Last Autocross season, my co-driver and I were running some worn out tires, so it was time for an upgrade. Tires are the car part with the single most significant upgrade to vehicle performance, so it was an easy choice to upgrade!
We asked around, did some research, and a solid entry in the High Performance summer tire category were the Dunlop Direzza series. These have been well known to autocrossers for years, and the ZII Star Spec tires are Dunlop's latest tire for 2015.
We opted for the 205/50/R16 size on our GC8 JDM STi, as we weren't 100% sure the 225's would fit on 16 inch wheels.
Right off the bat, on the launch and the first corner, we could tell the difference. The level of cornering and braking grip was miles ahead of anything we had ever seen before. I have used R Compound tires previously in Autocross, and I believe that these street tires provide over 90% of the grip you'd get from a non-street legal semi-slick racing tire.
They give great feedback, in terms of noise and feel of the tire, and didn't seem to have any negative aspects. Road noise wasn't noticeable out on the track, and being a stiff sidewall tubeless tire, it didn't feel like there was too much tire deformation during hard cornering.
We did have some tire rollover on the long corners, but this was most likely due to having stock suspension and having too much weight transfer, which wasn't a problem last season when we had less grip! These tires have a way of showing the weaknesses of your car!
Having a lowered and stuff suspension setup on racing coilovers would be the ultimate way to experience these tires, and I imagine the grip levels would be even higher.
If you're looking for an excellent street racing tire for a decent price (Set of 4 shipped to Montana for $780 CAD), give these a go. And if you're at the next autocross and want to feel how much grip they have, come tag along for a ride!
