Track Day Tires

[ballarde30]

I am doing my first track day on June 10 with the BMW Club at Pacific Raceways. My car currently has 205/55 R15 Dunlop Direzza DZ101's http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes. The tread on two of them is at the treadwear marker so I am not going to be able to use these. I may have access to a set of 225/50 R15 R888's but will also need to replace my tires soon. I have been looking at replacign them with the same Dunlops or switching to Falken Ziez ZE512's in either 205/55 R15 or 225/50 R15 http://www.falkentire.com/Tires/Pass...ZIEX-ZE-512-13. I have heard that for your first track day it is best to use street tires. What suggestions do you guys have? Thanks!

[TrackjunkiE30]

You heard correct. Stick with your street tires. Just change & check your fluids, make sure you have all projectiles out of the car and most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!

[Jafxod]

I have a couple track days under my belt and I completely agree about starting on street tires, they are more forgiving and will let you know musically if your fucking up haha.

[nando]

regardless of if they are r-comps or street tires - run whatever is cheapest. If you can get R888s for a song, go for it.

Toyos tend to give good feedback either way. Something like a hoosier however is not as forgiving..

[Earendil]

I just ran my first track day on Dunlup Star Specs. They were $99 a piece and actually held onto the track better than I would have liked. It was awesome how well they held, don't get me wrong. But I found that the good tires + Awesome track surface meant that I was pulling significantly more lateral force, which translated to me having the ever present thought "Why am I not sliding into that wall?!". I only ever really broke them loose once, during a rather poor downshift into second. They broke for a split second, gave me a nice loud squeak to let me know what I had just done (as if having your back end jump a foot sideways in a turn wasn't enough), and immediately gripped the track again.

Also, the StarSpecs are supposed to have amazing (or at least usuable) wet track ability. As my local track is also here in the Northwest (PIR) I opted for this tire. Worked out well, since I drove over an hour to the event, and the way back was in the rain. No rain all day on the track, and I have to endure a thunderstorm and downpour on the drive home, which the StarSpecs handled with absolute grace...as long as I didn't exceed 60mph ;-)

Just my very humble opinion. Either way, please report back on what you chose and how it went!

Edit:
Looks like the price for the Sport Z1 Star Spec is up to $108, but there is an $80 mail in rebate when you buy four!
Also, here is a link to a comprehensive survey they did. It's 2 years old now, but most of those tires are still in the running today for a street/track tire.

[priapism]

Star Specs are great track tires that happen to be streetable. I put street tires on my weaves (420 treadwear Sumitomos) and I don't like them because while they do give earlier so I slide more, they're not designed for "high performance" driving. They're kind of unpredictable and don't have much feel.

[CincinnatiKid]

Stick with street tires, then go get some RA1s

[10/10ths]

run what you brung, as they say.

Then after a track day or two on normal tires, a good set of stickies will be more meaningful.

[Fusion]

I agree. Start at "the bottom" and work your way up. You'll learn the boundaries of the car on street tires, you might have to catch a slipping tail here and there and when you do upgrade to rcomps, you'll have a better understanding of how and why they're different hands-on and you'll learn new boundaries etc.

[Earendil]

To sum up what others have said: what you want to learn is how your car handles"on the limit". Feel that, sense that, recover from that. Nicer tires mean that you'll be learning those things at 80mph instead if 50mph. Tires help you go faster, not help you learn :)

That said, I'm the guy that had good no seasons 14" tires on his car, and before his first track day bought 15" wheels and star specs, so....





Edit: "on the edge" + "at the limit" = "on the limit". Stupid brain.

[e30s50dan]

I agree. Stick with street tires,learn your car then go to r888 or ra1's. Good luck. You will have the time of your life,but be warned... It. Is. Like. Crack !

[jlevie]

As an instructor, a novice with no or limited track time on high performance or R-comps is a scary proposition. I'd much rather see them with all season or equivalent tires. There isn't nearly as much grip with those, but they "talk well" and have a large region between the point that the start to make noise and the point that the completely let go. Which is what a novice needs.

[yobless]

As an instructor, a novice with no or limited track time on high performance or R-comps is a scary proposition. I'd much rather see them with all season or equivalent tires. There isn't nearly as much grip with those, but they "talk well" and have a large region between the point that the start to make noise and the point that the completely let go. Which is what a novice needs.

Very true..."talking" tires have saved me more than once :)

[E30Gus]

I've run several different street tires on the track and the DZ101's ($66) have been my 2nd favorite to the Star Specs. They stuck surprisingly well and didn't seem to over heat much if at all. Star Specs are my favorite so far on the track. I don't know if I will ever afford to go the R-Comp route so I will most likely run these for a long time.

[joshh]

Stay away from all season tires unless you're planning on driving in very cold weather or snow. They suck for performance driving. A good summer tire is what you want other wise. I had the 512's and they straight out suck. Tread life was also poor.