Grip Tires? Front & Back

[sidewaysS13]

I was wondering if it's good to have a high grip tire in the front and a stock or even used tire in the back? This is for a 240sx.

[Ris4drift]

itll make the car easy to get sideways.


if you have no power this helps.







but you shoudl focus more on knowing how to get the car sideways with crappy tires all the way around, or sticky all the way around. having super crazy grip up front and none in back teaches nothing about proper technique.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Says you.

Even the pros run tires of different stickiness front and rear. Notice the Falken-sponsored cars running RT-215s up front and ST-115s out back.

[Whisky]

Contrary to popular belief, putting Hoosiers up front and used sunbaked tires in the rear is not going to make the car easy to drift.

Sideways, it sounds like you are just getting started, so use whatever you can. Get the best front tires you can reasonably afford (yokohama avs es100s or kumho ecsta are good and moderately priced), and get as many rear tires as you can get your hands on. For quite a while I ran 225 front (on 17x8) and 195 rear (on stock 4-lug steelies). It worked well for me, taught me how to bring the tail out and how to control it with throttle. Best of all it was cheap, used tires are just fine, especially if your car is low on power like mine (stock KA). When you feel comfortable, jump up a little for the rears, I'm running 225 front and 215 rear now and it gives better control but it also requires more work (17 inch tires are also a hell of a lot more expensive).

As far a "proper" technique, you can ignore comments like that. Here is the "proper" technique: get your car sideways as early as you can, follow a smooth line, keep it sideways into the next turn, have fun. Thats it. How you do it is totally up to you, thats the beauty of drifting.

As a side note, I've found that 225/45/17 front and 245/40/17 rear is an excellent combo for grip racing. Stable, responsive, and balanced, but still able to bring the tail around with the gas.

[Ris4drift]

Originally posted by GRiDRaceTech
Says you.

Even the pros run tires of different stickiness front and rear. Notice the Falken-sponsored cars running RT-215s up front and ST-115s out back.

oh really? i didnt know calvin wan = all the pros. nad btw, they are running 225 azenis sports front, and iirc 245 azenis 115 out back. fronts are probably still stickier though, but not by as extreme an amount as some would think.






what i was tryign to say was running super shittastic 155/80r13 khumo power stars int he back with 335/35r17 hoosier s03 in the front isnt giong to teach anyone anything about anything except maybe throttle modulation. turn in it goes sideways. woo woo. althought it is much cheaper to people like me who cant afford to drift on azenis sports all the way around.

[c.wan]

If you are first starting out, it is okay to run newer higher grip tires in the front and used / cheaper / lesser grip tires in the rear because it will allow you to initate drifts easier and it will take less power to keep the wheels spinning. Running on lesser grip rear tires will teach you how to control a loose car and get you comfortable drifting.

When you first start out, you should get comfortable drifting on the the skidpad. You should practice controling the car in a circle at various speeds and gears. You should become comfortable controlling the size of you circles before moving onto figure 8's and smaller drift courses. Since you will be practicing a lot on the skid pad, it is okay to use cheaper rubber to run on because you will be going through a lot of tires.

As you start advancing and begin drifting on larger faster courses you will fine that you will start needing more grip in the rear tires. Also as you start building up more power you will need more gripper rear tires as well. That is when you move up to same type higher grip tires all around. You can sustain faster drifts with higher grip tires all around. Running same tires all around will also tell you how balanced the car's handling is. You should start dialing you car to handle however you are most comfortable with, whether it be neutral, more understeer, or more oversteer. You can then start playing with different tire compounds to creat the type of handling you are looking for.

I used to run Falken ST115 all around (Ft:235/40/17 R:245/40/17)on the S13 before. But the way the car was set up with the flares (Ft:+15mm / R:+50) and the offsets (Ft:17x9 +15 / R:17x9 -10), I was getting more understeer than I liked, even after suspension adjustments, because of the wider stance in the rear. I decided to switch to a higher grip tire in the front, Azenis Sport 225/45/17, to help add more grip. The rubber compound is gripper in the Sports compared to the ST115 and the slightly taller sidewall help give a bit more flex to add overall grip as well.

So basically it is okay to start out using cheaper lesser grip tires at first, but as you and your car start advancing, you will need to move up to higher grip tires all around. But using same type tires all around or higher grip tires in the front will depend on personal preference. But you should definetly run good quality tires all around for higher performance.

Calvin Wan

[Whisky]

^^^^and there you have it ^^^^

Something else this illustrates is that you can't always just say "well so-and-so pro used this setup, so it must be right." Calvin's post shows that his tire choice was made to address issues specific to his car, and to his style. Unless your car and your style are identical to his, you can't directly corellate what he uses to what you or someone else should use.

Like I said before, get started with some decent fronts and as many rears as you can get your hands on until you develop some skill. As your skill increases, you'll have an idea of what you want as far as tires ans suspension settings. Do whatever works best for you.

[Ris4drift]

werd to calvins post.

starting off its okay, but once you get past basic beginner skills you learn to appreciate more grip in the rear.


i also think jr ran sports up front a couple times, as did milano and bondurant. if i was a falken driver i probably would have as well, the sports are great tires, but on the back they get greasy kinda quick.