle, could feather it a tad but the combination of cold track surface, damp/wet sessions these were less than ideal. Had fun spinning 2nd and majority of third gear to redline trying to accelerate out of few corners.

Thanks for the insight, the wet conditions don't seem too different from other 200tw tires, something that can get you by if you drive to and from events and it starts raining.