I've tried reading a lot of posts, but I feel that a lot of the posts are a bit old and less relevant.
From what search, it sounds like Dunlop ZII Star Spec is the king of them all in performance and bang for the buck?

I don't care for wet performance much. I will buy a second set of wheels just for track. The only time I'd be driving the second set of tires will be to drive to the track. I'm in socal, so rain chance is very slim.

idk. I'm korean, but I don't trust korean companies. Hankook RS3 is comparable too, i guess?
Right now tirerack has some rebate for RE11a's but you guys use this set more for street than track, right?

 

RS3s are still king for handling heat and turning fast laptimes.

ZII can turn equally fast laptimes but require you to be a much more tidy driver. If you over drive them and slide them around too much, they'll grease up and you'll kill your laptimes quite a bit. The trade off is that they offer much better feel & response versus the RS3s.

RE11a is supposedly about 1 second off pace with the above two (I only have experience using this as a street tire, not a track tire. I used the original RE-11 compound on track and really liked it - great feel, audible feedback, and good heat cycling/tire life, but probably around 1 second off pace of the RS3s).

AD-08R is a good tire that's on pace with the top 2, but more expensive. I haven't been on it myself since it's pricier than the above listed 3 tires.

Rivals... not very popular with the SoCal guys. Many have tried it and none have liked them for track driving - autox is a different story.

Finally, there's also the step up to streetable r-comps. NT-01s are a better tire than all of the above for hooning around for a track day, especially if it's going to be on a second set of wheels and you don't care about wet driving at all.

***pacing/time comparison are based on Buttonwillow CW13 and/or CVR (chuckwalla)

also, as an additional FYI - no one has been on the ZII "Star Spec" that's just barely being released now. The Direzza ZII is what everyone's been driving on for the last 1.5 years.

 

I bet the new ZII SS is the fastest street tire available.

 

If you want a track-only tire, why not get the Hoosier R6 or BFG R1? The Z2 is small fries in comparison.

 

^^^exactly. If this is track only why are you looking at street tires (all the tires mentioned so far are designed primarily for street use, not track)? Toyo R888s are a good choice for track only, as well as their RA1 tires, both could be run on the street as well. If you're looking for a slick R6s as mentioned are a great bang for the buck due to their longer lifecycle.

 

I find it rather fascinating that no one ever mentioned the Kuhmo XS as an option. I don’t know if that’s because it’s just not popular so people always forget about them, or what, but as a rather exclusive user myself, they have proven to me to be a great track performer to consider for the extreme street tire category. Tire Rack found them to have the highest level of dry adhesion out of every one of the tires you guys just listed above. The tire design is getting a bit long in the tooth though and Kuhmo is taking their time coming out with the replacement V720. They need something else to refresh peoples minds that there is another affordable option on the market.

I agree though, if you want a track only tire, run R comps.

 

I thought the XS tire is designed for drag racing, not the road course.

 

I really like my AD08r's. They were great at my track day and have held up to street driving while be comfortable. You can look at Adam's build thread as he has compared them to the RS3's.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/980.../page__st__350

But I have to agree if you are buying an entire set of wheels and tires for just the track R comps are the way to go to get the best lap time. The price difference is fairly minimal depending on which one you buy.

 

You're probably the only one using it because it's the only 17" that's made wider than 255, well, that and the NT-05. But, it's also the same reason no one mentioned the NT-05.

If they were truly competitive tires, you'd see them being used at competition level events. They aren't being used because they aren't competitive. Everyone at SCCA Nationals in STR cars were using either ZIIs or RS3s.

As for Hoosiers, since he's in SoCal, i'm assuming he's going to drive his car to the track and not trailer. That rules out full on racing slicks, which then leaves lower level rcomps like R888, NT-01, Maxxis, R1Rs.

 

would be sweet to see some good comparison data on RS3v1 vs RS3v2 and laptimes 5-6 laps in to really see if their new compound is the bees knees