I've got a DE on friday, and was hoping to take out r compounds for the 1st time in 2 year, but now rain is throwing a wrench in my plans; so, my choices have now become-- which rain tire do I use? Ambient temps are slated to be in the high 50's to low 60's, and I'm considering the following: fresh falken azenis (for thrift); yoko a032r " h compound" (b/c I can't get the "s"); or, toyo ra1's. Both the yoko and the toyo would be run at full tread depth and unheatcycled. My question is: should I put the money forward now to buy a set of R's (even though they may not be the rational choice considering the conditions), or should I just stick with the fresh street tires that will cost me less, last longer and may be just as good in the wet conditions that I'm expecting?
Any advice as I've only got a few days to decide.

 

For a DE I'd use the Azenis. Probably not the ultimate grip of unshaved Toyos in the wet, but if you're not racing, why pay more?

 

If you are trying to make a one time purchase for some track stuff and this weekend is slated to rain and you don't want to be off in the weeds with streets and you want a tire that you can run in the dry too and you don't want to destroy it doing such then I'd go w/ the A032Rs. Whew, long sentance. The 32Rs come at 5/32nds from memory and they do pretty well (not as good as the RA1s but better than any street tires) in the wet. I never had them chunk and they wear pretty long (some say too long as they are hard to kill - I never had that problem). The RA1 full tread is great in the rain (think mine are either 6/32nds or 8/32nds - don't recall which) but the will chunk in the dry as I have seen little niblets from where they were run on a drying track. I personally would not, if given the option, run a street tire on a rainy track. Have done that thinking it would be better than an A032R and was very wrong.

 

Edit: The toyo is on backorder, and won't be available in time.

So, the choice now comes down to the a032r and the azenis , and I'm begining to lean toward the a032r; however, I just want to be sure that the yokos will give me good (much, much better than street tire) performance in the DRY as well... I just wanted to buy the right R compound the 1st time around , hence all my flalling of the lips, er, keyboard.

 

what size tire are you talking about? I believe I have 4 205/50R15 Toyo RA-1 in stock......full tread $150 each plus freight. Let me know.....

 

I wanted the 225/50/16.

 

For Street tires, BFgoodrich T/A KDW's romp all over Falken Azenis Sports in the wet. Falken Azenis romp all over the KDW's in the dry though...

Bridgestone S-03's might be what you want if you're looking for a wet street tire for the track though, from what I've heard. The Azenis-BFG KDW comparison is from experience.