I need to decide within a day or two on which to get. This will be my first set of R comps. I am tired of going through S02's. I am not even getting 5000 miles out of my rears when I do hpde's. Also, the last couple times I went I asked my instructor if I was ready and he said yes. Its that time of year again so I will drop the $ on some R comps. These will be going on stock oem 16's.

After doing a few searches, I have come up with the RA-1's have no heat cycling issues. They are sticky from start to finish and seem to be the choice of majority as they last awhile too (tread). The michelins have the need to be heated up and take awhile to do so. They last just as long, if not longer than the ra-1's. Also, the michelins are a lil stickier. do the michelins have heat cycling (like after 15 cycles, they lose grip)?

I myself do about 5-8 track weekends a year. I would do more but school gets in the way. This year I only see myself doing 4 hpde weekends, maybe 5 but thats it. The reason why I have to decide soon is I have two deals going on...

OEM Wheels with Michelins mounted and balanced = 900 shipped (used for 1 HPDE day, 4 half hr sessions)
or
OEM Wheels = 300, RA1's = 630 to my door, Mount and Balance = 60...total of 990


suspension mods to my S if that matters:
-kg/mm coilovers
-cusco front and rear swaybars

Thanks for the help!

 

RA-1s (shaved since full tread has way to much tire squirm at first)

 

I think the Pilots are pretty expensive. Stick with the Toyos.

 

I run RA-1s. Good tire for a track car.

Barry H.

 

RA-1s

I had the Michelins and I was not impressed with them at all. They where really narrow and I was disappointed in their grip of these tires.

 

My friend has RA1's on his Evo and they stick like ******* crazy, he did say the same thing about them having too much squirm on full tread when he did a road race day on them, they have lasted him a long time too since he drives them daily!

 

Both are excellent choices.

We race our S2000 on RA1's and love them.

PSC's are good once they get up to temp, but that takes a long time. Before then, they can bite you!

 

a freind of mine runs his S2k on the RA1's he loves it. He started out unshaved also, i seem to remeber him saying he wished he would have goten them shaved

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am tired of going through S02's. I am not even getting 5000 miles out of my rears when I do hpde's. </TD></TR></TABLE>


If you're tired of going through S02s, get ready to go through more RA1s than S02s, but you probably already know that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Another Drew &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


If you're tired of going through S02s, get ready to go through more RA1s than S02s, but you probably already know that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

that i understand and am willing. one set of RA1's will last me my 4-5 track weekends per yr. i would rather have my s02's as daily drivers. i did a cost/benefit and getting the ra1's have a small edge. anyone know where it will be best and cheapest to get the ra1's in my sizes shaved to 4/32?

 

Michelin Pilot Sport are excellent tires, more grip when warm than RA-1's and they will last longer but cost more. I think they are worth the extra money over the RA-1's due to extra life, so dollar per mile is better with the Michelin's, as is grip. RA-1's are an excellent tire as well, and much better when unshaved in the rain than the Michelin's. I drove a few years on the Sport Cups on FWD and RWD cars, and last year ran on Hoosier's R3S03's bought at sale price. Michelin's are about equal to Hoosiers for lap time and once my last set of Hoosiers are worn out, I am switching back to Michelin's as they cost less to run than Hoosier's. People running Honda's tend not to buy Michelin's due to high cost, but they are very popular with the Porsche crowd. They also seem to make some rather good Formula 1 tires.

 

just a quick question .... i have seen the Toyo's do excellent. but to the drivers who said Toyo over Michelin cup... have you ever driven the Michelin cup? the new PS2 tire i hear is the best tire PERIOD tested by a variety of magazines.

thanks!
-CJ

 

I just ordered a set of Michelin PS2's for a WRX, as I believe they are the absolute all around best street tires. But these are road tires, and I have never used them on the track, as I only currently use R compounds. I know some people who have used the older model of Michelin's top street tire, the Pilot Sport, and they were very happy with them on the track. These new and old Pilot Sports do not of course compare to R compounds, such as Toyo RA-1's, Michelin Pilot Sport Cups or Hoosiers. They are a different animal, and the R-compounds are not always your friend in the wet on the track, although full tread RA-1's are quite good in the wet, and they all wear a lot faster than street tires, in exchange of which you get more grip. I would think the PS2's would make for a very good street/track tire. Too bad they don't make them in 15" sizes for Hondas.

On an interesting note, I found a price from onlinetries.com for the 225/45/17 PS2's of $160, and Tirerack's web site listed them at a just increased price of $176 each. So I called my favorite guy there, Luke Pavlick, and asked him if he would price match. He checked around, saw price from his competitor was legit, and he cut me the same deal. Highly recommended guy there.

 

Oh this is for a track car... not street. Toyo full treads are a great intermediate tire from what i have seen when the weather is a little nasty and it's too wet for the hoosiers... the full wet tires from hoosier is an excellent tire but not unless it's really raining. Im just trying to find a good dry tire that can out shine the hoosier if possible or atleast last longer than it.

thanks

 

Faster and longer lasting than the Hoosier is asking a lot for a track tire. You may not be able to drive any faster on the Hoosier than on a PSC or whatever, but the time is there to be had.

You could always try Kumho V710's, mine are wearing super well, way better than I expected and are a bunch cheaper than the Hoosier. Downside is you'd have to un-stagger the sizes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JRDbuilt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh this is for a track car... not street. Toyo full treads are a great intermediate tire from what i have seen when the weather is a little nasty and it's too wet for the hoosiers... the full wet tires from hoosier is an excellent tire but not unless it's really raining. Im just trying to find a good dry tire that can out shine the hoosier if possible or atleast last longer than it.

thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

And you've raced on all these tires, no?

You should really worry about having a car and knowing how to drive it before you search for a better performance tire than the standard quo.

 

sean your not even worth the response

 

It took you five days to come up with THAT?

 

i specifically remember being in a students car (as a passenger), which also was a S2000 and he had some michelin pilot sport cups or something and i was impressed on how solid the car felt. he was going hpde pace, not race pace of course. this was later in the day too, so no squirminess.

this was about 2 years ago, not sure if this is the same tire being discussed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
not sure if this is the same tire being discussed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup same tire. Michelin Pilot Sport Cups are very good and they last long making their very high price worthwhile. I got almost 1.25 g's on my datalogger at the Glen in my ITR on these tires. Corners are banked, so g's are higher than on flat corners, but there is no better feeling than 1.25 g's.

Lateral g plot from my Race Technology DL-90 at the Glen. Vertical axis is plus or minus 1.25 g's. (add .orig.jpg to properties of the picture and paste into a address of a new browser window to see larger image)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by descartesfool &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yup same tire. Michelin Pilot Sport Cups are very good and they last long making their very high price worthwhile. I got almost 1.25 g's on my datalogger at the Glen in my ITR on these tires. Corners are banked, so g's are higher than on flat corners, but there is no better feeling than 1.25 g's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed. I have them on the ///M3 and they are awesome.

"Hoosiers for the street."

 

what was done to ITR?

just curious

 

i wound up with a new set of toyo's. the michelin's were stored over winter and i am not sure if they properly. i didn't want to take the chance that they weren't. i'll see how these are hopefully next weekend at beave run

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JRDbuilt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what was done to ITR?

just curious</TD></TR></TABLE>

at the time of that chart (2003)

Michelin Pilot Sport Cups 225/50/15, rolled fenders
Team Dynamics Pro Race 15x7x45mm offset wheels
Advance Design coil-overs, car lowered about 1.5", corner balanced
Eibach 550F/650R
Skunk 2 A-arms
Ingalls rear camber link
camber -2.5 front, -1.7 rear, 1/16 toe out F, 0 R
Autopower anti-roll bar & 5 point belts
partially stripped interior, 2500 lbs wet no driver
Cobalt Friction Spec VR pads, stock brakes

I think that was about it, lap time was 2:25 with completely stock power-train, and 1.25g's! Car felt really hooked up, like it was on rails. It is better now. More mojo, harder bushings, better brakes, etc. Then again, more mojo meant I blew an axle at the Glen last year and didn't get to run there for more than a few laps. We'll see how the Hoosiers go there this year. And when they're gone, it's back to Sport Cups for a while at least.

 

Now, here is a silly question. Are you planning to drive on those tires to the track? Or how are you planning to carry them there to the track. Just curious.

I'd probably would go with A032R in hard compound because I'm lazy like that.