scsi

i just got a set of falken azenis rt-615 275/35/18 on 18x9.5 rpf1s from rishie at autornd, great guy.

anyway, they are brand new. i plan on autocrossing on them and was wondering would it be a bad idea to go fresh on brand new tires? should i daily drive them a bit? if so how many miles?

also what tire pressures should i be running for racing, and for daily driving as well? i hear wider tires dont need as high pressures, is this true?

finally, how do you pronounce azenis? is it like "a zee niss (sounds like miss)" or is it "a zen (like buddhist) knees"? or other?

thanks!

Paul_in_DC

The azenis are nice tires, they should do great for autox. I think you should daily drive on them for a while to break them in first, maybe a couple hundred miles. For daily driving use Mazda's suggested pressure of about 32 psi when cold. Most folks at the track like them to be about 40 psi when they're warmed up.

Dunno about autocross - I'll let the Azenis owners chime in about that.

And I pronounce it "a zen knees." Dunno if it's right or not.

BTW - Good to see you have the best color.

scsi

thanks for the reply! i updated my original post a tad, i hear wider tires use lower tire pressures...is this true?

L8APEX

Falken recommends a HOT pressure of 34-35, and that is what I found worked best at the track. They do not come up as much in pressure like most street tires, and I have no idea why. From what i went through with them, on track, starting out at 31-32 all the way around, they came up to 35-36 but no more than that.

Since autox does not put as much heat in the tires as fast, then you might want to start at 33-34, since you won't get as much heat buildup in each run.

And as far as not needing as much PSI because of wider tires, I did not experience that. You can adjust your pressures to influence understeer/oversteer, but I had the 245's and ran the pressures I mentioned above with no trouble. I also found that it was easier to adjust the cars attitude with the shocks, and keep even tire pressures at all 4 corners. And since you have the TEIN's, I would go that route, since that is easier to adjust than needgin to add air when you have let too much out, and poorly affected the handling of the car.

The Mighty Red

Congrats on the excelletn choice of wheels and tires.

As tires are cured, a "release lubricant" is applied to prevent them from sticking in their mold. Some of the lubricant stays on the surface of your tires, reducing traction until it is worn away. Five hundred miles of easy acceleration, cornering and braking will allow the mold release lubricant to wear off, allowing the other tire components to begin working together. It is also important to note that your old tires probably had very little tread depth remaining when you felt it was time to replace them. As any autocrosser or racer who has tread rubber shaved off of his tires will tell you "low tread depth tires respond quicker." Don't be surprised if your new tires are a little slower to respond (even if you use the exact same tire as before). Their new, full depth brings with it a little more tread squirm until they wear down.

Source: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=5

tomfree

I shoot for 36 hot on track with 615's also. I've had them up as high as 40-42psi, and they are NOT happy. They get greasy, and that manifests itself on washout on initial turn-in as well as back end moving around a little more than I'd like.

dmp

Ah-Zeee-Nis.

:D

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

L8apex....I'm surprised at how little yours are heating up.

I tracked today......and was tecking other cars and forgot to bleed mine down before the 1st run group. I had 32 in them cold...and by the end of the first session they were getting really squirelly....an couldn't figure it until I remembered about the pressure at the start

When I came in...they were 46-48lbs hot.........not fun.

I bled them down to 33 semi hot...and they came out good at the end of the second run.

What kind of camber are you running...and are they heating up fairly symetrically....or are some higher than others.

The track I was on today was L turn intensive...and the RF was 4 lbs higher than the LF

rotor-te-rex

I've been running 42 front, and 38-40 rear on a stock RX-8 with 255/40-18 RT-615. I can see how the guys with suspension mods and wider wheels and tires could get by with less. Believe it or not, Mark McKnight (2nd Topeka HS Mazda 3) runs as high as 50 lbs on his front Azenis up in Milwaukee. Andy Hollis said on his STS2 Miata that he could use a wide range of pressures and it did not seem to matter much. But I was surprised he was running 37 pounds on his light car with camber.

Agree with the comment that the RT-615 does not get as hot as the old RT-215 did. Not sure why they stay cooler than old 215s (softer sidewall?) but hoping it will keep them from heat cycling out as fast since I daily drive mine. Mucho fun on the street and great price. When these wear out I may try 255/40-17 since I have a set of 17" x 8" Superleggeras that fit from my Altima. Now that is STU-light.

One thing I love about the RX-8 and Azenis is I don't seem to have to rotate the tires since it is so balanced. This is much appreciated versus my old Altima that had to be rotated every few autocrosses. I bet I will get at least 9,000 miles or more with street and autocross use.

L8APEX

Not sure, but I just found that the pressures did not rise as much with the 615's as they did with previous tires, or the MX's that I have now. I do know, that when they were pushing 40 PSI, they got greasy quick, and had less lateral grip.

My camber settings are pretty aggresive for a car driven on the street. -1.6 in the front, and -2.0 in the rear. I got pretty even tire wear, considering the amount of camber, and was happy with those settings. I don't know if that played a roll in tire pressures or not. I will say, the heat readings I got with a simple laser pyrometer, were fairly even across the tire, but RoadAtlanta has a lot of direction change, and while it is a clockwise track, it igves plent of chance to turn left and right. At Roeblign Road, it was a little higher on the outside edge fo the drivers side tires, but it is moslty right turns, most of them are higher speed, long sweeping turns.

Take it for what it is worth, what really matters, is what happens for your conditions, the way your car is setup, and the track you are on. Take notes, it is a good way to go back and look at what was going on with the car at any given time, track, ambient temp, and react to similar conditions in the future.

MazdaRich

Any autocrossers have opinions on tire pressures with these tires? I'm still having trouble getting my car to handle, and I think tire pressures are part of the problem. I had been around 40-41, but I think 38 or lower would be better. Maybe even 36.

L8APEX

what is your car doing that you don't like?

too much oversteer, too much understeer?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

I find that 35lbs hot works best for me. I run very similar camber. I find it wears even on the track...but they wear on the insides in the rear on the 275's driving on the street.

L8APEX

275's, wow, must be nice. I noticed that with my alignment settings, even teh 245's on the street don't use the outside 1" - 1 1/4" of tire. I am sure that contributed to the slight eneven wear, but I was happy with it.

shinronin

i run 34/30 on my 255/40-17 ad07's. their section width and treadwidth are comparable to the 615 in that size, but i'm not sure about sidewall rigidity. i'd bring the tire pressures down and measure with a pyrometer or even just start/continue using tire marker/white shoe polish/etc. to check out how your sidewalls are doing. can't beat a pyrometer though. =)

tmak26b

Those tires are okay for autox, but they are not great tires neither. I guess i am just spoiled by race tires.

scsi

i run in STU so race tires arent allow.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

They are a compomise from race comps for sure...but I can drive to the events and run without trying to squish 4 - 275 width tires in my back seat. I don't find that the fun factor is much lower with the DOT tires..and it is a lot simpler than swapping them out. I want more HP for now. Then it may justify the stickier tires for me

tmak26b

Well the car is definitely easier to slide with the Azenis, but the car is no where as fast. I think the RA-1 is a good compromise if you have to drive to the track.

I was closing 1.5-3 sec faster on RA1 than Rt-615s. I do like them a lot more than the Rt-215s, but htey noise on these tires are really pissing me off.

Spin9k

You got that straight! We certainly have more tire than power w/275s.

I've had both 235/40s on 8" rims and 275/35 RT-615s on 9.5" rims at the track, and I found that I needed to use 38-40 cold on the smaller size, 30-33 cold on the 275s getting up to about 40 hot. to get the safe feel I wanted. I thought the 235s were very squishie feeling with lower pressure, not nice. I tried the 275s that way at first, and got the exact opposite feeling, they really appreciate a lower pressure.

As far as heating up, it appears to me to be greatly related to the track temp, and to some extent the brake temp as it heats the wheel (and so the air in the tire). In the hot summer they do heat up and I bleed some off, but 70 deg or less and they barely budge. I think the tire's contribution to heat buildup is small because they have relatively stiff structure, and don't flex/generate heat internally that much (esp. the 35 series).

As far as noise mentioned, I don't get that, they are nice and quiet. Very much so in fact.

scsi

thanks very much! very good input

Ophitoxaemia

anyone have experience with extended street use re: heat cycling?

ive got a set of kumho MX for street tires now and thinking of the 615 as a street successor. no snow where i live. the mxs are not great when it is wet.

james
(drives his autocross car on V710s to events)

tmak26b

Forget about Azenis, they suck worse than my BALD V710s

scsi

ok... do you have a better idea?

CRX Millennium

iTrader: (1)

Some great discussion on STU tire choice found here:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1130283
http://www.phillyscca.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2132

I don't have any first-hand experiencing running thse top dog STU street tires, though I was very impressed riding in the Yoko Advan-shot RX-8. No fuss no squeal, much like R-compound, and super long-lasting, according to shinronin. My reference point is two season old V710.