The problem with these Tire Rack comparisions is they never/rarely do any road course comparison. I'm personally more interested in how a tire performs when given some heat. That is also really where you are going to find that the gap between the top tier tires (Dunlop,/Hankook/Kuhmo) widen compared to the lower tier tires (Bridgestone/BFG/Falken). With regards to this article

RT-615's do get greasy, regardless of driving style, but perhaps in a light weight chassis like a Miata, FB, or CRX, this doesn't happen.

With regards to feel that some of you have mention, understandable having a nice "crisp" turn-in is nice, but I'll take overall grip and predictability any day over turn-in feel. I can always adjust my turn-in, but you can only do so much with lack of grip or the tire going away.

The Dunlops are a great tire, especially given the price point.

 

the nittos are awesome Simmy..

I had them before on my RPF-1s...now I have Star Specs in OEM AP2 sizes


I will have a track impression in a few weeks but it wont be fair as the Nitto's were wider...

I will say this the Nitto will most likely give shorter life due to less tread (7/32 vs 10/32 for the Dunlops)

Grip was very similar with our Time Attack EVO running within .3 seconds

the Dunlop was faster but the feel of the Nitto was better, and the Nitto seemed to hold up to heat better.


BTW shaved Star Specs are 2 seconds faster per lap ( same car, driver, track, wheels)

 

A (lame non-weighted) footprint from that article:



Its easy to see why the Direzzas are superior to most, look how much rubber touches the road! What is surprising is the wet superiority that it manages with such few channels, which I can concur they are great in the wet.

 

That footprint is most definitely fully weighted.

 

I was just going to chime in on that, thanks zdan.

The tread design of high performance tires is a series of tradeoffs. Compare the 3 narrow longitudinal channels of the wet winner to the much wider 2 channels, in the center of pressure of the SS. Then look at the tread/void ratio and see how wide the angled voids are. The SS has very large blocks for traction (less chunking and allows a softer compound), and wide-deep grooves in two orientations, longitudinal for high speed rain traction, and some lateral evacuation (and helps sweep a path for the rears).

 

I think wet performance can be contributed mostly to the compound.

 

That is why we have engineers and not priests designing tires.

The xs has an even softer compound, and it blows in the wet. The Hoosier A6 has a really soft compound, but again the tread design and void ratio are not optimized for wet conditions.

 

really good info here.

 

I'm running AP2 V1's with a 1 inch drop... would you guys recommend these tire sizes as well? As opposed to the stock re050 dimensions

 

Another price drop on the Specs at tire rack!

Although I recommend not using the 55 sidewall Specs though:
[QUOTE]2x 225/50R16 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec $222.00
2x 205/55ZR16 Bridgestone Potenza S-02 $326.00
Total: