rush2redline

That's fair. I'm appreciate the comfort on my street tires since my set up is so stiff. On my TT/AX set, the soft sidewalls on the Yokohama A052's makes driving to events feel like a dream -- except I overinflate them to 40PSI when traveling to save the edges of my tires lol

B serious

Your post made me do some digging thru my photos.
I've found:

1. I take too many photos of cars
2. I wasted a lot of time on this minor detail

Every tire pictured below is 255/40/17
Maybe this will help people on the site.












I think the RT615K+ is just a tiny bit slimmer than the 71R.
Both look pretty well squared on 17X9.
Both are a little spread out on 17X9.5, but the Falken's sidewall squareness looks more attractive (to me). The 71R has a more round sidewall look.


The Falken RT660 runs so wide that it's a scam to even call this a 255.

azn akira

according to tirerack the tread width of the rt615k+ is 9.2'', the rt660 is 9.3'', and the re71rs (no longer lists the re71r) is 9.0''

Bullwings

Wow, inflation hit tire prices hard. I haven't shopped for tires in about 10 months or so.

Anyway, I'll throw a wild card option into the mix - what about the RS4? By all accounts the general feedback consensus is that they "wear like iron" and will heat cycle out far before the tread is gone. That said, a heat cycled RS4 will be grippier than a firehawk 500. Can't comment on the longevity between the two, but it is one of the longer (if not longest) last 200TW tire right now. Wet grip should be "ok" given the tire tread pattern - just don't drive like a moron.

B serious

Not a bad idea. Maybe the RS4 would make a good street-only tire.

The car doesn't see a lot of miles, unfortunately. So longevity is not a concern. I may check out the RS4.

The Indy's are attractive because they're on silly sale at Costco right now. Get that nitrogen inflation that way.

My man @TsukubaCody got me re-thinking about the RT615K+ too

TsukubaCody

I am number one RT615K+ enjoyer as street tire. Will be putting some on my car again next year.

Chuck S

These look pretty good and are the least expensive TW200 tires that I can find. Noise and showering the car with road debris is still a consideration for me. Anyone have direct experience with these as a back roads tire?

-- Chuck

B serious

You mean the RT615K+?

You mentioned the RE11 earlier, and these are probably the closest modern day alternative to RE11's.

Chuck S

Yeah, the RT615K+. Road noise and debris are on my concerns list. Rain performance seem adequate according to data in the Tire Rack tests. Made in Japan.

-- Chuck

B serious

Its a 200TW. So its gonna throw rocks. Its relatively soft rubber and big flat tread blocks with lots of surface area to pick up rocks.

Its hard to comment on noise. They didn't seem unreasonable in that respect. I think the wacky 1990's tread pattern inherently helps with noise.