I'm thinking of maybe bumping from HS with my 89 civic SI to STS, and i was wondering about tires. I see you can use up to a 7.5" wide wheel, and up to 225 tires. Is it worth trying to get 225 wide tires up front with 205 in the rear? Or 225 all around? Do they make a 215? I know Azenis isn't the only tire, but many people run them. What are you guys doing that are in STS?

P.S. I just realized that falken doesn't have the old rt-215 in 225, but the new rt-615 is suppose to be.

 

Do a little searching, there are a TON of posts regarding this topic here and on sccaforums.com alone. The reality is, at this point nobody knows the absolute hot set up with the influx of new tires this season.

 

Well I did read up on it a little, but all i could find was that the new azenis 615 are better than the 215, but they might not be worth the extra money. Dunno about the hankook though. The 225 azenis 615 won't be out till 4th quarter of this year, so I guess i'll just wait and see.

 

Isn't the new Azenis available in a 215/40 16? I seem to remember that they have a 16" offering that's wider than the outgoing 205/50 15 but with a smaller overall diameter?

Christian, who didn't pay too much attention since they're "just" street tires

 

Worse yet, only a 205/40/16 which is narrower than the the 205/50/15 by ~.4in according to Falkens spec sheet. 215/45/16 is scheduled but who knows when it will arrive.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Xian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Isn't the new Azenis available in a 215/40 16? I seem to remember that they have a 16" offering that's wider than the outgoing 205/50 15 but with a smaller overall diameter?

Christian, who didn't pay too much attention since they're "just" street tires </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

No one seems to make a good size tire for Civics/Integras. The OD is around 23.3 and the only "wide" tire is the 205 50 15 unless you go to a racing tire...STS so thats out of the question.
I do know the 225 45 15 fits in the Integra wheel wells but again its a racing tire. So really the only option right now is the 205 50 15, 205 40 17 or the 16" already mentioned.

 

What about hankook or kumho? Apparently on the west coast, some guys are doing quite well with those. And i think the hankook comes in a 215 wide tire.

 

Killa-x.... Are you planning on going to Nationals this year??? If not there is no definative answer that one tire is any better than onother right now. Check this years ProSolo and Tour results. The ST classes are all super close. I have both sets of Azenis mounted up right now and I kinda like the old one better, as the new one needs a different setup and we are having problems with sites right now. So really there is no magic tire for the ST classes. You do need a wheel that is no less that 7 inches though, but if you have that the MX, 215, 615, or RS2 should all be about the same.

This is just my oppinion, but I finished 2nd on old full tread Azenis to a driver on worn out MX's at the Atlanta Tour is STS2

Michael

 

I am not a national level competitor, nor am I a regional competitor, BUT I do want to find out what tires are working for the national people, because if it works for them, it should work for all of us as well. Currently I am in HS, but I should probably be in STS. I want to find out what wheels and tires to get before I go ahead and buy them. Buying 15in wheels, then finding out that the 16in tires work best would really put a damper on my budget. Anyways, guess I'll just wait and see what the national guys figure out because I have a new set of 14" azenis to burn up first.

 

Well right now there is no clear winner in the ST tire arena.

Here are a few other things to look at. If you are to look at the national level events you will see guys on all different brands and sizes. Plus the 615's, MX's and Rs2's all have softer sidewalls and need to be on a 7.5 inch wheel to help stiffen the side wall (15x7.5 that is). Its been fairly well documented that the 215 didnt benifit from the wider wheel. BUT all STREET TIRES will benifit greatly from being saved down to aprox 4/32". At a local level you have to ask yourself do I wan to spend the money to make these tires the best they can be with $300+ per wheel and and extra $25 per tire to have them shaved, and the fact once they are shaved you have to watch how much you run them and how many street miles if any are put on them.

Here is a link to a site that this topic has been talked to death.
http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/32/ShowForum.aspx

Pay special attention to what Andy Hollis has to say, and remember that these guys are most of the national level drivers, and will have the tires mounted on the bling wheels and shaved to get MAX preformance.

 

Well "FOR NOW", I will not spend the money to have them shaved and heat cycled. I am willing to buy the 7.5" wide wheels though, even though it is going to cost a bunch. I just can't afford to buy multiple sets of tires each season. I do understand that in order to get the best performance these guys shave the tires, but for now I won't be doing that. I was just wondering if there are wider tires than 205s that don't have a much larger side wall for Street class, but I guess falken isn't releasing those till later this year. What 15" and 16" wheel comes in a 7.5" width? What brand, price, weight?

 

15x7.5's

Volk Te 37's are like $350 per wheel and a long wait
SSR Competitions are $320 from TireRack and they should have them in stock. They will tell you they are not for a honda but just tell them you have a Miata.

I would wait if I were you untill next week at least there maybe a 225-40-14 that is out that maybe good. Its talked about on the SCCAforums site.

 

The reality is that a 15x 7-7.5 will more than do the job you need. Any of the tires mentioned in the different topics will be fine too. If you look at the results of the recent national level events, there has been a very good mix of all the tires mentioned represented at the top. Do some still need some development time? Sure. But for what you are looking for they will certainly do. I doubt many of these will be such a difference that you have to have them, expecially if you are not doing national events. Event if you are, my money says there will not be a clear winner out there.

As far a shaving the tires. Some of them do need them, and it is not just to improve times, it is to prevent them from chunking, thereby ruining the tire. I know the Azenis RT-215's you could get away with not shaving , most of the others I would recommend it. Is it deffinite the tire will chunk? No, but certainly possible and as it is usually not an extreme cost to have it done, why run the risk.

Just my thoughts.

 

Well I figured that any of the tires used by national level guys would work for me, just wanted to see what sizes, and models people were using to decide on my own. I'm thinking of going with a 16x7.5 because of the increase in tire choices. Probably with the SSR.