sooner or later, I'm going to have to purchase a dedicated set of autocross wheels+tires. I plan on getting 16x7.5" for my Accord, so I need to decide what tire to get:

A. Falken Azenis 205/55-16 (almost perfect diameter match)

B. Falken Azenis 215/45-16 (much smaller than stock diameter)

C. Kumho MX 225/50-16 (almost perfect diameter match, cost a little more $$$)

does anyone else have any ideas?

 

Your autocross class requires street tyres?

 

well, I run in STS, I can only use "street" tires. The reason why I want a different set for the track is because I can go with 16" and save a ton of money, and use my current 18" wheels+tires for the street only...

 

Check to make sure your rolling diameter doesn't change too much from stock or your car will feel sluggish off the line.

And for autocross only tires I would go with wider but smaller diameter.

 

In that case, I can testify that the Falken Azenis is a very, very good buy. It's just a hell of a lot of traction for the money.

Please be aware that I do not autocross; however, I have used the Azenis on road courses quite a bit, and they're good enough (coming close to a real hybrid compound) that in the technical sections that I think they'd do well in autocrosses.

I also know EP3 autocrossers who use them and say good things about them.

You can melt Azenis on high speed, high-G road courses, but I don't think you're likely to do that in an autocross.

Just so you know, Toyo and Yoko make R-compound tyres that have DOT ratings on them. They're quite a bit more expensive than Azenis.

 

that's the one thing I'm worried about. I have an automatic, so I usually stay locked in 2nd gear.

My stock diameter is 195/65-15. If I went with 215/45-16 Azenis, I'll be going 56.3mph when the speedo is reading 60mph. The diameter of the 215/45-16 is going to be 11.8in vs the stock 12.5 in.

Is this going to be too "drastic" of a change in rolling diameter?

 

Actually those are radi. So 11.8x2=23.6 and 12.5x2=25.0

So you would get better gearing with the 215/45x16". By a full inch! You odometer and speedo are going to be off, but as long as you use them just fotr autocross you should be fine. I ran a tire that was 1.2" smaller in diameter. At 80mph I was running at 5000rpms. With my stockers at 80mph I run at 4200pms.

 

:doh: radii

with my automatic, you think it will still work well? I usually stay locked in 2nd gear. rarely I'll kick into D if there is a part of the autocross where I really need to go back down to 1...

 

for sure. The smaller diameter will help alot. since youre in sts, and your accord is an LX 4cyl auto, I'm assuming its pretty slow

 

I can vouch for the Azenis

Had the first event of the year yesterday. The ground was damn but by my second run it was nearly dry in most places (as long as you didn't go off the line).

First run was 58.xxx, then the second run was 55.6xx, by the third run it was 54.xxx.

If the surface was completely dry I think I could have shaved another .5second or maybe a tiny bit more. All I can say is that the car felt much more balanced with these tires than my old Toyo T1-S. As a comparison, a well drive E30 M3 that was also running in ASP ran a fastest time of 53.9xxx and he has about 2x the autox experience I do and a whole lot more mods. I only have swapped front strut hats, which put me in ASP. Had I been in BS today my times were good enough for 2nd or 3rd place finish.

Anyways AZENIS = :thumbup:

I can't wait for completely dry event eat your heart out you guys still stuck in the snow





EDIT: keep in mine Azenis are wider than advertised. My 225/45/17 are wider than my old 235/45/17 Toyo T1-s. My 245/45/17 rears are nearly also wider than my ol 255/40/17