Alright, I like the RE040's and have been to Road Atlanta. Need new rubber and not afraid to pay 2-300 a tire. I hear all this bang for the buck and not bad for 135 dollars a tire. To hell with all that . If I'm going on the track (don't drive on a track with anything more than you would strike a match to) and don't want anything but a great damb tire! The tire shop says look into Toyo, a dealership says "I live by Michelin (looser) and the RE040's held up pretty good.

So, what about the RE050A Pole Position? or for 230 a tire what should I look at. I want to go to SeBring later this summer.

CWB
Jax, Fl

 

i think this will work,,

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...40&sortValue=1

read and read the tests.

then make a choice.

beers

 

I just installed the Bridgestone RE750's and love them . They handle better than the RE040's and I only had 2200 miles on them... I have looked at alot of tires before I bought these... Oh by the way the reason I bought new tires, was I changed my Rims and went to 19inchers...

 

link is broken

 

sorry it only works for a bit..

go to tire rack .com.

hit tires.

enter 245 / 40 / 18

click all the summer options.

then click no run flat.

then go through all and check the ones you want to compare...

then read the test..

you can spend 125 bucks or 300 bucks and get the same preformance.... but you have to do the research..

beers

 

If you want to go to the track, you may want to consider 2 sets of tires and rims. You really need to blow $230 per tire on the Yokohama Neova's or the Bridgestone 050's as you mention just in any attempt to come close to the grip levels you might want on the track... but then they will be done after 1 year of street driving and you will be getting your wallet out again.

Great entry track rubber are the Toyo RA-1's. You'll have to cut your right arm off to buy them, but they will last at least 6-10 lapping days and are not really compromised by heat cycles. To make matters better, they have maximum grip when then are in their final 25% of tread depth. There are better track tires out there, but they are more prone to heat cycles, which means you will start to loose traction if you warm them up and cool them down more than a few times. (regardless of how much rubber is left on the tire) Remember, the closer you get to race rubber the more they are designed to heat up once and then go in the garbage. There are lots of tires to choose from in between and all will greatly outperform any street tire.

Buy a $135 Yokohama ES100 or something equivalent for the street. These tires will hold the road way better than you will need when going for a fun Sunday drive and they last a long time. (Treadwear of 280-300) The Neova's or RE will be finished in half the time and you will see dollar bills flying out the tail pipe when you do donuts. (~140 treadwear)

Do the math... $250x4 per year for the super sticky street rubber.
or
$135x4 (will last per 2 years), plus $1600 for Toyo RA-1's on some reasonable rims.

After buying 2 sets of super high grip street tires over the course of 2 years, you could have both a set of great tires for the road and some excellent track tires. (and a spare set of rims if you live in an area that needs winter tires) It takes under 30 minutes to swap your rims when you get to the circuit. (all you need is a $50 jack and a $20 socket wrench)

 

Thanks guys. Good info. Can't get the wife to come off my money to get rims. So, I'm leaning on a single set of tires for 2 - 5 track days a year plus get me 20,000 miles. My RE040s have 26,000 on them and could do another 2,000.

Most of my driving is smooth with a couple chirps of a light once or twice a month.

I was really happy with the RE040 at Road Atlanta. Tire pressures were real easy to balance, traction didn't fall off after around 200 miles of track time.

Maybe the RE050A Pole Position is the way to go?

Anybody have thoughts on Sebring and the course compared to Road Atlanta?

CWB
Jax, FL

 

Just remember that there's a general inverse relationship between grip and treadlife; the more grip you get the less time you get it.

 

still looks like for a street/track tire the BFG's are a awesome deal

 

Bang for the buck or a better tire than the 50A? What is the story with the Toyo tires? The top two or three seem to be compairable... Sun Tire seems to be pushing them because they are a dealer. The 50App does not have any info on TireRack so I'm going on the fact that they say it replaces the s02 and 03...

 

When I did research on tires, I was comparing RE050A vs S-03 Pole Position. The later had much better reviews, expected tred life and cost less. Needless to say I went w/ the S-03's, and have absolutly no regrets.