AutoX Advice for a first timer?

[Level300]

Originally Posted by joelster

Those BFG's you are running are a 400TW rating. Basically a generic street tire. Practically garbage for competitive racing, unless it's raining, then all of those grooves will come in handy. I looked them up on Tirerack and they are $187 each. That should tell you something about the capability of them. The higher the treadwear rating the harder the tire. The fastest guys will all be running tires right at the legal limit of 200. That's really something you can't skimp on if you want to get the most out of your car.

You said you ran Potenza's on your MINI Cooper, but in reality there are 10+ different kind of Potenza's so without knowing the exact ones you ran, it's hard to say if they were a great racing tire or not. Most of them are really good though.

I'm not trying to discourage you or anything. But if you want to take the racing aspect seriously, you'll need some better tires for sure. A V-6 Camaro with some RE-71's would smoke a 1LE on those hockey pucks you're running at an autocross.

Is your car a daily driver? Or is it more of a toy? If It's a DD, I'd look into getting an extra set of rims for racing and keep the BFG's for street duty.

No. Not serious, I'm not into the rankings, etc. I just want to be a better driver and see what the car was designed to do and have some fun doing it. The car is my daily driver. With a kid starting college next year, dropping 500+ (lol, I know that's still a cheap for a good tire) for one tire is beyond my means at this point in my life. The car came with the tires. When they wear out, I'll upgrade to a better tire. It's okay though, at the course, the limitation was with me not the tires. I suspect it will be like that for a while until i get enough seat time. Still a blast though. There is nothing like taking a turn as fast as you want.

Thanks for your help!

[joelster]

Originally Posted by Level300

No. Not serious, I'm not into the rankings, etc. I just want to be a better driver and see what the car was designed to do and have some fun doing it. The car is my daily driver. With a kid starting college next year, dropping 500+ (lol, I know that's still a cheap for a good tire) for one tire is beyond my means at this point in my life. The car came with the tires. When they wear out, I'll upgrade to a better tire. It's okay though, at the course, the limitation was with me not the tires. I suspect it will be like that for a while until i get enough seat time. Still a blast though. There is nothing like taking a turn as fast as you want.

Thanks for your help!

My post came off kind of rude, not my intention at all!

FWIW the tires you run are not as good as what originally comes on a 1LE. My 1LE had Goodyear Supercar G2 tires or something like that. I never tracked it though, but the guy that bought it does now. He came in 5th out of 19 at the first event we did together.

I wouldn't even recommend a TW200 tire if you are going to DD your car. You simply won't get the mileage you need out of them to justify the cost. You can shop around and find them for $350ish. I haven't run my current set down yet, but everyone tells me you can get a season out of them plus 5000 miles give or take. So basically 6-8 races (figure 45-50 laps). As a DD maybe 10,000 miles? Maybe someone else could chime in that has run them for a while.

The only problem I see is that you aren't really giving your 1LE a chance to shine and show you what it's really capable of. It's like building a high hp engine to go drag racing, and then pulling a plug wire before every pass. Your car will surprise you as to how far you can go out of your comfort zone if it had some good tires on it. You'd end up being a much better driver, and your learning curve would be faster with good tires. Not to mention you'd start stomping people at your local races! With those TW400 tires you'll be sliding, pushing, and oversteering simply by taking that car to 75% of what it can do.

[Level300]

Originally Posted by joelster

My post came off kind of rude, not my intention at all!

FWIW the tires you run are not as good as what originally comes on a 1LE. My 1LE had Goodyear Supercar G2 tires or something like that. I never tracked it though, but the guy that bought it does now. He came in 5th out of 19 at the first event we did together.

I wouldn't even recommend a TW200 tire if you are going to DD your car. You simply won't get the mileage you need out of them to justify the cost. You can shop around and find them for $350ish. I haven't run my current set down yet, but everyone tells me you can get a season out of them plus 5000 miles give or take. So basically 6-8 races (figure 45-50 laps). As a DD maybe 10,000 miles? Maybe someone else could chime in that has run them for a while.

The only problem I see is that you aren't really giving your 1LE a chance to shine and show you what it's really capable of. It's like building a high hp engine to go drag racing, and then pulling a plug wire before every pass. Your car will surprise you as to how far you can go out of your comfort zone if it had some good tires on it. You'd end up being a much better driver, and your learning curve would be faster with good tires. Not to mention you'd start stomping people at your local races! With those TW400 tires you'll be sliding, pushing, and oversteering simply by taking that car to 75% of what it can do.

No worries Joelster. I really appreciate your advice and that you're sharing your knowledge. Yeah, soft compound tires won't last long enough as a DD tire. I can recall the Potenzas because once they got up to temp, gravel would stick to them just like my motorcycle tire did at the track. They didn't last very long at all, 1 year i think. They were super sticky though and probably my favorite and memorable tire for the mini.