Tires for DD AP1, 3-5 track/autoX per yr
 

This is what I am looking at, important factor for me; cost, "feel", (probably in that order)

​​​​​​​However, the Conti's are probably my top choice right now, but I am also noticing they are on back order.



https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...fb2ca805a5.png

Look at the tire wear ratings. Lower number is indicative of a softer rubber and hence the implication of better traction and handling.

While numbers are not absolute and are assigned by the tire manufacturer not a testing agency, a TW200 tire like the V730 or RE71RS will be better than the PS31 (TW460 !) or Extreme Contact Sport (TW340) considering the wide difference in rating. I doubt you'll find many or even any cars at your autocross events with more than TW200 tires.

Considering only the TW200 tires for best performance and your cost criteria I'd buy the the V730. Note I'm on RE71RS tires and have never driven on 730s but the tread looks good.

(Have you considered moving to 17" wheels? There are about 7 or 8 TW200 tires available in 17" but only 2 in 16". Many more choices.)

Note if you buy from Tire Rack you still have to get them mounted and balanced. Discount Tire bought Tire Rack several months ago and you can get anything on the Tire Rack website from Discount Tire at the same price and their mounting and balancing of my tires has always been professional.

-- Chuck

Thanks Chuck,
Yes I have considered 17s and a square set-up, probably the better, long term choice.

16's = low up front cost, less options for tires
17's = more up front cost, but if this is something I am looking to move into eventually, can I just skip the crawl, walk, run progression and jump straight to an 17" TW200?

That is what I am trying to decide.

I would rather make slow, incremental changes and continue to improve on my driver skills. I am planning on attending the next event at 5 Flags in October, and I will probably only change my alignment before then.

RE71 is going to have the most grip of those listed.
Kumho v730 has less grip than the RE71 but still pretty good and wears very well + lower cost. They are NOT good in standing water though. So if you expect to deal with heavy rain prob not a great choice
I have never even considered running an all season on this car so have never even looked at the conti listed
The PS31 says its a summer but has very high TW rating. for a summer tire. Likely not as fun and grippy as the other summer tires you show there but should wear well. Only concern is that a lot of higher treadwear rated tires (And all seasons too) tend to want to chunk out with hard autox use.

For just a few track days or autox events per year, I would probably lean towards the RE-71Rs but I know cost is a concern and they are the most expensive on the list. But given you are running on the street too with them, they will do better in rain than the V730 (again, it is not good in hard rain or standing water at all). If you start doing more track stuff, you may want a second set of wheels to run something cheaper and better wearing (Aka the V730 or similar) for HPDE and maybe toss on the RE-71RS for a fast session here and there to save cost.

You could also look at the Falken RT660. Maybe a bit grippier than the V730 and a bit better in rain.

Yokohama A052 is another very high performing 200TW tire like the RE71RS, but wear fast and cost a lot so not going to fit what you are wanting most likely.

The Conti on his list is a summer tire, not an all season.

That said, I would 100% skip the Conti's, especially if you're planning on autox or tracking. I've got a set of Conti extremesports on mine right now and they're garbage imho.

I hear you but the Kelly Edge tires I ran on Sunday are next level garbage. Part of my thought that any quality tire is going to be an upgrade.

And yes. I would love to have a set of 17's for my dedicated track wheels but the thought of a good all around'r is appealing.

You said daily drive but you didn't mention where you are. How low do the temperatures get? Do you see snow?

The conti's are actually quite good for what they are, they are max performance 320tw not 200tw extreme performance category. Keep in mind many 200tw tires are more like 100 if they were honest. The A052's are the most well street mannered for doing double duty but do wear very fast. Most of the other 200tw tires are very rough on the street. If you are looking for highly competitive but good street manners and put very few miles on per year or the s2000 is not your daily commuter car, I'd go A052. If you put a lot of miles on and put street manners above all out performance I'd go conti's. The Bridgestones do wear a little better but have lesser street manners and the other tires listed are even worse on the street even if they wear slightly better. Finding a dual use tire that isn't loud and rough are few and far between. So to summarize, since you said 3-5 events per year I'd go A052 or if don't care about road manners re-71rs. If you had said 1-2 events per year and this was majority commuter car I'd say go with the conti's

So much about tires is personal. :) The RE-71RS I put on earlier this summer have impeccable street manners. These don't seem to pick up as much small gravel as others. But I can't test a wide variety of tires and I've only purchased 3 sets of tires for the car -- all Bridgestones (Extreme, Max, back to Extreme). Averaging a bit more than 15,000 miles per set of tires.

-- Chuck

I run a 225/50-16 Conti ECS for my DD and a 255/40-17 RE71RS for autocrossing. There is a significant difference in ride quality between the two so you need to decide how much you care about that too. I'm not sure how much of that is purely 16" vs 17" for me but I really hate driving around town on my RE71RS. That being said I have a pretty firm suspension at 14k/12k springs so take that for what it's worth. Have not really every pushed the Conti ECS hard to know how they are at the limit. As Chuck said, so much is personal preference and what you are willing to trade off.