Azenis 651 - Review

[John in Houston]

Well, ran my first event on the 651s. Very interesting tire.

The tires were completely green. Mounted them up friday and drove to the event Saturday, so no scrubbing or other heat cycling was done. Tires are full tread depth.

Pressures: I started at 40 front / 35 rear and immediately found that the rear needed alot less pressure. Ended up at 37 front and 32 rear and they weren't rolling over. This was 255x40s on 17x9 wheels.

Impressions: I hope they get better after a heat cycle. Very inconsistent tires. One second the grip is pretty good, the next you are just sliding through the transitions. As they were, the transitional portion of the course was the most unpredictable. First two slalom cones would be okay.. then the grip would go away for the next gate.

Overall: The corner grip was pretty damn good. I was surprised at the low pressures they would take. I was thinking they would want alot higher pressures. Transitional grip definitely needs to improve with this next event or I'll move on to something else.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed. I haven't had alot of seat time in the M3 and I think it shows. Throwing a new set of non-R compound tires on the car just increased my frustration level. Think I need some more seat time with these tires and my car to see what I can do.

Edit - Forgot to mention that they still look like new. Damn this car is easy on tires.... or I was driving like a pu$$y!

[hancheyb]

They sound like RT-215s from your comments. I think I ran 34psi front and rear on those. Keep in mind, they aren't R compounds! I drove like a pu$$y when I put Victoracers back on. You do have to drive differently. They aren't going to save your a$$ when you get the rear out like a good sticky Hoosier.

EDIT: Your impressions of them sound like someone that is used to the stickiest Kumhos!

Terry's going to hate me, but I'm hosing those bad boys down this weekend before my runs. We'll see who beat whom. The cool tire or the Texas Hot tire.

[Fair!]

Hanchey's getting a set of 615's mounted as I write this, and we're running them this coming weekend at the Divisional. We'll post impressions soon, too.

[Tommy R]

Hanchey's getting a set of 615's mounted as I write this, and we're running them this coming weekend at the Divisional. We'll post impressions soon, too.

Full depth or shaved?

T

[John in Houston]

They sound like RT-215s from your comments. I think I ran 34psi front and rear on those. Keep in mind, they aren't R compounds! I drove like a pu$$y when I put Victoracers back on. You do have to drive differently. They aren't going to save your a$$ when you get the rear out like a good sticky Hoosier.

EDIT: Your impressions of them sound like someone that is used to the stickiest Kumhos!

Nah.. wasn't even like that. I don't mind the rear end stepping out. But that wasn't the issue. They were very inconsistent. The car was pretty controlled all the time... but the tires just didn't consistently perform.

My advice (for what it's worth) is to go scrub them in right now!

[hancheyb]

I can't offer a fair comparison from the RT215. I had 225/45-17s in the 215s and 255s in the 615s. I do like the 615s in 255s. The car oversteered like crazy first day. Not sure if it was the tires or the removal of the X brace. Thanks John for making me move my front bar last year when I had oversteer. I did the same thing this weekend and the car was hooked up! 615s are a street tire? Come on, they felt nearly like the Victoracers I pulled off. We ran 36/34 for pressures.

Still they get greasy when hot. First day with it so tail happy I spun out on the last run and the car wasn't even drivable after that, the rears got so hot it was like driving on cords. Hosed them down after every run. They only gained a psi/run. 215s were much worse.

[Fair!]

Still they get greasy when hot. First day with it so tail happy I spun out on the last run and the car wasn't even drivable after that, the rears got so hot it was like driving on cords. Hosed them down after every run. They only gained a psi/run. 215s were much worse.

I was amazed at how poorly these "street tires" handled heat. I made my first 2 runs on day 1 without "a cooling spray of water" dousching the tires, and my times were considerably slower. Car was oversteering heavily all day but was better after we both started spraying the tires.

Yes, I was wrong on the water cooled tire thing. Still baffles me that a street compound can be so sensitive... Pressures climbed 1 psi per run until the very last run or two. So hot to the touch it was scalding. Weirdness.

Anyway, by day 2 we had done the bar adjustment and the car was near perfect. Rotates like mad and has decent grip. Cooled tires after every run. Felt fine in transitions and consistent as long as we (ok, I) didn't oversteer/overdrive the car too much. I could feel them noticeably lose grip after overcooking them earlier in a run. We might install hidden sprayers in the wheelwells to spray them on course...

Oh NOOES!!!1!! If Paul sees this super secret cheating addition "he can't lie!" and he will be duty bound to post it on all the world's Subie boards and tell the slowest of competitors at events! He is helpful like that.

Tire wear was excellent with 16 runs over 2 days.