Tires for street and track time

[Kern Dog]

My tires are O L D !!!

I never thought the day would come where my tires would get old before they are worn out! I bought the current ones with the wheels in 2003. 275-40-18 fronts and 295-45-18 Nitto 555s. They have a treadwear rating of 300. I have about 10,000 miles on them and the rears are still at about 50%, the fronts are approx 70%.
I've been looking at different tires online but I can't find these exact sizes in a 200 treadwear tire. I want the next set of tires to wear out before getting old. There is a growing understanding that a tire of 8 years of age or older is not safe no matter how they appear visually. I like to drive the Charger hard and I don't like the idea of stuffing a $40,000 car into a guardrail because I was too cheap to buy new tires.
There are lots of great tire brands out there, but the closest to my size are a 275-35 and a 295-40 in the Falken Azenis 615 line. Yeah, they are a bit spendy but still cheaper than the Michelin Pilot Sport, another tire that I considered. I'm looking at about $1500 for a set of 4 tires, PLUS mounting and balancing. I'm thinking of havin g the wheels repolished before mounting the new tires.
What tires are you using?
     

[randy73]

That is a very wide front tire, but I run Continental Extremecontacts. They are sticky, but slightly noisey. Pirelli makes very could street and track tires and they almost certainly wearout before you get dry rot.

Have them on both my charger and my Jag.

[cbrestorations]

$50 a tire, new goodyear track tires. not street legal

[Kern Dog]

That is a very wide front tire, but I run Continental Extremecontacts.

I checked them out. They didn't have the sizes I was looking to get.
I do like the staggered size setup I have and intend to keep sizes close to what I have. Nitto NT05 tires are available in the same size. The prices are not too bad through Summit racing. I looked at the Falken Azenis 615s but they are around $1500. The NT05s are about $300 cheaper for the set.

[myk]

On all of my cars it's the same problem: I never wear out the tires before they "go bad," and typically I replace tires every 4 years or so, no matter how much tread is left.  I just figured it's part of the deal, as annoying as it is...

[HPP]

That makes a good argument for a soft tread tire that won't rack very many miles.

[myk]

I was thinking the same thing.  No point in buying a tire with a 500 tread wear rating if the sidewalls rot before the treads disappear.  Are softer tires more expensive?  All I've ever purchased are harder tires with a longer life expectancy...

[HPP]

Depends on size and popularity. Some 17" sizes are sub $100. There are virtually no soft compound 15" street tires, only dual purpose strip/strip versions.

[Kern Dog]

I went ahead on saturday and ordered the NT05s from Summit. The rears came today, the fronts are expected by the end of the week. 200 treadwear should deliver a bit more grip, though the tires I have now still perform great.

[Kern Dog]

The tires showed up this week. You can almost press a fingernail into the tread. These are going to be great!

[myk]

Sounds grippy!

[pandamarie]

Next time try tire rack, I got a set of ZR rated 245-40 and 275-40 sumitomo tires for 410bucks delivered.

[flyinlow]

I loved the up grade to 18's and modern tires.

Post some feed back after you put some miles on them. 

[Kern Dog]

I keep wanting to get the new tires put on, but I'm up against a wall for now. I have a long commute that leaves me wiped out through the week and I want to have the wheels polished before I have the new tires installed. I expect the traction to improve greatly since these new ones have fresh rubber and a softer compound.

[chargd72]

I recently got the NT01s.  I had reservation since they have a 100 tread wear but I absolutely love the grip.  Way stickier than the Falken Azenis I had before.