Looking around for replacement tyres for my mostly track DC2 ITR's public road use. Currently have RT215's that are quite aged.

I can use 215-45-16, 225-40-16, 225-45-15, 215-50-15, 205-50-15 or, well, you get the idea. (I can switch to another set of wheels for the right reason.)

I was surprised that Discount Tire seems to still have RT215 in stock in 215-45-16, but at the same time I noticed a newer tyre, the Ventus RS2, in the same size.

Does anybody have experience w/both of these to tell me if the RS2 are as good as the Azenis RT215? Is there anything else I'm missing, another brand?

The car's usually on Toyo RA1 at the track, but we very often will take to the track in school situations on the street tyres, so they do need to handle pretty well.

 

I realise now that I'd found the SCCA link before, but it linked to the front page instead of the thread, so I assumed the link was broken. This time, it still links to the front page, but there has been enough activity in the thread that it was visible on the front page as an active thread, so I was able to find it.

There is lots of interesting information there.

The Hanook need more air pressure than the Falken RT215, but they seem to be deciding that the Hankook need less pressure than they first thought. One autocrosser who went onto a course at 46 psi cold found that his times were not reduced if he went out at 32 psi cold.

The tread's deep but nobody's had a chunking problem that they've reported so far.

In the same size, the Falken seem to put a little more tread on the ground than the Hankook, but no one's time seems to be suffering for it.

A couple of people complained about the RT215 not giving much warning and breaking away quickly when compared to the Hankook. I guess that's good marks for the Hankook, but I never felt that way about the RT215, finding them progressive and giving lots of notice...if they just didn't melt on summer days they'd be fine.

Here are some pictures of the Hankook next to RT215 and the new RT615, for comparison sake. Images are clickable for larger size.

 

are those equivalent sizes? The hankook actually looks like it has a little more tread surface to me. It does appear to round more at the shoulders though so that may make a difference.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dave421 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are those equivalent sizes? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not exactly.

The pictures on the right are of 215-45-16 Azenis vs 225-45-16 Hankook. To some people, it looks like the 225 Hankook puts less tread on the ground than the 215 Azenis, but I'll find out for sure when my tyres get here.

The Hankook is also sold in 215-45-16, which is what I got for my DC2. I'll be comparing 215 to 215.

 

the older (discontinued) azenis rt-215's are oversized by quite a bit.

the newer rt-615's have more standard tire sizes. i'm running 205/50-15's and they're AMAZING.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fujii13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the older (discontinued) azenis rt-215's are oversized by quite a bit.

the newer rt-615's have more standard tire sizes. i'm running 205/50-15's and they're AMAZING.</TD></TR></TABLE>

But... but...

We want <u>more</u>. MOrE I tell you! More! More!

 

honestly, on my setup i'd be rubbing w/ the 215's.

 

I've tried cars with both, both were great tires, but the rs2's heated up a little quicker than the azenis and needed to be sprayed after each run autocrossing to work best. But both were amazing compared to my BFG-gforce tires.