Is it time for a Tire upgrade?

[n00b240]

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well.

I competed in my first autocross event this year trying to remember the auto-x tips I learned from my instructor from a day long auto-x school from a year ago. Then I beat my instructors time, and now I feel like I did quite well. From the first time out on the course I came up with a goal time and improved just over 7 seconds to meet my goal time for the day.

However, when I met my goal time for the day, I felt like I could have done better. While Im definitely driving the car much much smoother than the auto-x school from last year, and I definitely see how smoother is faster; At the end of the day I was slightly disappointed.

I saw potential for improvement in several areas of the course. Which prolly attributed to my relatively novice abilities, with this auto-x having been my 4th auto-x. My final time of the day was the fastest, yet I saw these areas in which I could definitely improve.

The tires I am running are my daily driven tires. Ive had them since 2004, with roughly 70% treadwear left in them. And they have competed in 2 Auto-x events, last years and this past weekend. They are the Bravuris Barum tires with a treadwear rating of 350.

So My question is....Is it time to upgrade my tires? Or can I still run these tires trying to etch out areas where I believe I can improve at the next auto-x. There were 13 cars in the novice class and with pax I nearly placed, I was off .5 seconds

Thanks alot for your input
Modified by n00b240 at 11:17 AM 2/18/2009

[evildky]

if you can afford R compounds, and plan to do a lot of autocrossing int he future, there si no reason not to upgrade

[TerminalVelocity]

As a general rule, you should replace tires by the 5 year mark no matter how much tread is left. Your time should definitely improve with a fresh set. Dont get r comps yet. They will just hide your mistakes. Pickup a set of performance street tires and call it good.

[crackler]

As a general rule, you should replace tires by the 5 year mark no matter how much tread is left. Your time should definitely improve with a fresh set. Dont get r comps yet. They will just hide your mistakes. Pickup a set of performance street tires and call it good.

What that guy said.

Plus, R-Comps are like crack. Once you get a taste, you are HOOKED, and they don't last and cost a lot!

[n00b240]

Thanks guys, I'll be looking into some decent street tires for auto-x only. Itching to get back to the next auto-x

Even as you suggested changing tires by the 5 year mark, Im not sure Im gonna go that route. In the 5 years Ive had them, Ive probably put 2k miles on them, most likely less than that. Am I wrong to think that I can still keep the tires for daily driving?

Ive driven them in plenty wet, and there is still some decent street grip.

[Cone Junky]

The older tires are just fine for daily driving. It's the extreme conditions of auto-x where the age comes into play. The rubber will dry out and get hard over time, that's why it's not a good idea to run old tires (especially r-compound).

Luckily there has been a recent battle of superiority of the street tire classes. This has led to some excellent and grippy compounds in street tires.

Toyo R1R and Bridgestone RE01R have proven well, but there are many more on the market.

But like mentioned, it's probably best to get more seat time. I am currently try to hang in DSP. I have the RE01Rs, but everybody else is on r-comps (mainly Hoosier). I decided to battle my way up the ranks with street tires first. This will be my first year competing in my 240 after 5 years of FWD VWs. So I know I have a lot more to learn with this chassis and changing my driving habits. Besides, I'll need about $1K to put new stickies on!