What Tires are You Running? - 2015 edition

[Chase R]

Last thread I found about tire choice was back in 2014. How about a 2015 edition.

What is everyone's favorite "go-to" drifting tire? Any discussion about size, tire pressure, issues with chunking/delam, how long they last, etc. would be helpful too.



I have ran SS-595s, ATR Sport 2s, and GT Radial UHP1s... which are so far my favorite. I run them in 245/40R18, which is a bit tall for my SLR kit, but I can get them local for $70 a tire. Achilles had the most grip... too much grip actually for my stock M54. The GT Radials also have super good rain grip... SS-595s were the worst in the rain.

[jalopi]

sumitomo touring LS H

they don't smoke particularly well, but they're cheap and will last me about an entire day of event driving

moderate grip too, no chunking either

[protomor]

If it rains, I don't go to events. So I like my feddy 595s. Smoke well, consistent through the heat range, and wear the slowest out of every tire I've tried so far.

Fronts I run the Z1 dunlop star spec. It's got the worst dry reviews by tire rack but the best wet traction... Wait...... I see hypocrisy in my statements.

[Chase R]

sumitomo touring LS H

they don't smoke particularly well, but they're cheap and will last me about an entire day of event driving

moderate grip too, no chunking either

Do you buy them local? I hate paying shipping costs for tires. I ran sumitomo HTR-Zs a long time ago when I had an F-body... and they lasted forever.

[Novablue454]

right now, Achilles ATRs, I love them. I'll probably stick with them unless I decide to run something else on the front.

[Chase R]

I've been running 28psi in my GT Radials for the winter. I'll probably pump them back up to 35-40psi or so for summer (need moar HP, sigh).

[jalopi]

nope, i order them off tire rack. i don't like paying $10 for each tire shipped, but even still it's cheaper than anything i can find locally. pepboys does run specials every now and then but aside from how i despise the people that work at my local store, they typically put junk tires up for sale

[magicninja]

225 45 17 rs3s up front
225 45 17/ 235 40 18 triangle tr968 out back

triangles last forever, smoke decent and stay consistent

[Mikestokman]

Last year I ran
215/40/17 ingen A1. $81/tire
215/40/17 zenna argus uhp. $84/tire
215/40/17 triangle tr968. $75/tire

the A1's didn't have a ton of grip but lasted forever, 1.5 days of pretty much hot lap tandem didn't chunk but don't make tons of smoke

zennas kinda chunked out on bank runs, decent amount of grip

triangles were the cheapest tire and had the most grip out of the three. I still use them as steer tires. didnt chunk out and make a decent amount of smoke

[Chase R]

225 45 17 rs3s up front
225 25 17/ 235 40 18 triangle tr968 out back

triangles last forever, smoke decent and stay consistent

Last year I ran
215/40/17 ingen A1. $81/tire
215/40/17 zenna argus uhp. $84/tire
215/40/17 triangle tr968. $75/tire

the A1's didn't have a ton of grip but lasted forever, 1.5 days of pretty much hot lap tandem didn't chunk but don't make tons of smoke

zennas kinda chunked out on bank runs, decent amount of grip

triangles were the cheapest tire and had the most grip out of the three. I still use them as steer tires. didnt chunk out and make a decent amount of smoke

I was curious about Triangles actually. Super cheap on onlinetires.com. I may have to give them a go since Discount Tire is going to stop carrying GT Radials.

[MDRracing13]

I've only ran federal 595s. Great choice in terms on price and quality. Agree with the above posts about the horrible traction in the rain. I run them up from too and ended up in a tire wall from understeer when it was wet. They never let me down on dry payment.

[Chase R]

I've only ran federal 595s. Great choice in terms on price and quality. Agree with the above posts about the horrible traction in the rain. I run them up from too and ended up in a tire wall from understeer when it was wet. They never let me down on dry payment.

Federals have always been a good go-to tire, and they are very welded-diff friendly for a daily driver. It's crazy how tire choice changes how much chatter and noise my welded diff causes.

[magicninja]

I was curious about Triangles actually. Super cheap on onlinetires.com. I may have to give them a go since Discount Tire is going to stop carrying GT Radials.

I dont run anything but triangles. I drove 3 rounds of pro am last year on one pair of triangles. Used to get them for $55 a tire, but they have gone u[ about $10 a piece. Still worth it though.

[roadhugger]

Do any of you guys run a specific Drift tire? In other words a tire designed specifically for drifting. If not, why not? Also what are the popular tire sizes you guys run?

[jalopi]

depends on your power level and rear gear. stock - m20/50 guys tend to stick with 205s in the rear, i see s5x guys rocking 225/235s, so i suppose m54 dudes can get away with 215s?

[Chase R]

depends on your power level and rear gear. stock - m20/50 guys tend to stick with 205s in the rear, i see s5x guys rocking 225/235s, so i suppose m54 dudes can get away with 215s?

I run 245s in the rain and 225s if it's dry. Stock M54 with a 3.38 rear gear.

[jalopi]

does the weather usually piss on your events or something? not many people i talk to have a dedicated tire size for when it rains, lol

[Chase R]

does the weather usually piss on your events or something? not many people i talk to have a dedicated tire size for when it rains, lol

Lol well I run my street wheel/tire setup in the rain (18x9 with 245/40R18 tires) because it doesn't really wear the tires out too much and they are good rain tires (GT Radial UHP1). I don't run that setup when it's dry because it's too much grip. I have some OEM 17" wheels with 225/45 federal tires for when it's dry. Perfect amount of grip.

We get a lot of rain here in Oregon.

[jeepster]

ALL my rears are a 245/45/17 or 245/40/17. I have run Federal 595 for the past three seasons with great results. Early in 2015 they must have switched manufacturing process because they de-laminated, wore crappy, chunked etc. I made the switch to the Kumho ASX and have been very pleasantly surprised. They are cheap (I get a hookup for $50 each locally). They smoke well, grip awesome on dirty or wet tracks and I would say grip about the same in the dry as the 595ss. I like them so much that I bought 32 of them on my last order!

I HATED the GT radials I ran. Also, I think the AChilles atr wore terrible. The achilles 123 have a TON of grip but are expensive and hard to get a hold of.

Fronts I have always ran either the hankook RS3 or the toyo Proxe R1R. Now I run a 245/35 R17 front tire.

I have 420whp LS6 just for reference.

[jalopi]

Now I run a 245/35 R17 front tire.

what's the offset/size of your front wheels? looks like you have roughly the same amount of front poke before i lengthened my control arms, but i had to use steering stops back then

[jeepster]

17x8 +20mm with a 20mm spacer. I will be going to a 17x9 +30 with a 40-50 mm spacer

[jalopi]

jeez, that's a lot of spacer. why not get some longer control arms instead? ran some numbers and... you might have some trouble using those new wheels

i have 9.5" et 12 wheels with 1" spacer/adapters, so basically et -13. my control arms are about 15.5" between the centers of the ball joints, i believe the e46 arms are about 14"

even with the 50mm spacers, you still have almost 1" less clearance to the frame than i do on my car and i still rub the frame rails on my setup, though just barely

[protomor]

When I was in J land for a fun day with the pros, I stared around at their cars. EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM had at least 2 25mm bolt on spacers stacked. Some still had stacking 5-7mm spacers on top of them. I could hear the wheel bearings beg for a quick death.

Course, over there, your roll cage can be made out of aluminum so thin that a coke can has more structural integrity.

- - - Updated - - -

oh yea, I chatted with a few pros (won't name names). The 123s supposedly are ok but lack side bite. The ATRs are great from what I hear. GT radials mud when hot and thus lack grip. Especially side bite. Hence why all the cars running GT radials have huge wing cards.

[Chase R]

I really need to get a smaller front tire or some SLR ultra arms.
245/40R18 is awesome for grip and driving on Portland's shitty roads, but no bueno for angle. I tempted to give 255/35 a try, since it is 0.7" shorter. I hate running a non-square sidewall.

[jalopi]

+1 chase, i like my big front tire too, i get why you're rocking em

just know that with the ultra arms, you'll be stuck at a minimum of roughly -7* of camber. with their standard arms you can run only -3.5* if you wanted to. or you could hold out and wait - saw someone on facebook posting about doing his own thing with billet aluminum arms, including something to reduce camber that isn't the weird wisefab strut relocater. he's still setting his shop up and getting the prototypes ready though so you might have to wait a little while...