Lets talk Tire Tech ...

[CrazyHawaiian]

You probably already know this, but tires are probably one of the most important parts of tuning your car for drifting. I learned on skinny, hard tires and eventually worked my way up to wider, stickier tires with a smaller sidewall. Use this thread to let everyone post what kind of tires they are using and their experiences with these tires. Alot of people steal used tires from the tireshops trash bins (I used to do it alot!! hehe) because they are FREE. Good stuff to learn on. But I would like to keep this thread more oriented toward what types of tire changes have you done and what differences did you feel while drifting. And remember sizes and brands aren't everything, if you have more info, please share

I'll go first.

Fronts:
----------
Started on:
Size: 195/60/r15's
Make: Generic - Star Performance
Compound: Hard
Construction: Steel Belt

Now use:
Size: 255/45/zr17
Make: Kuhmo 712's
Compound: Medium
Construction: Steel Belt

Rears:
----------
Started on:
Size: 195/60/r15's
Make: Generic - Star Performance
Compound: Hard
Construction: Steel Belt

Now use:
Size: 225/60/r15
Make: BF Goodrich Comp T/A
Compound: Medium
Construction: Kevlar Belt

At first, the 195/60/r15 tires seemed great. It was very easy to use weight transfer to kick the rear out at around 20-40 mph. I noticed the front tires were not gripping very well, sometimes I did not have the control I wanted. I could tell by the way the front tire was marked that the 60 sidewall caused too much flex. Combined with a very lame camber setting, the outsides of the sidewall were getting destroyed. I needed something in front with less sidewall (less flex) and more traction (wider). So I decided to use my 17's on the front and the 15's on the rear. This helped alot with more traction in the front and less flex, but the rear was still very easy to kick out. Perfect! Around this time, I decided that steel belted tires were not a good idea on the rear of my car. The steel belts would damage the wheelwell and wrap around the axle when the tires blow up. So I decided to move up to a kevlar belted tire. Kevlar belts dont destroy the wheelwell when they come loose. They just make a 'clunk clunk' noise that lets you know its time to slap on a new set. Kevlar belted tires are a higher quality, so the compound moved from hard to medium and the size went from 195 to 225. It was now a little harder to kick the car out, but much easier to control. I solved the issue by going harder and faster (45 - 80 mph) Now this setup works great for me.

[Drift-Induced]

damn, quite da setup

well, on my car now i have:

Fronts: baldass Pirelli P-Zero Assimetricco's 225/40/18
Rears: 90% tread Toyo FZ-4's 245/40/18 (yeah i know fz4's YUCK)

the reason for this odd combo and tire wear is cause da guy i bought them from...well he blew a rear PZero and couldnt afford new ones, so he got the toyos. understandable, cause those Pzeros are cash money! Also, he had these on a FWD Solara!

anyways, i got new rims comin in a month, Black Racing Pro N1's 17x7.5 fronts and 17x9 in back....tires will be 225/45/17 fronts and 275/40/17 rears Kumhos Ecsta Supra 712s....BEST BANG for da buck tire....esp. for everyday driver!

i cant wait to find a set of old beat up 17" rims and hten go TIRE HUNTING for bald, thrown out 17" tires to PLAY with! hehe

[CrazyHawaiian]

O wow 275 Kumho 712's on the back!! You madman!! Those tires like to grip!!

[Drift-Induced]

haha, yeah, i heard they grip wicked...
well, when i do have them on i wont be drifting on them at all, i will be using some old cheap 225/40 or 45's most likely.....just wanna find some cheap rims to put them on.....

maybe when the 275's get REALLY old, then ill try! haha

[Dori Star]

all i know is to go to big-o and to pick up some 16" drifting donuts... hehe

[CrazyHawaiian]

I was hoping for a little more ... technical .... discussion than that.

[Dori Star]

185/70-14 all around

[Mr. Sparkle]

I think it would also be very helpful to post the width of the rim.

Saying you have

215/45/17 is one thing

but if you are using a 10" width rim or a 7.5" one is a world of difference.

Tires are of the utmost importance-- they're the only thing that connects your car to the ground. If your tires are crap, the rest of your car is crap. Power is nothing if you can't put it to the ground reliably.

Crap tires are good for learning, but thats about it.

When i get one of my cars in a passable state to start safely drifting in, I plan to run a stretch sidewall stagger setup. It'll be more oriented for grip, with wider wheels and tires in the back, but with more rwhp, it should be fine. Stretch sidewall makes turn ins a bit easier, and makes it a hell of a lot easier to break rear traction, because it negates sidewall flex, which causes tires to keep gripping. The only problem with stretch sidewall is the limits on what tires you can buy. You can buy any tire and stretch it of course, but only a few tire makers offer tires with reinforced sidewalls.

Without reinforcement (those metal threads) on the sidewall, it makes the car a lot more prone to sidewall flex, tire seperation from the rim, as well as blowouts. It's not the safest setup for driving in the streets, but IMO is the best for drifting.

[josh18_2k]

hmm, ive always wondered what that was all about- the small tire on a hugr rim thing. i thought it was for looks. so whats the general assumption of grip charecteristics when you do the opposite? - fat tire on a skinny wheel... will this offer more grip than a vertical sidewall, less, same... i dunno. i can see how a stretched sidewall is good for drifting, but in some videos i noticed racecars with stratched sidewalls. i thought maybe this was for fender clearence with wide wheels, but i have no idea. if stretched offers less grip, why would they be doing it on a track car?
tire tech is pretty new to me, but i wanna do it all right the first time, ya know?

[Dori Star]

Originally posted by Dori Star
185/70-14 all around

my bad chief... i think its a 7.5" width...

[Ada180sx]

I have driven on just about everything Japan has to offer. Granted it is very hard to talk tires w/o becoming very specific on susp. Let me give a quick rundown of my susp and drive train. Ram Cartridge Full tap coilovers, swift (F)10K (R)8K. front pillowball tension rods. Adjustable pillowball rear upper arms. Pinapple urathane susp. busching (the best 35 bucks you will ever spend), F/R strut tower bars, rear hatch bar and trunk supports. The hatch back design of my 180sx makes it very prone to chassis flex. So, using too grippy of a tire in the back makes the car feel pretty mushy. If I could choose a tire to use in the back all the time it would probably be the Vimode (toyo) 215/45 17 on a 8in rim. They seem to put up with a lot of heat and not throw tread patches. Until fairly recently I was using a 215/45 17 S compound (race use) tire on a 8.5in rim in the front. It was called A520R and is made by Yokohama. With these on the front and Vimode in the back not many of the locals could keep up. I should also qualify this statement be saying that my car pretty much makes stock horse power + exhaust, FMIC, and D/P. So somewhere in the 240ish range. Also, I posted my Alignment settings in the drift category if you are curious. I am currently using the new Neova AD07. I have also used pretty much every tire size that will "fit". If you are running 16s in the front I use a 205/50 16 size tire with a 5mm spacer, depending on your offset. I have used and would recomend bridgestone RE-01s, Neova AD05/06. I would not recomend dunlop FM901. I had the worst time using those tires up front. In the end I got fed up with them and threw em on the back and used them as drift tires. Damn, I have written a book. Ok I will shut up now.

[VuDuDoc]

Started with falken 195/60r 15...helluva tire to drift.....moved to kumho 712 205/40r 17 and grips like a mofo

[CrazyHawaiian]

Good good!! Keep it comming! Since my last post I've decided to try a different setup. I will be ditching the Kuhmo, and I will be going with 255/40/17 BF Goodrich Comp T/A's. And for the rear I'm gonna mix it between the 15's and the 17's. I've got 6 275/40/17 BF Goodrich Comp T/A's lined up that I want to practice on.