What Tires are You Running? - 2017 edition

[protomor]

I'd like to change up the formula this year with some rules. Cuz I love rules. Hopefully people agree with me and keep this going.

1. Don't mention tire size/pressure. We all have different power levels and grip levels. If we got this granular, we'd have to specify your full car setup with power and suspension settings. It just gets too complicated. The only common factor would be sidewall (flex) but we'll assume you're running as low pro as you can to eliminate that.

2. Post WHERE you bought them and how much they cost INCLUDING shipping (per 2x). I've found a bunch of tires for $65 but have $30 shipping.

3. Only post after you've killed at least 1 set of tires. IE don't post what your buddy told you. Don't post a preview.

4. Fill out all of the criteria. 80% of the information makes it useless.

5. Post in code (not quote) blocks so someone scrolling through can easily find what they want.

6. Scales for everything are 1-5. 5 being the best and 1 being the worst.


Sample of all the criteria for copy/pasting

Tire: Federal 595 SS
Price: $150 shipped for 2x (245/45/17)
Bought from: https://www.tires-easy.com (although they don't seem to have any in stock right now)

Front/Rear: Rear
Life span(1-5): 4
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Smoke(1-5): 3
Consistency through heat range: 5
Chunking? No

Comments: Best all around tire IMO. Grips well, smokes well, and lasts a pretty good amount of time. These are currently my go-to rear tire.

[e30 394]

Tire: GT Radial Champiro UHP1
Size: 215/40/17
Price:$128 shipped for 2x
Bought from: https://www.tires-easy.com on there eBay account, or similar eBay sellers

Front/Rear: both
Life span(1-5): 4
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Smoke(1-5): 2, not enough power to really comment
Consistency through heat range: 4
Chunking? No

Comments: Great grip, easy to mount, strong sidewall and provides awesome feel. Best tire I've found in the price range (ranked well above nankang ns20, sumitomo htr, accelera alpha, and atr Sport) Crisp turn in, great braking, confidence inspiring.

[welchct]

Thunderer Mach 3

Size: 205/40R17

Price: $100 x2 free shipping

location: eBay

Rear

Life span: 2

Forward grip: 3.5

Lateral grip: 4

Smoke: 2

Consistency: 5

Chunking? No

Comments: Felt good while they lasted, which wasn't long. Very little smoke output. Cheap, but probably not worth wasting the money on.

Cooper RS-3

size: 235/45r17

Price: $190 x2

Location: local tire shop with local taxes

Rear

Lifespan: 3

Forward grip: 3

Lateral grip: 4

Smoke: 3

Consistency: 2.5

Chunking? Yes.

Comments: Don't waste your money. They last well till 25% tread, then they delaminate. They start out very grippy. Then loose grip slowly lap by lap.

[protomor]

I kind of now realize that tire size and price are pretty well linked. Maybe we should add that in.

Can you guys shove those in code blocks per tire type?

[tptrsn]

I'm glad you changed that criterion (add tire size), because I was going to rate this thread overall a 4 due to not having tire size (I rate that idea a 1).

Reason being that not only size is linked to price, but a lot of tires I've been looking at aren't available in all of the sizes I might be interested in, AND the same tire of different sizes has shown me a little bit of different characteristics under your rating scheme.

[RandomHero27]

Tire: GT Radial Champiro UHP1
Size: 215/40/17
Price:$128 shipped for 2x
Bought from: https://www.tires-easy.com on there eBay account, or similar eBay sellers

Front/Rear: both
Life span(1-5): 4
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Smoke(1-5): 2, not enough power to really comment
Consistency through heat range: 4
Chunking? No

Comments: Great grip, easy to mount, strong sidewall and provides awesome feel. Best tire I've found in the price range (ranked well above nankang ns20, sumitomo htr, accelera alpha, and atr Sport) Crisp turn in, great braking, confidence inspiring.

thanks for this. i have 2 in 205/40 in my ebay cart just waiting and they are $95 shipped or something like that, for 2! ive been wanting to try them as burners based on the price range.


edit: $114, apparently they have raised their prices since ive added them to my cart.

[protomor]

I'm glad you changed that criterion (add tire size), because I was going to rate this thread overall a 4 due to not having tire size (I rate that idea a 1).

Reason being that not only size is linked to price, but a lot of tires I've been looking at aren't available in all of the sizes I might be interested in, AND the same tire of different sizes has shown me a little bit of different characteristics under your rating scheme.

I want to keep things simple. Factoring in size greatly complicates things. Even then, a lot of these factors are subjective. I think what most of us are interested in is price and longevity. The rest of it, someone could easily not be experienced enough to give good comments. IE if you haven't tried many tires, how can you rank its life span?

[tptrsn]

But wait, I thought you wanted size and price added in now?

[protomor]

I do. but more to illustrate price than performance. a 195 will be cheaper than a 265

[tptrsn]

[Novablue454]

Tire: Hankook RS-3
Price: $145 each (no shipping from tirerack (245/40/17)
Bought from: www.tirerack.com (they appear to have been replaced by the RS4)

Front/Rear: Front
Life span(1-5): 5 (have 8 events on them and they're still totally fine)
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Wet Grip (1-5): 2
Smoke(1-5): NA
Consistency through heat range: 5
Chunking? No

Comments: Love these as my steers. When they wear out will be replacing with the same tires.

- - - Updated - - -

added a wet grip column

[Chase R]

Wish I had something to add here, but my E46 is still under the knife. All the drifting posts on instagram lately, though, have me motivated to get it done! I will be switching to Federal RS-R racing tires up front (probably 245/35r18 instead of of 245/40) to help with rubbing. I have plenty of UHP1s and 595-SS tires to burn through on the back.

[protomor]

I was like "Who the hell runs RS3s as drift tires?" Then I read the front part. I agree with your summation of them. VERY sticky tire. I'd give them a 1 for wet grip though. Man those things hate any water.

[Press22]

I was watching Chelsea's tips video the other day, he said to remain with the same model tire for a season to gain consistency. I'm going to try this once my car is back, I always ran whatever I could get my hands on and it did result in some frustrations.
Just thought I would add that here.

[derrty30]

Tire: Toyo Proxe r1r
Price: $450/x2 shipped for 225/40/18
Bought from: simple tire

Front/Rear: Front
Life span(1-5): kinda hard to say for fronts
Forward grip (1-5): 5
Lateral grip (1-5):5
Smoke(1-5): ?
Consistency through heat range: 5
Chunking? No

Comments: overall very good front tires, have not understeered or had any issues.



Tire: Kenda KR20
Price: $150 x2 shipped for 225/40/18
Bought from: simple tire

Front/Rear: Rear
Life span(1-5): 4
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Smoke(1-5): 4
Consistency through heat range: 5
Chunking? No

Comments: Tire has tons of grip, and stay very consistent through out its life span


Tire: West Lake SA07
Price: $120 x2 shipped for 225/40/18
Bought from: simple tire

Front/Rear: Rear
Life span(1-5): 4
Forward grip (1-5): 4
Lateral grip (1-5):4
Smoke(1-5): 5
Consistency through heat range: 4.5
Chunking? No

Comments: These are by far my favorite that I have ran, very similar to the kendas, last about the same and has about the same grip, but smoke way more. tires stay pretty consistent up until they are about dead, they will lose a ton of grip and this is where you should stop drifting on them, I tried to continue driving on a set like this and they just delaminate.

Tire: Nankang ns20
Price: $100ish x2 shipped
Bought from: ebay? don't remember

Front/Rear: Rear
Life span(1-5): 2
Forward grip (1-5): 3
Lateral grip (1-5):3
Smoke(1-5): 3
Consistency through heat range: 0
Chunking? yes

Comments: these tires are garbage and chunk and delaminate easily. I do not recommend to anyone.

[protomor]

I was watching Chelsea's tips video the other day, he said to remain with the same model tire for a season to gain consistency. I'm going to try this once my car is back, I always ran whatever I could get my hands on and it did result in some frustrations.
Just thought I would add that here.

Link to the video mentioned?

Tire: Nankang ns20
Price: $100ish x2 shipped
Bought from: ebay? don't remember

Front/Rear: Rear
Life span(1-5): 2
Forward grip (1-5): 3
Lateral grip (1-5):3
Smoke(1-5): 3
Consistency through heat range: 0
Chunking? yes

Comments: these tires are garbage and chunk and delaminate easily. I do not recommend to anyone.

I find this interesting. I've been hearing a TON of people say these are great drift tires. I almost ordered a set of these but went with triangles instead.

[Press22]

[protomor]

Oh yea that one. Man I must have missed that part lol.

[RandomHero27]

Wish I had something to add here, but my E46 is still under the knife. All the drifting posts on instagram lately, though, have me motivated to get it done! I will be switching to Federal RS-R racing tires up front (probably 245/35r18 instead of of 245/40) to help with rubbing. I have plenty of UHP1s and 595-SS tires to burn through on the back.

i have a set of RS-R in 215/40/17 that should be on my doorstep when i get home. gonna mount them to some 8.5 contours and run them as steer tires. see how it goes.

I was watching Chelsea's tips video the other day, he said to remain with the same model tire for a season to gain consistency. I'm going to try this once my car is back, I always ran whatever I could get my hands on and it did result in some frustrations.
Just thought I would add that here.

i was thinking i was gonna run 2 of each tire till they were done to see which i liked best. our local event is a parking lot of a drag strip. its slow speed-ish and very tire friendly. figure try out some of the Velozzas, Nankangs, Westlakes, Kendas, Champiros and any other cheap tire that seems to be good for burners.

[protomor]

i was thinking i was gonna run 2 of each tire till they were done to see which i liked best. our local event is a parking lot of a drag strip. its slow speed-ish and very tire friendly. figure try out some of the Velozzas, Nankangs, Westlakes, Kendas, Champiros and any other cheap tire that seems to be good for burners.

That sounds expensive.

[Novablue454]

I was like "Who the hell runs RS3s as drift tires?" Then I read the front part. I agree with your summation of them. VERY sticky tire. I'd give them a 1 for wet grip though. Man those things hate any water.

I was about to, they were on closeout for $100 a tire and in stock at the local tirerack, but I hesitated and then they were all gone

- - - Updated - - -

I ran the NS-20 last season, probably 16+ of them. Can confirm they are hot garbage

[derrty30]

I was about to, they were on closeout for $100 a tire and in stock at the local tirerack, but I hesitated and then they were all gone

- - - Updated - - -

I ran the NS-20 last season, probably 16+ of them. Can confirm they are hot garbage

I bought 12 of them because they were a good deal, instantly regretted it after running the first set, and hated every last moment on the remaining nankangs. never again

[tptrsn]

I ran one set of the velozzas last year, and they were better than every other cheap tire I ran. I'd like to run some more of those and some of those westlakes this year to start with. My problem is that I have a bunch of 15" wheels too, and finding a good 15" tire hasn't been super easy yet other than for super short sidewall ones. Does anyone have a suggestion for reasonable height 15" tires to try?

[Novablue454]

I bought 12 of them because they were a good deal, instantly regretted it after running the first set, and hated every last moment on the remaining nankangs. never again

mine loved to delam too, broke the shit outta one of my hard flares chucking the tread on the 3rd lap

[derrty30]

mine loved to delam too, broke the shit outta one of my hard flares chucking the tread on the 3rd lap

yes, mine chunked and delam like crazy. ripped my flares off several times. luckily no damage tho.