Autocross & track tires for a novice

[dparm]

Finally decided to stop abusing my street tires at autocrosses or track days. My 3900lb 4WD Audi really chunks and shreds them. I bought a set of used 17x7.5" OEM Audi wheels for this purpose.

I've decided not to get R-compound because they are pricey and because it typically throws you into the super-advanced group of racers. I am just a guy who does it 10 or so times a year and doesn't have a track-prepped car. I know that the RE-11s are considered the benchmark but they cost almost double the tires I'm looking at...so no thanks.

Narrowed it down to these three. They're relatively cheap, sticky, and easy to get locally at Discount Tire.

Hankook Ventus RS-3
$136/tire
140/A/A

Kumho Ecsta XS
$145/tire
180/A/A

Nitto NT05
$142/tire
200/A/A


All three get good reviews. Leaning towards the Nittos and Hankooks. The Hankooks are marketed as being a streetable autocross tire. Grassroots Motorsports liked the Ecsta XS quite a bit and showed it as being very consistent. Have heard complaints about their unpredictability in the wet though. Not much data available about the Nittos, but the tread pattern looks quite aggressive.

Any users of these tires?

 

[Eddie]

The tires listed are good tires, but which is best for what vehicle is the question. You need to get some feed-back from owners who track their 4WD Audi

 

[dparm]

A lot of guys run the Star Specs but those are becoming dated. They use them because they're not running dedicated track wheels.

 

[robertcope]

I run Kumho XSes. They are cheap and awesome. They aren't the best rain tire, but they are flat out amazing on a dry track.

None of those tires will suck, although I don't know anything about the NT-05.

robert

 

[IndyIan]

For scca autocross, if your car is stock, then just running r-comps is only 1 car prep point out of 2 allowed in stock.
Staying in stock is generally best unless you are going to mod the car to the limit of the next class up your going into.
Anyways, I would get ahold of the rule book for whichever club you are going to run with most, as the street tire classes might have minimum wear ratings as well.

Also if you're just out for fun, have a look at used r-comp tires, I think they are alot cheaper in dollars/track time than new ones. This winter I got a set of 6 tires with 2 never used tires for the price of 2 new ones... 1 of the 4 used ones might be 50%, the other 3 are 80+%

 

[09_GXP]

The *specs would be my tire of choice followed by the Kuhmos. I've heard some good things about the looks but I don't have much experience with those. I haven't seen anyone run fast on the Nittos.

 

[A_Harman]

I've run two sets of Kumho's, and they are FAST in the dry; excellent value in terms of speed/dollar. They are not so good in the wet, however. No problem driving on them on the street in the wet, but their limits are not so extreme on the track in the wet.

I have run 3 sets of Nitto NT555RII's, and like them also. No experience with the NTO5's though. They don't look like they would have very good wet performance, though.

The Dunlop Direzza Star-Specs are supposed to have nearly as good dry performance and significantly better wet performance as the Kumho Ecsta XS, according to Grassroots Motorsports.

 

[dparm]

I don't run SCCA usually. I run with various clubs like Miata Club, Audi Club, etc. They automatically lump R-compounds into a different class.

I'd like to focus on improving my driving skill. R-compounds hide a lot of mistakes.