I've been running the same set of Hankook RS3's for the last 2 seasons and although they still had descent tread they were getting hard from the heat cycles.
There seem to be 3 main choices for a good "street tire" autocross tire, the Hankook RS3, the Dunlop Star Specs (now version 2), and the just released BFG Rival. Since I run a 15" wheel and the Dunlop only comes in a 215-15 that one was out (I have run the Dunlops in 17" and can give an opinion on them if you want). That left the RS and the Rival. I had really good luck on the RS3's and was tempted to stick with what I knew but the buzz around the new Rival sounded good so I decided to give them a shot.
The Rival, if you don't know is an extreme performance summer tire designed for competition in street classes. It's rated at 200 on treadwear VS. the RS3 at 140, although most have stated these ratings don't mean much anymore. Since the Rival at least now is a TireRack exclusive I put in my order and was excited last week when they showed up at my door.
Here's a picture of the Rival
And here's the Rival on the left with the RS3 on the right. Both 225/45-15
Notice the excessive shoulder wear on the old RS3, something they are known for.
I took them and mounted them up on my 15x8 Kosei K1's and headed out to see how they handled with some spirited street driving. I was very impressed with how well they stuck, the amount of noise they made when starting to break loose, and the ability to keep them in control with the throttle when they did break loose. They are probably the most predictable tire I've run.
After that little bit of fun I headed back home and got ready for the autocross on Sunday. I've been doing pretty well the last couple of seasons on the RS3's and been very competitive with the e30 even running against e36's and e46's but the last couple events I've had to struggle to pull out wins usually by 1 or 2 10ths. Last month I've took 3rd, my worst finish for a while and was almost 4/10ths away from 2nd place. Needless to say I was hoping the Rivals would deliver on the times they were promising.
When it was all over Sunday I won my class by half a second and was more than a second faster than the guy that took 2nd last month. This was on 2 courses that were fairly comparable with this course being a little tighter than last month.
The biggest difference I noticed wasn't in lateral grip but in stopping. The first time I went hard into a corner and hit the brakes where I normally would the car came to a near stop way too early for the corner. Once I got used to that I was able to go deeper into the corners and have more control coming out of them also. It was more difficult for me to rotate the car, something that can be a good thing, but when you are used to putting the tail out to line up for the next turn and it doesn't go it takes some adjusting. Luckily we got 7 runs so I was able to really get used to how it drove.
Now, I'm comparing brand new tires to some heat-cycled old ones and I'm sure even new RS3's would have been better than what I had but I really do think these Rivals are as good as you read in the other reviews. I'm very excited to get out and do a few more events with them and especially to use them for both the DE and autocross at COTA in June.
Here's video from my best run Sunday.
There seem to be 3 main choices for a good "street tire" autocross tire, the Hankook RS3, the Dunlop Star Specs (now version 2), and the just released BFG Rival. Since I run a 15" wheel and the Dunlop only comes in a 215-15 that one was out (I have run the Dunlops in 17" and can give an opinion on them if you want). That left the RS and the Rival. I had really good luck on the RS3's and was tempted to stick with what I knew but the buzz around the new Rival sounded good so I decided to give them a shot.
The Rival, if you don't know is an extreme performance summer tire designed for competition in street classes. It's rated at 200 on treadwear VS. the RS3 at 140, although most have stated these ratings don't mean much anymore. Since the Rival at least now is a TireRack exclusive I put in my order and was excited last week when they showed up at my door.
Here's a picture of the Rival
And here's the Rival on the left with the RS3 on the right. Both 225/45-15
Notice the excessive shoulder wear on the old RS3, something they are known for.
I took them and mounted them up on my 15x8 Kosei K1's and headed out to see how they handled with some spirited street driving. I was very impressed with how well they stuck, the amount of noise they made when starting to break loose, and the ability to keep them in control with the throttle when they did break loose. They are probably the most predictable tire I've run.
After that little bit of fun I headed back home and got ready for the autocross on Sunday. I've been doing pretty well the last couple of seasons on the RS3's and been very competitive with the e30 even running against e36's and e46's but the last couple events I've had to struggle to pull out wins usually by 1 or 2 10ths. Last month I've took 3rd, my worst finish for a while and was almost 4/10ths away from 2nd place. Needless to say I was hoping the Rivals would deliver on the times they were promising.
When it was all over Sunday I won my class by half a second and was more than a second faster than the guy that took 2nd last month. This was on 2 courses that were fairly comparable with this course being a little tighter than last month.
The biggest difference I noticed wasn't in lateral grip but in stopping. The first time I went hard into a corner and hit the brakes where I normally would the car came to a near stop way too early for the corner. Once I got used to that I was able to go deeper into the corners and have more control coming out of them also. It was more difficult for me to rotate the car, something that can be a good thing, but when you are used to putting the tail out to line up for the next turn and it doesn't go it takes some adjusting. Luckily we got 7 runs so I was able to really get used to how it drove.
Now, I'm comparing brand new tires to some heat-cycled old ones and I'm sure even new RS3's would have been better than what I had but I really do think these Rivals are as good as you read in the other reviews. I'm very excited to get out and do a few more events with them and especially to use them for both the DE and autocross at COTA in June.
Here's video from my best run Sunday.
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