Alright I'm sick of being stuck out in the rain (litterally) at events lately so I'm going to get a dedicated set of rain tires. The way I see it these are the options

Kumho Victoracer V700
225/50 front
245/45 rear

Kumho Escta V700
205/45 front
225/50 rear

Yoko A032R soft
225/50 front
245/45 rear

The question is who has experience with these in the rain and can attest to which one is the quickest. I've heard bad things about the escta vs the victo in the rain from some E-Stock guys. Othewise that seems like the ticket to me.

 

The Victoracer is ok on wet surfaces but will not evacuate much water so in standing water you would be SOL. The Yoko will do better with standing water until well worn so it may be a better choice. I have used both and can attest to how quickly the Kumhos will hydroplane once worn, but am not really an expert at wet running.. I usually sit them out. Several street tires are pretty amazing in the water (S03's, GS-D3) but may not fare well enough to compete with.

 

Full thread RA1's are a great rain/wet tire. They are used by a lot of racers in the rain. And when they start to wear down they become your dry tires

 

Actually, is this for Auto-X or Track?

 

What Rylan said.

 

I should have specified earlier, this is for autox. I've done some playing around and found that in damp conditions hoosiers are still pretty quick. I had some Pilot Sport cups that we tried in Rather damp conditions and I was nearly 2 seconds quicker on the hoosiers then the sport cups. Now what I found with sport cups is they need heat to work without heat they were worse then a street tire. Since the Hoosier dirt stockers don't fit under S2K fenders it's time to find something else that's fast in the wet. It is my understanding that the Toyo's require heat to work like the Pilot sports. That is my reason for not bringing them up. The Escta's have caught my eye as in the wet you want a smaller surface area So running smaller tires wouldn't be that bad in the wet. But what's scared me is people saying the escta isn't so nice in the wet. I ran Escta's on my old miata and they were great but I never ran them in anything worse then damp conditions. So the Toyo's are good rain tires. HUMMM what kinda pricing for them.

 

Last I checked the soft Yoko compound wasn't available in the 16" sizes. Has that changed?

I vote Victoracers.

 

i just picked up this months issue of grassroots motorsports and they stated 16 inch soft compound. So maybe it's not out yet but comming.

 

Full tread Victos work very well in the rain. The compound doesn't seem to suffer as much as some other brands in the lower temps and the grooves can get rid of light water. Serious downpours and you'd want a tire that has grooves really designed for those conditions.

The Kumhos soft sidewall also makes them more predictable in the wet.

-Andy

 

BTW: My RA1 advice was 100% for track, not auto-x.

I'd go w/ andy's sugestion on the Kumhos for auto-x.