What road race tires in what sizes?

[robiferretti]

what is the best road race tire out there? keep in mind i'll be buying a bunch of sets so price is somewhat of a concern. also what size's are you guys running? i was thinking 18's all the way around? or should i do 17s? i would like atleast a 295 in all 4 corners will that clear? newbie to the race tire and wheel thing here

[Bobcfr]

You can do a search and get lots of info some people are running 17 and 18 with 315 or 305 in rear. T1 guys run 17 all around with 315 all around or 275 in front 315 in the rear. Hoosier and Kumho seem to be the most popular though the other brands are good. I am sure you will lots of opinions there are good drivers here that race alot that can give you more detail just go over the search of old responses till then.

[Subdriver]

Rob,
That's a tougher question than you may realize.

SCCA T1 class rules require 17x10 front and 17x11 rear wheels with 315/35-17 front and rear, which is what I ran for most of last year.

Last year, a 275/40-17 front was allowed, but right now it isn't in the 2004 rulebook. Probably an oversight and it may get put back in.

Since these are the required sizes, the tire manufacturers, namely Goodyear, Hoosier, Kumho, have made good DOT legal track tires that fit these size wheels.

This might not be the optimum size though. DJWorm has posted many good threads on this topic. I think his recommendation is something like an 18x10 front with around a 305/30-18 front tire and a 17x11 rear with a 315/35-17 tire.
The taller front wheel would give you room for a bigger rotor/caliper if you ever decided to spend the money there, and the shorter sidewall will help turn in. For the rear, the larger sidewall allows a little more flex which may help control power on oversteer.

Whatever you do, do your research. You could easily buy the wheels you want and find there are no tires available that fit.

For example, if you bought an 18x10 front and a 17x11 rear, you could use the following:

Hoosier
R3S03:
305/30-18 front
315/35-17 rear
Nice fit.

Goodyear
Eagle F-1 GS-CS 295/35-18 front
Eagle GS-CS 315/35-17 rear
Probably a good combo as well.

Kumho
Ecsta V700
285/30-18 front (too short)
335/35-17 rear (may have some rubbing)
Not really a viable combo

Ecsta V710
315/35-18 front (too tall)
315/35-17 rear
Not really viable

Victoracer V700
No 18 inch sizes
Not viable

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup (never used these myself)
295/30-18 front
No 17 in tire wide enough for rear

Pirelli P Zero (never used these myself)
295/30-18 front
No 17 inch tire wide enough for rear

Yokohama A032 (never used these myself)
No 18 in sizes for front
315/35-17 rear

So you can see, but choosing an 18x10 front and 17x11 rear, you can't really use Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, or Yokohama, but have good choices with Hoosier or Goodyear. Pick a different size front wheel and the above mix changes.

I get all my info on size from the tirerack:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/comp.jsp

[JimU]

It depends on your use. If you do not intend to run in any race series such as SCCA T1 and you will only use them in HPDE then the most economical way to run race tires is to go with 18s on all 4 corners with "used" Goodyear slicks. I run a 18 x12 with 12.5 tires on the rear and 18 x 11 with 11.5 tires on the front. These tires cost me $300 to $400 for a set of 4 and they have at least 80% of the rubber. My rims are CCW. A good person to talk to is John at CCW.

[Scotty B]

If yer lookin for a no rules best lap time I would go with the 315/35x18 KUMHO V710 on all four corners this is what we will run our SM2 car this year

This would be without question the fastest combo, tall tires with short sidewall kick ass on C5's

sbw

[Mark Olson]

Hi Scotty!

I'm the Michelin pusher.

If you plan to drive to and from events I'll recomend the Michelin Sport Cups. The real question is what class, Road courses or Auto X, If your a new and on a limited budget, the Sport Clubs offer a great value, and performance. (they are expensive per set but my experance had me useing one set last year with about 5k road travel and 150 laps) on one set.
Sizes may not seem right but 255/40/17 front and 315/30/18 rears have work well. But if you are in SM2 like Scotty then the tire choice comes down to the Kumhos.
I have already seen them work at a National Tour Event. And they work very well.