Mazda Talk Forums

Hi Brain,
I see your a fan of the 255/40/17 rival 200tw on the budget NC build,
What is the reason for running these over a race tyre 100tw?
Also Would running say a 9" rim with 235 100tw race tyres say be on a par with the wider 200tw tyres?
Interested to hear your thoughts/ findings.
Keeping in mind I'm looking at track use over autocross.
Cheers Richard

Budget project, budget fast tires, nothing beats the leading 200 tw choices around the track for the money. Rivals and RE71R, both really fast for low dollars. And our car is dual purpose AUTOCROSS and TRACK and those Rivals and RE71R get up to speed fast enough for autocross (faster up to temp/speed than choices that are alleged to be softer like Nitto NT01, even Toyo RR). Yes, true race tires can be faster at the track, but unless you pay up for under 100tw choices like Hoosiers the 100tw choices (Nitto, RA1) are not much different in real speed than the 200 tw fast choices and don't work as well for autocross. We call the latest 200 tw choices 'cheater' tires for a reason, not really 200 tw. Nonetheless, still a big fan of Nitto NT01 for a track day choice that takes a ton of abuse and keeps going. 235/40 on 9 inch wide wheel works great, got a set of RR in that size myself on 17x9 for our track ND, but honestly they really seem little better than Rival/Re71R and don't get up to temp fast enough for autocross, particularly as compared to the RE71R.