Hey all, I recently restored my 79' 280ZX back to stock and have been taking it out to the local tracks, Laguna Seca And Sears Pt. (Infinion), and was wondering what input you all might have on the best tires to use. I don't drive her much except to take her to the track. I was wondering if it's worth buying 17" rims with low profiles that have the same diameter as my 16"ers? I'm looking for grip, not longevity. Some type of R rated tire I guess. What are your thoughts guys, Kurt. :dancing:

 

http://www.yokohamatire.com/uhphp_searchresults.asp

Yokohama A032R (soft compound) rubbers. Barely street legal, comes in 13-17" sizes, and stick like bugs on your intercooler. These Yoks are serious. Or if you just so happen to want 18" spin-off (center bolt, F1 style) wheels for Christmas, you could ask Santa for a set of A048's.

With either of those tire choices, I would not reccomend driving to the track on them. A friend of mine runs the A032R tires on his Mk-III Supra Twinturbo R, and when he drove to Vegas for a track day (from Salt Lake City, UT), they were down to the cords. Of course, hot freeway action and canyon carving don't help either ... Oh yeah, and that burnout in the Burger King parking lot ...

 

Cooper Cobra Radial GT's
like on my car below, dont have the size cause im not with my car (vacation) BUT i can get it for ya when i get home on the 30th and ever since i put them on there it drives like its glued to the road

 

The Coopers are good street tires and the Yokohama A032R's are great 'production class' race tires where slicks aren't allowed but each have their limitations.

I wouldn't trust the Coopers on a track day, they just don't have the right heat properties and the A032R's would need replaced after every track day.

Back in 'the old days' the Yokohama A008 (non-R) was in wide spread use by the SCCA Solo guys and I used it extensively on the street and the A008R and BFG T/A R1's on the track.

From my observations, the current street tire of choice for SCCA Solo'ers is the Kumho ECSTA Supra 711(712). It's cheap, has decent street life and has good heat properties for light track use.

If you plan to drive to the track, I would recommend something like the Kumho. If your're going to trailer it, I would go with the A032R's or one of the other R compound tires designed for the heat cycling experienced in real race conditions. The R tires will give you much better consistency and predictability throughout the track day but you'll pay for it and they come with NO factory warranties of course.

 

How could I forget the Kumhos?

Iww has the experience with tracks and tire choices, and the Kumho tire sounds like a good choice. I've heard of a couple guys running them at local autocrosses, and they say there's some good stick behind them.

As for Rifleman's tires, I'm going to guess, and say - just by looking at the pic - 235-60-14's.

 

I run Falken FK-451 tires for street/track combo's and it is an awsomely sticky street tire. I run 17" wheels with 235/40zr17's. Much like the Kumho 712 it works very well for dual purpose applications. I like the Kumho product very much, but the Falkens are superior all around and cost about the same. Check them out. They also make a motorsport only tire called the Azenis. Here's their web site... http://www.falkentire.com/tires_motorsport_choose.htm

Rod.

 

Rod,

Good suggestion! I had forgotten about the Falken's. They are also a good dual purpose tire. The problem with the Azenis is that they only have 3 sizes on the ST-115 for 16" wheels and no options for a 15" wheel and the RT-215's only have 6 sizes period. So you are limited quite a bit compared to a Yokohama. At that price point the Azenis aren't much cheaper than the Yok's either.

Since Kurt is in a 16" wheel already, the FK-451's are a great choice. They have a good wear rating for the street and a surprisingly good traction rating for track work.

I wouldn't spend the money on the 17" wheels. You'll be able to get every bit of performance out of your 16's with a good tire choice.

Cheers,
LWW