Track Addicts: Which direction should I go?
 

I've had a set of 18x9.5 +45 Enkei RP-F1's (yes, the same set everyone else has now) sitting in my entryway for several months. I've been procrastinating purchasing tires for them for several reasons - to buy the right set the first time around for my application, because I had no events lined up in the near future, and because quite frankly I didn't want to buy new tires till I had to.

Well one of my stockers picked up a metal shard and I had to plug it, along with the tread getting into low "yellow" range according to the dealership's standards. All in all I'm certainly not going to track a repaired tire. Anyhow, I've got 4 DE's in the next 3 months, along with promising I'd drive to meet my brother at a couple of autocrosses, so I've got to bite the bullet.

I don't want dedicated track wheels. I'm not picking up another set of tires for my stockers so these will be daily driven, and tread wear matters, as always.

I'm considering the following: in 275/35-18
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/scfour/Tire.jpg

I've spent the last 2 hours scouring this forum for anything related to tires for the enkeis, as a veritable plethora of members are running them.

I've pretty much thrown out the Michelin's, because I'm not ready to drop $1600 ($500 more than the wheels, mind you) on something I'm going to thrash at the track. I've also read Polak's testimonial about the Michelin's and that's enough for me.

With that said, pretty much everyone, it seems, is running RT-615's with these wheels. I'd like to know if that's because they're truly the best, or if there was some sort of GB I wasn't a part of. Also, "because they're endorsed by certain forum members/vendors" [no names :) ] isn't a good enough reason to sway me in that direction.

I also noticed that some people are running AD07's. They didn't really show up in the comparisons I read/my preliminary research so I'm interested to hear what is said about them. Will I want to stay with the 275/35-18's like the rest of the tires listed, or go w/ a 265 because they seem to run wide.

I'm sorry I'm making this such an ordeal. I just want to make the right decision with my money.

I'm off to scour a couple of viper forums now. They run 275/35-18's on their fronts, and even though they're run-flat SP2's OEM, the price might be right....

EDIT:
NTW = NTB, autofill took over in excel.
I'd rather this be in "Competition: Racing" for the quantity and quality of the hits, but I'm playing by the rules!

Depends on what's most important
Cost and treadwear = Kumho MX
Performance and cost = Falken RT-615, Bridgestone RE-01R

Ad07's are going to run you big bucks.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...h=true&index=0

Hey I might see you at the new few DE's...which ones you run?

I'll be at MSR @ Cresson...another RX'er here also does alot of the local DE's too so you'll be in good company.

I've been running the BFG KDW-NT's with "ehhh" success. 245's and so far adequate grip. I brake em loose coming outta the carousel at TWS and found that they are pretty predictable.

Seek ye avenger (haunting the forum) as he has had alot more track time and knows what works for him running the same wheel.

I was down to those two tires, picked the MXs because of treadwear. No regrets, I have the 275/35 RPF1 combination and they've done very well on the road and at HPDE events.

If your RX-8 is a daily driver, I don't think RT-615s will last even one year. Without autocrossing and track events, my 17" RT-615s only lasted 10k miles. As other suggest, if your car is daily driven, I would get the Kumho MXs. I have had those also, and they lasted much longer, with a marginal penalty in grip.

I run 265/35/18s on my RPF-1s using Bridgestone RE-01Rs. These are my dedicated track tires though I don't ever really take them off. They seem to wear pretty well (actually better than my street wheels with Kuhmo SPTs) for some reason. I would've gone 275s but the RE-01Rs did not come in that size. My tires were though actually cheaper than those that you listed ($239).

Also, just an FYI. The RE-01R and the Advan Neova AD07 are in group above the tires you listed. They have more grip. I haven't really had any problems with wet (drove the car in 2 DEs with rain) on the street. Noise is neglible though I'm not that picky either. If you're ever in Austin feel free to hit me up to see how these tires are.