I missed your no archives comment. Longish (more) (archive)

Most autoX and on-track drivers who want to compete use R-Rated tires or stickies. Some tires such as the Kumho Victor Racer 700 series is an example of a good performance R rated tire at a reasonable price based on grip, cost and miles.
My wife and I run a 00 MCoupe competitively at autoXs. We also attend on-track HSDEs (Hi-Speed Driving Events) where you learn to drive your car safely at 90% speed in a non-competitive environment.
We installed RE730's on our mcoupe last November. Since then we have run 4 autoXs X runs X 2 of us = 32 + runs. Also 6 days of ontrack HPDEs X 4 runs per day X 2 of us = 2,100 miles of pretty high speed driving. Plus about 3,000 miles of highway/commute driving.
We still have over half the tread left on all tires! We finish middle of the pack in AutoX against drivers with stickies but we aren't going for a championship. We are also are not the fasted on-track at the HPDE's But we do drive in the A and B (highest) run groups.
In general, Stickies permit faster cornering speeds but with less margin of error between the time the tires tell you something bad is going to happen and the actual event, when compared to street tires. With Non-Stickies, and in my opinion especially the RE730's, there is more communcation between the driver and the tires (bigger margin of safety) than stickies. This allows you to learn more safely about your car's handling limits. In the long run this will make you a better driver.
Finally you save a bunch of bucks if you AutoX or do HPDEs using the RE730s. My 2 cents worth.
.....Gary

I'm going to be needing tires soon. From what I've read in messages I've saved and tirerack.com, the RE730 looks like what I'm looking for. Relatively affordable, long life, and fairly good performance. I may autox 2-3 times a year, nothing worth buying a special tire for, but would like something that doesn't put me at a disadvantage.

Are there any negatives to these tires? I haven't found any in the archives.

Thanks

JeffC
98 2.8 17" stock wheels

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