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non-Avon tire options


TurboWood

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My CR500's are starting to get to the wear bars which means I need to have a new set ready. I have a 2013 CSR which according to what I've read have 7" and 9" wheels with 195/45 and 245/40 tires. I understand fronts have moved to 195/50 with the ZZS and according to tirerack there are no 195/45 options so it looks like 50 series is in my future on the front.

 

From what I can find only the Hankook RS-4 is available in both sizes, but I'm wondering how stupid it would be to run Hoosier's on the rear? I have stupid power (300rwhp) and tq (320ft*lbs) which can be managed in 2nd gear today (with passenger), but more go-grip would be welcome.

 

So, what's the right path? Am I silly to walk away from Avons? I just have a hard time believing Avon has some special sauce that mainstream tire manufactures have. BFG even mentions the Rival S1.5 is an upgrade to the Rival S for lighter cars. There are plenty of race miata's out there and if Avon made a magic tire I imagine they would use them. 

 

Daniel

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You are not silly to walk away from Avons.  They are a good tire but there are alternatives - definitely explore them.  I have over the years but usually gravitate back to Avons as I think they are better all round for road performance.   If you need more grip than the ZZS then go to the ZZR - there are two compounds to choose from.  The really soft one is quite fun.

 

Hoosiers on the rear on the road?  I could see a nice policeman giving you grief.  You do live in CA after all.  

 

If you are autocrossing or tracking then Hoosiers are enormous fun as an alternative.  

 

Don't know anything about the Hankooks - never heard of them to be honest.  

 

TRying to find tires for the CSR is a bit of a pain because of the lack of clearance under the front wings.  Measure your rolling diameter or use an online calculator and compare on that basis.  The Hoosiers I use on the front for track days only have a bee's dick of clearance.  

 

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Thanks Mike, good feedback as always. My auto cross buddy suggests bfg rival S1.5 which I had down selected before looking at sizes. The issue is the front where only a 205/50 is available. Do you think it would fit? What size Hoosiers are you running?

 

You know CA gets a bad wrap, in my experience cops don’t give nice cars much trouble. The number of bmw/merc/etc. driving around with no plates is crazy. Maybe having tires that throw stones at all the cars behind me would be different though ;).

 

Daniel

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Hi Daniel - I will send you a PM with the info you need for sizing on what I use.  Not convinced a 205/50 will fit - you need to check width and rolling diameter, it feels awfully tight.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

Coming back to this as I finally changed the tires. I decided to try tires that are more widely available than Avons. Details below.
 

The negative of this is I did have to use different front and rear compounds, but I don’t think it’s crazy. My wear rates on the rear are clearly higher than the front and the front tire I chose should be a little softer. 

 

The other change from the CR500’s was front tire size. I think this change was also true for Avon ZZS/R options. I was happily surprised that the bigger tire fit without modification to the fenders (albeit it’s close). 
 

I took my first blat around the canyons over the weekend and first impressions are positive. For sure the new rubber is doing a better job than worn out old CR500’s. That said, I wasn’t able to induce understeer (thankfully). The balance was quite neutral, but I did over cook a corner a bit and was braking more aggressively into the corner than I would have like. This did cause some rotation on the rear, but it was very manageable. So far so good, only thing left to do is put more miles on them!
 

-245/40/15 bfg rival s1.5

-195/50/15 Yokohama a052

 

Daniel

IMG_0456.jpeg

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Daniel,

I was autocrossing the Yokohama Advan AO52's (all 4 tires on a Civic Si) that are TW rated at 200 and found that they are more realistically about an 80 TW tire. Much softer compound and grippy as all get out. They do wear rather rapidly in autocross events.

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Thanks for the reply. Your comments match what I’ve read. The A052 warms up faster and wears more. I think this will work well for me because the rears were wearing about twice as fast as the fronts with the CR500’s.  
 

From what I’ve read the tread wear ratings are totally uncontrolled and basically at the discretion of the manufacturer. That is not a great system and I believe the CR500’s were rated as 20 which was the default for not rated. So, I figure the only way to know is to try.

 

Daniel

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