Who makes the best Dot legal R compound tires in terms of dry performance such as : lateral grip, wear, break away characteristics, etc.

Which is the best for competition and which is the best for street/track.
Descriptions and first hand experiences would also be nice.
Also anybody have any experience with the Bridgestone Potenza RE540S

thanx.

 

How do you define "best"?

If you mean best stick in the dry, it's the Hoosiers.

But if you want them to last longer than one or two events, and/or if you need them to stick in the rain (even if it's only to get from the track back to the hotel for the night), it's the Yokos.

If you want something in between, the Kumhos are there.

So there really isn't any one "best" for all purposes.

 

Advan A032RS is my all time favorite. It sticks even in low tire temp. Not much warm up has to be done. Even those ppl in Hong Kong love them a lot.

 

Ok I will define a little bit more.

The most versatile R compound, meaning wet/dry,track,and street performance.

Also what is the most extreme dry weather track oriented R compound.

It seems that Honda chooses the Bridgestone Potenza line of tires over other tires, also other racing teams in Japan that race Hondas choose Bridgestone. I would think because it matches Honda's chassis dynamics.
http://www2.bridgestone.co.jp/hq/cat...01/re540s.html

This is Bridgestones Dot legal R compound the RE540S, it looks like a serious tire.

 

That would be the Yokohama A032R.

That would be the Hoosier RS303.

The others fall in between these two extremes.

They're all good track tires - it just depends where along this spectrum your objectives lie.

 

Go with the Yokos. Best over all tire for beginners. Great grip, good wet traction, lasts a long time, and will even make some noise to let you know what its doing.

 

hoosiers are supposedly the best for autoX; last years GS national champ runs them here in denver. but bring money...they don't last long.

 

For road-course/track days - I've tried both the A032R and Proxes RA-1's. The Yokos are longer lasting and noisier, but the RA-1s are faster and have more grip. The Toyos are also WAAAAY QUIETER on the road than the Yokos.

 

Note: David Fauth and Kevin McCormick were 1 & 3 at Nats last year in GS and both used Kumho's. The Hoosier's may be faster and David is on them this year (from what I hear), but Kumho's were the fastest tires on ITR's last year.

A couple drivers (Shawn Whipple and his co-driver) finished 4th and 10th and they used BFG g-force R1's. Those are great autocross tires too IMO, and if they didn't wear like Hoosiers on concrete I would have ran them longer.


[Modified by typer_801, 1:19 PM 6/25/2001]

 

yup. fauth switched to hoosiers this year and is supposedly running even faster. locally, he's gotten 1000, 1000, 1000, 998 PAX for the 4 summer series events.

 

RA-1's would be my vote.


Boba-who likes the stickyness of RA-1's

 

I believe Hoosier makes a different model tire specifically for autocross, the A3S03. Autocross demands are different from road courses (need to grip immediately without a couple of laps to heat up; don't need to last a couple of hundred miles on the track). Just one more way to point out that different purposes may result in a different "best" tire.



[Modified by nsxtasy, 7:07 AM 6/26/2001]

 

The BEST DOT race compound in the dry have always been Hoosiers. The WORSE I've seen so far are the A032R and Z2000 from Hankook. They're more like and extension of higher performance street tires, hence, they're also the best in the wet. Everything else seems falls in between.... I think they should be ranked (from best dry to worse):

1. Hoosier (either compound)
2. BFG GForce R1
3. Kumho V700
4. Toyo RA1
5. Yoko A032R (BTW, I don't know about the A032RS, I've never tried
apparently they're better)
6. Hankook Z2000

As you could imagine, WET performance is probably the opposite of this list....

 

Whoa! so the Kumho V700 perform better in the dry than the Toyo RA-1's. I thought the Toyo's were a superior tire. Also anybody else have experience with the BFG's,Kumho's, and the Toyo's.

 

I assume DOT legal to mean that you won't get pulled over by the cops. Hoosiers and BFGs may have the DOT designation but there's no way in hell they would pass inspection for a street legal car. I think that the Kumho's and RA-1s are pushing the envelope. I would call the Hoosiers and BFGs race slicks IMO.....but what do I know.

 

V700's are stickier than RA1's. RA1 is a good tire and the wear on it is incredible considering it's traction. But ultimately the V700's are more competitive. At least according to my experience and observations....

 

I know what you mean... I don't think any DOT compounds were ever meant to be streetable. The manufacturers just molded enough tread to pass safety standards. At glance, the Hoosiers don't even seem to meet standards when new!

 

I would bet the Advan O32R is the only tire of the bunch that is regurlarly street driven -by board members here, and non-members.

I actually dont think any of the others can live for 5000 miles + of street driving before they get hard as a rock.

yes- its the best all around tire in my opinion.
because in an 'all around' comparison, the others are only good in grip.
--->not longevity, not rain performance and not cop-friendly either.

 

Toyo RA1 my street tire of choice! Quiet and don't scream like O32R on the highway, good wet or dry weather performance, decent millage and I can always use them on race day in standing water situation where a V700 won't cut it. Approximately same cost of 032R.


[Modified by DB1-R81, 3:55 PM 6/27/2001]