Rails...... more like skates...
But I always heard of that.. and read of that... and thought... maybe... "Ok, I guess this is how the 'riding like it's on rails' feeling feels like?"....
When I put all my suspension parts... the stiffer bushings, the upgraded anti sway, lowered, new shocks and springs...and the new rims and tires... I thought... finally, I'll get to feel the riding on rails feeling...and to be honest, I was still disappointed with the feeling... I thought... maybe that's it. Yes I was able to turn corners faster not much if any body rolls at all than stock..but I was still a bit disappointed.. .
But finally after putting the s drives on with a fresh alignment, zero-ed all the way around...
Let me tell you. I don't know if it was just he tires but.. now, I am happy, I finally reached my suspension tuning goal. The car is feeling the way I had hoped and intended to get it to. Now... it is riding on rails... more like skates.... curve through corners... with no body roll... you can gas it through the turns and curves... You don't feel the force of the car trying to break away with understeer... it really feels like it's on skates... the only thing that changed is the tires really. Even when I had the initial tires that I purchased with the rims... it never felt like that. And I only purchased those tires due to an article I read which the tester's were using it on an Integra Type R. It was Dunlop DIREZZA DZ101. Yes they were sticky tires but... I did not have the riding on rails feeling. Right now, where the limits with the Dunlops are, the S drives can be at those limits... but they are not the limits for the S drives, no where close. If the limit for the Dunlop was 10, it's only a 5 for the sdrives... I feel I can probably put another 10mph with the s drives on top of what the Dunlops can do. I'm afraid too...because it's weird thinking/knowing you can go faster..and then you look at the speedometer..a nd you're thinking..."I'm already going fast for this corner..and it feels like I can go faster?" that's scary!
If you ever been ice skating and you're going around the rink... that's basically how it feels with these s drives.
Ranking of the tire's I've tried out in the past... if I can remember them all...
1. S drives-I can highly recommend them, I'll only buy these from now on unless I decide to try other types to see how they are, I don't know how they'll ride on stock suspension set up though. They do ride smooth in my opinion too.
Well... that's pretty much it... I can't really throw the other tires into a rank because I don't even want t rank them, I'll just talk about them.
A. Dunlop Direzza Dz101-they are ok I guess, honestly, other than the fact they are sticky when warmed up and during the summer... they just feel like any other tires...I don't think you can tell the difference between them and regular tires...such as winter snow/mud/ etc etc..you wouldn't think they are performance tires in my opinion. They do ride smooth though... a few hundred miles to break them in and they're smooth.
B. Nitto 450- bought them because my brother had a set, he was going to get Michelien Super Sports... but they didn't have them so he opted for those... so I thought I get some and try them out...I think the Dunlops are stickier... but honestly... I don't think you can tell them apart from normal tires and performance tires....
C. Pirellie P4 all season-well I had to make a drive through possibly horrible weather... well what can I say, they ride like... well all season...nothi ng special
D. I had some kumho something... Mabye Kumho excta or something like that... it was all season or something... I'm not sure a long long time ago on my other teggie. Those things were really good in the snow. I mean I drove through unplowed 5-6 inches of snow... for 50 miles....no problem... obviously at slower speeds... 45-50 mph ..... I was amazed.... performance wise.. well... just felt like a regular tire
E. Falken Azenis-I don't know what the rave was all about them... I always see people rave about it on forums...hones tly... I was not impressed with them when I had them. felt just like the other 'performance/summer' tires I had other than the s drives.
F. I cant remember... but I had this one set .... it was horrible... spent 220 on just two fronts... those things hydroplaned.. did not feel like summer tires at all. I just remember being upset spending that much money on tires and then being disappointed with the performance.
If the S drive is a 10.
All the others are a 4 or 5. That's how much of a gap the performance is for me.
I'd love to try the super sports out once... I'd have to get a set of 17's just for it... I don't think I'll be doing that though...
But the Toyo proxes do come in my wheel size so I'll give them a try someday... wish they wasn't so expensive though... 120 a pop?!?! That's a lot!
So if you want to try out some tires for the track... I recommend the s drives.
Note: All those tires were used with zero-ed out alightments too.
