The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Tire TW Ratings
I've searched through alot of recommendation posts but i'm not really finding what I need to find... I want to know how the UTQG compares to TW ratings? I've personally never looked at tires like this before... usually just buy cheap all seasons for my daily driver. Just want to understand better to compare tire ratings so I don't get something that is not gonna pass tech.
https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/t … ?techid=48
Same thing.
And to expand on this, there is little to be gained by going "cheap"and getting 300-500 rated tires unless your car is an IoE contender. The 200 TW tires are strategically placed at that rating for either:
Autocross
Lemons type events
The former heat up fast and may or may not get really greasy with extended enduro use but they will not chunk from heat (hopefully)
The latter are perfect for our type of racing but their compatibility with weight of car and driver enthusiasm varies brand to brand.
First race, suggest the Falken non-K+ 615K's. Proven if mediocre performer on all but the worst cars and they were available in many sizes for pennies (relatively) at tirerack. and discount tire online.
Are you saying I could go faster if I got away from azenis?
Are you saying I could go faster if I got away from azenis?
Depends on the car, the drivers, etc. They are the tire that seems to fit the largest cross section of all the variables currently sold...and they are very reasonable.
It's tricky to know if tires are designed for autoX or Lemons type events these days if you haven't been following along. For example, the old Rivals are great, but the Rival S was designed for AutoX and it's shorter stress times.
Then you get tires that have just been handed the 200TW label when they used to be much lower. For example the R1R. They used to be a 140, and then magically became 200 even though they are still a very fast wearing tire.
For new teams the easiest starting place is the Dunlop Star Spec ZII, or the Falken 615K (plus or regular, both are good).
What is the difference between the two 615k tires?
What is the absolute fastest tire for Lemons? R1R?
What is the difference between the two 615k tires?
What is the absolute fastest tire for Lemons? R1R?
The 615k+ is just the newer version of the tire. We've used the + version a couple times on our big fat heavy saab and love them.
There is no flat answer to your last question since it's car dependent. The R1R will be a great tire, for a short period of time. A heavy car will destroy them in no time flat. We used the R1R as a track tire on my dad's Elise, and they were good for a few track days tops before running out of rubber. I would wager that a heavy car could eat a set in a day of Lemons racing.
I haven't noticed a big difference in tread life between the 615K and 615K+, at least not yet. That being said, we've switched back and forth (once the old version went on clearance!) so I don't have good data. I'd have to go out to the garage to see what's on the car right now.
Has anybody tried these?
Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 R
Looking for an option other than Dunlop’s in 255/40R17
Fishah wrote:What is the difference between the two 615k tires?
What is the absolute fastest tire for Lemons? R1R?
The 615k+ is just the newer version of the tire. We've used the + version a couple times on our big fat heavy saab and love them.
There is no flat answer to your last question since it's car dependent. The R1R will be a great tire, for a short period of time. A heavy car will destroy them in no time flat. We used the R1R as a track tire on my dad's Elise, and they were good for a few track days tops before running out of rubber. I would wager that a heavy car could eat a set in a day of Lemons racing.
I don't remember the car or race (I see 500 people a weekend, it's hard to keep shit straight anymore), but I recall someone telling me they corded their R1Rs in Lemons after about in about half a day of racing.
That said, all the points about tires seem really subjective. A 205/50/15 tire that works with little wear on a 2,100-pound FWD Civic has very little bearing on what might work on, say, a 3,400-pound Thunderbird running 255/45/17. So as always in Lemons, YMMV on tire choice/wear/etc. There must be about 400 forum topics on this subject by now.
I'll just throw this out there again - the key to getting tires to last is an accurate alignment that is appropriate for your car. Maybe, MAYBE an appropriately aligned 4000# car running one of the popular 180TW tires with a very skilled driver running close to the limit could cord a tire in 5 hours. But when I hear stories like that I tend to chalk it up to a poor alignment or a car that has garbage for suspension geometry that no alignment in the world will resolve.
We ignored lots of naysaying and ran Hankook Ventus RS-3 last year with great success. Every race we participated in we ran against a multiple race-winning, nearly identical car on Dunlop Direzza SII Star Specs and not once did I feel like we were giving something away by being on the RS-3s. Saved about $300 though.
Point being - don't sweat the tires too much. If you're on a budget, buy whatever's cheap that others have used. Try to do some research and identify alignment specs that are known to work for your car, and spend the money you saved on tires for an alignment at a reputable shop that's willing to align the car to your requested specs.
Yes. A full alignment (Offer to pay time so it gets done right) Is an absolute must. I'd put it above oil change or even Tune up.
We have no problem getting a weekend off a set of Z2 Stars on our fat Fox T-bird so much so our next race is going to be all on pull off leftovers.
Has anybody tried these?
Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 R
Looking for an option other than Dunlop’s in 255/40R17
Those are 180 treadwear and not Lemons legal.
TheEngineer wrote:Fishah wrote:What is the difference between the two 615k tires?
What is the absolute fastest tire for Lemons? R1R?
The 615k+ is just the newer version of the tire. We've used the + version a couple times on our big fat heavy saab and love them.
There is no flat answer to your last question since it's car dependent. The R1R will be a great tire, for a short period of time. A heavy car will destroy them in no time flat. We used the R1R as a track tire on my dad's Elise, and they were good for a few track days tops before running out of rubber. I would wager that a heavy car could eat a set in a day of Lemons racing.
I don't remember the car or race (I see 500 people a weekend, it's hard to keep shit straight anymore), but I recall someone telling me they corded their R1Rs in Lemons after about in about half a day of racing.
That said, all the points about tires seem really subjective. A 205/50/15 tire that works with little wear on a 2,100-pound FWD Civic has very little bearing on what might work on, say, a 3,400-pound Thunderbird running 255/45/17. So as always in Lemons, YMMV on tire choice/wear/etc. There must be about 400 forum topics on this subject by now.
I have a 3300 Tbird (with a big boy driver + crap on the roof) and we actually ran 205/50R15 tires for several years. Direzza Star Specs. It wasn't until we made more powah that we needed to upgrade to 16s and finally 17s.
What I found with our boat was that the first tires we had (the Toyo Proxies 4 w/ 300TW experiences significant chunking -- likely because they got too hot. Even with a lighter car, I don't think the cost savings merit the risk of ending up with a greasy, severely chunked tire.
We're switching to 17's on our T-bird because 17" is the new 15" as far as tire makers are concerned.
Grip wrote:Has anybody tried these?
Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 R
Looking for an option other than Dunlop’s in 255/40R17
Those are 180 treadwear and not Lemons legal.
255/40R17 are 200 TW and Lemons legal.
Oh, we are switching as well for the next race. I don't have any feedback on them but anotehr friend who ran an MN12 tbird in Lemons recommended the Nitto NT05s in 255/40R17s.
I bought them from Discount Tire via eBay and got a pretty good price comparable to what we were paying for 15" Star Specs ($133/ea). You just have to wait for one of their deals.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-NEW-255-40-1 … 0903516579
I used GCs you can buy for 10-15% off from SamsungPay during their promo periods, eBates/MrRebates portal, and eBay Cash to bring the price down further (down to $120/ea IIRC).
America's Tire/Discount Tire retail shops will also mount them for $19/ea (compared to Tire Rack Tires which for me in the Bay Area I can get mounted at wheel works for $15/ea).
At that price, it was worth trying them.
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