I'm wondering if anyone can give me a subjective comparison between the grip and feel of a track or "road legal competition tire" to that of an ultra high performance/UHP tire? Specifically I've used Falken Azenis RT615K's for the last two summers and loved them, but this year I bought new wheels that came with some UHP tires, something similar to the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3.

The ratings on the RT615K's are 200-A-A while the rating on the Goodyears is 240-AA-A, but I'm not sure how relevent these grades are. How much of a difference would I feel going from the Falkens to the Goodyears on the street? On the track? Auto-crossing?

Obviously this is all subjective but I just want to know if I should be expecting a huge letdown or if it should be somewhat comparable. Thanks in advance.

 

While we've never tested Falken, it's important to remember that each tire manufacturer uses their own tests to determine UTQG so using that number for comparison is not much help. As a rule, we'd expect the "competition" tires to excel in dry grip, with some (but no where near equal) capability in wet. As we move down the high performance scale, the rubber compound will have a better balance between wet and dry, but would give up a little grip if driven near the limit of the car's capability. The GS-D3 is a great tire for the street, but would get pretty beat up on the track.

 

Thanks for the reply Doc. When you say the GS-D3 would get beat up on the track, do you mean just that it would be less grippy, or that the compound would cause it to chunk up?

To be honest I very rarely go to the track, and chances are the car might only see the track once or twice in the season, and not for anything too serious. It's just that after spending time and money upgrading coilovers, sway bars, etc it bothers me to think my tires might be negating some of those upgrades.

On a more practical sense though the UHP's would last longer in daily driving conditions, and would also be better in the rain. I know I'd be losing some dry grip, but even with spirited driving on public roads I guess it's unlikely I'd ever get close to the limits of the grippier tires.