The Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric tires are rated above the GS-D3, RE050A Pole Position, Pilot Sport PS2, and Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R for both dry and wet traction by TireRack.com in their testing. Looks to be the current champion grip wise of non-racing tires, they are however $244 each making them one of the more expensive tires for our car.
The Direzza Sport Z1 was ranked just below the Potenza RE-01R by tirerack.com's testing. It actually out performed the RE-01R in wet testing as well. Best part this is one of the cheapest tires for our car at $120 each but tirerack.com shows them on closeout so I'm not sure if they're not going to carry them anymore too or not?
Location: Rosamond, CA - Home of Willow Springs Raceway
I'm interested in these too.
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2007 Cool GXP with Darkside Top, 5 spd, Ebony Cloth, Monsoon with Single CD, Sport Pedals, XM, A/C
Mods - Solo Street/Race Exhaust, K&N Drop-in Air Filter, EDAL
Druid (Cool) MERLIN came home 11-15-05 VIN 4495
Clear bra, Stubby antenna, Kappshield, mudguards, Chrome wheels with GS-2's...CAI (as of 07-07-07) soon to have SOLO SQR-2 exhaust
Both are excellent tires. The Z1 Star spec has a revised compound for faster warm-up to help dry traction. It will replace the regular Z1 (good deduction by brentil). The Z1 has better responsiveness/feel (to me, and most of our test team seemed to agree). The Eagle turned quicker laps in our testing. Will the new compound make the Dunlop faster in the dry? Maybe, but we won't know until we do some testing on it. Stay tuned....
It would seem odd that a max performance tire would grip better than an extreme performance tire, at least in the dry, but I guess I am thinking about it from a logical viewpoint.
Cheers
M
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06 Deep Blue
Confirmed Boost Junky!
Hahn Stage II
Anxiously Awaiting a Stage III
It sure would. The tires are close in our dry testing, but the Goodyear holds about a .2 second advantage on a ~30 second lap, and pulled an extra .01G on the skidpad. The Dunlop stopped shorter from 50mph. These were not all done on the same day, so things like track temperature, drivers having a bad day and pulling the average time down etc. can play into it. Perhaps the Z1 didn't get all the way warmed up (in which case the * spec may be faster in our future testing).
Bottom line though, the F1 Asymmetric is quite an impressive tire for a combination of wet and dry traction. It is competitive with the extreme performance tires in the dry, and better in the wet. If it had better feel and responsiveness, it would be just about perfect.
It would seem odd that a max performance tire would grip better than an extreme performance tire, at least in the dry, but I guess I am thinking about it from a logical viewpoint.
Cheers
M
Tire makers seem to be focusing on the Max grouping more than Extreme. You can get the GS-D3, F1-A, Pole Position, PS2, etc which all number wise outperform the Extreme tires in dry/wet traction and noise too.
Extreme is still a little bit new as a category. For years they weren't even classed separately. They were just Max Performance tires that were focused on dry traction. Aside from a focus on dry traction, extreme performance usually means sharper steering response and a compound that holds up better to abuse/track driving.
I bought my Direzzas when they were $105 a tire for the better wet traction. I could not be happier. In the dry they stick like glue, (and everything sticks to them) so splashguards are not a bad investment. In the wet, they are awesome ! You no longer have to drive like a granny when it starts drizzling for fear of wrecking your car. My only regret is that I did not by two sets while they were cheap because we'll never see that price again. As far as the Goodyear is concerned, you'd be buying from the same company that brought us the wonderful RSA, need I say more ? Direzzas and RE01's are your only choice as far as summer tires are concerned. I saw a guy with a brand new Sol coming down a freeway off ramp in a hurry to make the light. He turned left under a concrete bridge turned it 45 degrees sideways and just missed the embankment. I ran into him at a restaurant later that night and told him he was lucky that it wasn't damp outside or he'd be at the body shop right now or in the hospital. He blew me off...I guess some have to find out on their own. I gave him the forum address and suggested he look at threads like these before the RSA claimed another one. I knew those things were death after 700 miles of driving. Worst tire ever no doubt, and at $225 apiece, they should be recalled. I yanked mine with less than 5000 miles on my car and sold the set for $300. With the $50 rebate I got from Dunlop, I almost broke even. Man, I couldn't be happier.
Last edited by Envious06 : 04-26-2008 at 09:04 AM.
The RSA is what it is. Just because it's not the best for our car does not mean the other Goodyear tires are bad. The GS-D3 and the F1 Asymmetric are both rated very highly by TireRack's own testing (and not the user reviews, I could give two for how much I think user reviews are pointless). I'll probably end up with the GS-D3 or Asymmetric myself.
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for how much I think user reviews are pointless). I'll probably end up with the GS-D3 or Asymmetric myself.
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