I’m seriously considering making the change to 200tw tires for our spirited mountain drives. I’ve been running Firehawks and they are pretty good but I’d like to move up in performance. I was set on the RS4s based on a recommendation from a fellow group driver but now I see they don’t make them in 215/45 17 anymore. They already run on the wide side so IDK if 225 is a good idea on stock wheels. Could I run 225f 245r on stock wheels ok? Or recommend a comparable 200tw tire. Falken maybe? I really wanted to try the RS4 because they are said to wear well for a 200.

 

225/45/17 and 255/40/17

 

pass on rs4. go re71rs or dunlop. rs4 is track friendly, they suck on the street

 

Continental Extreme Contact Force is what I'd buy. Its always rated very high up in terms of "driver feel", and rated well in wet weather, both of which are what's super important for street use.

Any 200TW is going to be overkill in terms of ultimate dry grip, so I recommend largely ignoring that data point for street tire choice. Lap times shouldn't sell street tires. Know what I mean?

 

200TW tires or 600TW don't matter if you don't drive enough miles to wear them out before they age out in seven (7) years like me so I fitted Bridgestone RE-71RE RE-71RS tires almost two summers ago. Tires are another expendable.

-- Chuck

 

I drive 5-6k miles per year so two seasons on the rear and maybe 3 on the front for me. I bet those RE71rs are nice in the mountains.

 

I have very little track and tire experience, but when I decided to go with a 200TW tire I settled on the RS4 and they've been great.

RS4s were under $1K CAD delivered to my house. Other better performing tires were significantly more expensive and/or would wear faster. I'm cheap and not particularly fast, so the main factor for me was how many track days I can get out of the tires.

I have no idea how they are in the wet because I don't drive in the rain if I can avoid it. If it happens to rain on a track day, I have my old 16s with continentals... although they're kinda shot.

 

RS4s aren't much grippier than the Conti ExtremeContact Sport 02's and need some heat to come alive, their main advantage is their ability to handle getting really hot on track without a drop-off in performance or excessive wear. The Conti ECS 02 is a superior street tire because of this. For street use if you want to get into really sticky 200TW tires, I would recommend the RE71RS, or if you want more civility than that (stock exhaust and not wanting loud tires) the Bridgestone Potenza Race is more civilized but nearly as grippy. Another good and cheaper option as long as you won't see rain is the Kumho V730, they grip from ambient but can handle heat like the RS4.

 

I wouldn't use V730s. They take even more time to get heat into them. My experience has been drive at least 8/10ths for a lap and a half on track. That said, they have great heat capacity and will remain consistent for an entire 30 minute session driving 10/10ths.

A052 is a tire that is instantly grippy, pretty much after the 2nd hard turn on the warm up lap on track. If you want immediate grip and don't care about longevity, I'd go for the A052. I like everything about the tire except its ability handle heat and stay fast when used on track. It's purely a hotlap tire and only good for 2 hot laps max, before dropping off in performance for that session - still feels good to drive, but is easily 0.5 to 1s slower per lap.

 

I disagree on V730s needing that much warmup. I found they gripped great right from ambient unless it was cold out (below about 50F if cloudy, 45F if sunny) in which case it didn't take much to get them up to temp even on the street, just a few minutes of driving normally did the trick above 40F and this was at 255 square, narrower tires will heat up quicker. I used them in a time attack series and could drive slow the first half of the out lap to build space between me and a slower car in my session and still have max grip as soon as I started pushing in the last half of the out lap and set fast lap times on the first timed lap. Now my Supercar 3Rs on my current track setup, I need to work to put some heat in, but they are a whole other category. I found that unless it was cold out, when i had A052s I had to baby the car for the out lap to avoid putting heat in them, then set my best time in the first hot lap (maybe second on a cool day) of the first session and that they would just be overheated and (like you said) about 1s slower after that and wouldn't even get a full hot lap before getting overheated on a hot day. by comparison the car I drove RS4s on ( not my own) felt like it needed a warm up lap to not suck, and a second hard lap to get them fully up to temp to where they felt they were happy.