tires for track, street, and slicks.

[avriette]

Wife has given me a little bit of dough to spend on the Subaru or on a (big) rifle. I'm not sure yet, but I am examining wheels because I really want to put BFG G-Force tires on the car (add rear, front sway, kartboy bushings, downpipe, etc, to compensate for the otherwise normally handling car). Was looking at Rotas, but Ben tells me a few have been cracked on the track. This makes me sad. Are there wheels that are nice looking (wifey wont tolerate wheels that don't look nice on her car) that don't cost eleventy zillion dollars (cause the tires aint cheap!)...?

And really, I know people are going to give me shit about the tires, so I'm willing to hear about alternative ultratires, but I'm kinda of a prick about it.

[drwrx]

I think the reports of cracked Rotas is highly exaggerated.

A few years back there were a couple of incidents of Rota Battles and SubZeros cracking in the same place on the wheels, but there haven't been any reports of any other wheels that I'm aware off. They all happened under track conditions and Rota claimed that they were isolated instances.

I wouldn't have any fears about slogging on a track with a set of Rotas.

If you want to talk wheels and tires I'll be happy to offer up my take, but first, a few questions:
1: How important is price?
2: How important is weight?
3. What size are you thinking?
4. Do you have a look you like?

[chicken n waffles]

all i said was that under SUPER MEGA EXTREME (and very rare) conditions, a few folks have cracked one.

this in NO WAY should diminish their reputation as a worthy knock-off brand. they're great stuff. most of the elitists frown upon them because they cost a fraction of their prodrives/oz/weds/etc. if i had more loot lying around, i'd start experimenting with different rotas. as it is, i'll have to be happy with my goldie slipstreams for winter duty.

get the time attacks!!!!

[avriette]

If you want to talk wheels and tires I'll be happy to offer up my take, but first, a few questions:
1: How important is price?
2: How important is weight?
3. What size are you thinking?
4. Do you have a look you like?

1. price is important-ish. tires are lots more than the wheels i think, depending on the wheels.
2. have you seen me?
3. stock.
4. yes, i want the closest thing to a slick i can have on the car on the road. i'm sick of sliding around.

[avriette]

4. yes, i want the closest thing to a slick i can have on the car on the road. i'm sick of sliding around.

By the way, I'm not being a RWD bigot when I say this. Mainly the front end slides, but then the outside rear goes too. This is generally under maximum throttle, just after apex, at near-maximum power (and this may not be the fastest way around a turn, I realise) on tight turns. I don't mind gravelly or wet stuff, I drive like an old biddy when the road's not up to it. But even with the Azenis (which improved tremendously over the stock tires), I get more slippage than I want.

Adding a stiff rear and front sway will "lock the car down" even more, and I expect the slide to get worse and more worser when I get to stiffer bushings.

[chicken n waffles]

if you want an adjustable stiff rear sway, i might be selling my cobb one soon.

[drwrx]

If you are just looking for a set of R-compound tires that will fit your stock wheels (or similar size) there are a couple you can choose from that I consider to be very worthwhile:
BFGoodrich G-Force T/A R1 $220 (probably the best out there right now, if price is no object)
Nitto NT01 $160
Hankook Ventus Z214: $170 (this and the Nitto are probably the best bang for the buck tires on the market and are nearly as good as the G-Force T/A R1s)
Khumo Ecsta V710 $200 (One of the best of all time, limited availability and sizes)
Toyo Proxes RA1 or R888: $225 or $215 (good tires but there are better out there for the money)

If your looking for street legal stuff, here are what i'd go for:
Bridgestone RE01-R: $170 (probably the best out there, but not cheap)
Toyo Proxes T1-R: $140
Hankook Ventus RS2 Z212: $100 (excellent bang for the buck)
Falken Azenis RT615 (which you already know): $105
Sumitomo Htrz I I I $90 (not quite up to the dry performance of some of these but good wet and at a killer price)

Some tires like the Toyo R888, Yokohama Advan A048, Pirelli P Zero Corsa and Michelin Pilot Sport Cups are street legal (barely) but are usually too poor in wet and have too low tread life to make them a serious street tire.

Now as for wheels, Here are my current favs in 17" x 8" and 5x114.3 Bolt Pattern
Enkei Racing RPF1: $239 (16 lbs) very light
TRMotorsport MT1: $260 (17 lbs) light
WedsSport SA-70: $250 (17 lbs) light
Rota G-Force: $170 (19 lbs)
Rota Boost: $170 (19 lbs)
Rota Torque: $170 (18.5 lbs) light
Rota Grid: 17" x 7.5" (17.5 lbs) light
Rota SDX: 17" x 7.5" (16.75 lbs) very light

[complacent]

whoa! I had no idea the SDX was a sub-17 pounder!

[drwrx]

whoa! I had no idea the SDX was a sub-17 pounder!

Yep. the 17" x 7.5" is a very light wheel!

[spazegun2213]

rota's are great to track on. I have a friend that ONLY has rota's and loves them.

Also you might want to look into getting more camber if you want to run sticky tires that way you can really use them!