so after the ATL drift day back in december, i realized that my old-ass dunlop SP8000's up front kinda suck and due to their lack of grip (and my sub-par drifting skills ), i got some insane amounts of understeer. after talking to quite a few people, i've decided i'm gonna try to get something a bit more grippy up front before the next event and hopefully that will cut the understeer a little bit and i'll get that thing sliding a little more.

my question however is what to pick. i had sorta planned on some azenis sports up front as they're pretty cheap and i've heard a lot of good stuff about them, but for 16's (which i'm running now), they only come in 215/50 and right now i'm running 225/50. i've heard from some people that the size difference might hurt a little, however the added grip may make up for it. i also saw some ES100's in 225 for a little cheaper, which i've also considered. if anyone has any advice for something around the $100 or less range, let me know.

aligatou!!!

What size did you have in the back?? It might not be the tires at fault but more of your method used to start drifting. I personally run 711 kumho's, but had similiar trouble FOERST starting out, but after lots of practice i lost that understeering problem. You should also run some shittie tires on the back to get the feel of it loose.

i was actually running some fairly odd 205/50's if i remember correctly. and yea, i think my technique was part of the issue (later in the day it started acting a lot better), but i figure this might help me a little for now.

i'd just go with the ES100's... but more than anything it was your technique that was causing the understeer. once you start the slide your front tires are merely guiding the car around not fighting to turn because of the oversteer. i promise you whenever you're figting the understeer just give'er a clutch kick and countersteer and it'll go away .

I am really happy with the Kumho MXs on the 8. They have excellent grip and they are cheap. But they are damn loud. Sounds like a 4WD truck around 50mph. You shouldn't be able to hear them over your exhaust though.

FWIW that 1cm makes almost no difference at all. Compound is about 1000 times more important that tire width. If you think about it, your tires are basically baloons. The wider the contact patch gets, the shorter it gets, IE the width ends up canceling itself out for the most part. Don't let the 225-215 difference bother you.

dude cody, your avatar reminds me of napoleon dynamite "its a liger, its probly my favorite animal ever"

cool, thanks for the input everyone!

oh, and the avatar is definately from napoleon dynamite . it just might be the best movie ever.

definatly, makes me want to go to idaho and make friends with some mexicans.


that low rider was the SHIZZLE!

BrokeAssHachi wrote:dude cody, your avatar reminds me of napoleon dynamite "its a liger, its probly my favorite animal ever"

It's bred for it's skills and magic.

CodyW wrote:i've decided i'm gonna try to get something a bit more grippy up front before the next event and hopefully that will cut the understeer a little bit and i'll get that thing sliding a little more...

my question however is what to pick.

As far as size for the fronts go - I like a wide tire. I'm running 245.45.18 up front... and the rears usually a 245.40/45.17. I used to run Falken ST-115's up front & found that the sidewalls flexed more than I wanted them to (ie... they would almost roll over and scrape the rim on the asphalt). I'm back to Michelin Pilot Sports (my favorite tyre) up front & love them. I have not used the Azenis Sports yet - so I'm not sure about them. I'm also running 1.5 degrees of negative camber in the front... which aids in reducing understeer.

As far as the rears go... from my experience - if you're doing higher speed drifts... you want a wider tyre. A 205/215 would be good for low-speed slides. Once you get your speed up - (again... from my experience) you need the extra contact to aid in keeping control. I haven't had my hands on a used 255/65 yet to experiment... but based on the performance jump from a 225 to a 245 - I would guess the control would be that much better.

Anyway... to answer your question a li'l better - I guess I'd prolly run with the ES100's. I would cook them up on the rears faster than hell... but the fronts always managed nicely. The sidewalls are a lot stiffer on that tyre than say - the ST-115's.

Falkens (st-115) are the best for rears......good control, progressive, and no chunking

I personally run the Yoko ES100 for track days

it is very sticky...would work great for the front

the Falken FK-451(what I am currently running on the street)
i good as well but runs somewhat narrow for a given size

Since it has been awhile since I have drifted (damn FWD)(anyone want to loan me a RWD?)

I must go off of what I know about tire contruction/compund and what I have see at events........

Most of Team Falken runs the Azenis sport on the front and the ST-115 out back

the sidewalls on the Azenis sport are very stiff.....

hmm, i think i might rock some 225 or 235 ES100's then. jeremy, any idea of what 2 of those would run with shipping to ATL?

DTCdrift wrote:Falkens (st-115) are the best for rears......good control, progressive, and no chunking.

Very good point! I had two sets in which - the rear did not get obliterated! They wore very evenly down until there was thread showing. I loved the way the rear responded... but I didn't like how the front sidewalls would roll over so hard. My experience with ES100's on the rear is a literal rain shower of rubber chunks as the tyres delaminate (Cody... remember that, lol!).

That makes sense that a lot of the Falken drivers use the ST-115's on the rear. I haven't used the Azenis Sports to have any knowledge about them. I do see a ton of drifters at events rocking them.

I didn't care much for drifting the es100, like Andy said they rip apart very easly. Tires w/ V patterns tend to peel apart like oranges. I did like the response of the es's in the front. I wore them in about 3 months of the front, kinda fast. If you wanna drift, you should really just stick the crappest tires for the rear. No need to destroy big money tires at your level.