I’ve tested several tires on my Veloster N over the past two years and have pulled that data together for this comparison article. The tires were tested on different dates and in different conditions, but I use the same Pirelli P Zero PZ4 control tire to normalize the lap times, and I feel that that all the data can be compared pretty equally.
Note that my Veloster N is a dual-duty car with camber bolts netting -1.8 degrees of camber, but is still on OE suspension. A more track focused setup with coilovers would be able to exploit better suspension and alignment settings, and get more performance out of softer tires. But I haven’t gone down that road yet, and so this tire test should be thought of as applicable to a trackable street car, rather than a streetable track car.
I’ve put the tires in this article into three categories, and noted the best rolling lap time for each. At the end you’ll find a summary table listing predicted lap and something I’m calling compiled lap, as well.
Pirelli PZero PZ4 vs Michelin Pilot Super Sport
My control tire is the Pirelli PZero PZ4, which came as original equipment on my Veloster N. It’s an excellent rain tire, but has mush sidewalls and wears out a little too quickly on a dry track. As a result, I don’t use them much other than for benchmarking other tires.
I killed the first set of PZ4s in the OE 235/35R19 size, and probably wouldn’t have bought them again, but saw the 18” tires on ridiculous sale. I couldn’t help myself, but this time I got them in 235/40R18 and mounted them on 18×8.5 +45 wheels.
Another tire that came as original equipment on the Veloster N was the Michelin Pilot Super Sport. But this tire was on the non-Performance Pack version, which had 25 hp less, no eLSD, smaller brakes, and smaller tires. I got a set of PSS for free on Marketplace with about half their life remaining and figured I should compare stock vs stock. These came in a narrower 225/40R18 size, but I mounted these on 18×8.5 +45 wheels. Thus, I can do a fairly direct comparison between PZ4 and PSS, but only if I ignore the fact that the PSS is 10mm narrower.
In terms of lap times, it was a wash, as the PZ4 and PSS performed identically in lap times. The .03 seconds between them equatable to noise from any number of variables, such as air and track temperature, rubber on the track, driver consistency, etc. For a 300 TW tire, I’d take the PSS in the dry and the PZ4 in the wet, but neither is really a track tire.
- Pilot Super Sport (45.207) – I like the way these feel at the limit, but the audible feedback is a little strange, being more of a protesting whine than a loud shriek.
- Pirelli P Zero PZ4 (45.170 and 45.176) – The PZ4 gives an earlier warning and they are louder, so they give a better indication of the approaching limit. The sidewalls are too soft and so limit handling is a little compromised, but I’d still drive these all day. I tested these tires twice, a year apart, and they were .006 seconds apart. Given that the lap times, rolling lap, and predicted lap are all within .01%, I feel confident that my PZ4 benchmark laps can be used to equate the various tires to each other. So let’s take a look at those tests.
Armstrong Blu Trac Race vs Atlas Force UHP vs Linglong Crosswind
The next three tires I’ll examine are budget tires, and they are the slowest by a fair margin. But they are also the most fun! They slide early and make a lot of noise, and I can do four-wheel drifts in my FWD hatchback.
- Blu Trac Race (46.247) – Armstrong left the e off of Blue, the k off of Track, and the grip off a 200TW tire. In lap times, it performed in between the two all-season tires I tested, and it’s a joke to classify it as a 200. Certainly the tread pattern looks the part, but these are all-season grip levels.
- Atlas Force UHP (46.450) – I wanted to try these budget all-season tires because Jonathan Benson raved about their track handling in his video review. He says that the Atlas Force punches well above its weight and was fun to drive. It was definitely fun, but also the slowest tire here. At 520 treadwear, it ought to be! I got them for $55 as dealer takeoffs that were mounted once but never used (still with stickers).
- Linglong Crosswind UHP (46.095) – This is another budget all-season, with a 400 TW rating. I put down one flyer lap that was the quickest in this segment, but in reality, I think it’s no better than the others. I got them for $65 on sale (regularly $76).
It’s worth noting that the Blu Trac Race were 235/40R18, and mounted on Konig 18×8.5 +45 wheels. The all-season tires were 235/35R19 and mounted on OE 19×8 +55 wheels, which weigh 10 lbs more. Each! If you put all the tires on equal wheels, the Blu Trac might be the slowest!
Which is not to say the Blu Trac are worthless. They are still the most fun, and should hold up to track abuse better than all-season tires, which have more and deeper sipes. Nevertheless, I’m still on a quest to find a bargain UHP all-season tire, and see no reason to go back to Armstrong when I can get something comparable in performance for half the price.
For those who are reluctant to try all-season tires on track, I say get a set of Atlas Force and just try them out. I often hear resistance to using all-season tires on track, with fears that the tires will blister or chunk. I’ve not had the problem (yet) and at $75 per tire, it’s a gamble I’m willing to take.
Also, let me give a quick shout out to the mobile tire service I use, On the Go Tire Pro. They do my tire changes at the track in between sessions, which is pretty much the only way I can get this many tests done in a day. Thanks Paul, you make this possible.
Hankook R-S4 vs Kumho V730
The ideal track tire for a car with OE suspension and limited camber is an endurance 200 TW. There are a lot of great tires in this segment, such as Continental ExtremeContact Force, Falken RT615K+, Hankook R-S4, Maxxis VR1, Yokohama AD09R, etc. For a camber challenged car, I also like a symmetrical tread pattern, because if you get too much wear on the outer shoulder, you can flip the tire once.
- Hankook RS4 (44.568) – The RS4 was once considered average in the 200TW segment, but time has moved on, and this is now considered a pretty slow tire. Just the same, it beat out a couple other 200TW tires in this test, and proves to be a great match for a FWD car. This is my favorite tire, and my familiarity with it means I may have driven it slightly faster than other tires.
- Kumho V730 (44.616) – In every other test I’ve seen, the V730 is considered a faster tire than the RS4, so why is it slower here? Well it’s actually not, I’m just not driving it as well. On predicted lap, it’s .271 seconds faster than the RS4, and I think its mostly a case of not enough time getting use to the tires. I ended up destroying the outside shoulder with 2/3 of the life remaining.
Goodyear Supercar 3R vs Vitour P1 Tempesta
Neither of these tires performed great on my Veloster, and this is to be expected because the car doesn’t have enough negative camber. But I tried them anyway, and these are my results.
- Goodyear Supercar 3R (43.965) – The SC3R posted the fastest time by a fair margin, but I honestly didn’t like the the way they felt. The rears didn’t come up to temperature at the same time as the fronts, and so the first laps were sketchy. They didn’t give much audible feedback, and so the limit was harder to drive. But oh man do they grip. The steering is immediate, and it felt like I was driving someone else’s car. With coilovers and camber, I’m sure they are amazing.
- Vitour P1 Tempesta (44.877) – I liked the way these tires felt. They have very stiff sidewalls and despite a soft rubber compound, they don’t require a lot of camber. From the seat of the pants I expected a PB lap, but it never materialized. The reason was because of Turn 2, which requires braking, turning, and accelerating all in short order. This overwhelmed the tires, creating a micro heat spike (I think). In the data, this was clearly visible as a V-shaped vMin in the speed trace, and a corresponding M-shaped LatG trace.
The reasons the P1 Tempesta underperformed could be down to a variety of factors.
- Tire pressure – They like very low pressure, but I was afraid of cording the shoulders and ran them at 34 hot. This is still very low for a FWD hatchback, but lower might have been better.
- Heat cycle – I did heat cycle these, but many people have reported they get faster and faster with more cycles. Perhaps the next day would have been faster.
- Heavy FWD – The Veloster has about 2/3 of the weight on the nose, on a skinny 235 tire. Most of the people having great success with the P1 are using lighter cars, and most of them are RWD, where combined loading isn’t as much of an issue.
- Track – Pineview Run is a strange track to begin with, being very short and slow. At a track like Watkins Glen, I might never have experienced the Turn 2 phenomenon.
I’ve given the tires to a buddy to test on his Subaru, and so perhaps next year I can unravel the mystery of why these tires underperformed on my car.
Summary data
The following data is sorted by Compiled lap time, which is an average of the rolling lap and the predicted best lap.
- A rolling lap is the fastest lap time where the start/finish line is most beneficial to the lap, rather than a start/finish in a static location. The rolling lap is a legit fastest lap, and a more consistent data point across multiple laps.
- I’ve also added the predicted lap time, which assembles my best sectors together. I use a five-sector map, which makes for a realistic the lap time if I hit my marks and drive without errors. But there are always errors, and this way I can see what the potential is.
| Tire | Rolling | Predicted | Compiled | % Time |
| SC3R | 43.965 | 43.694 | 43.830 | 98.34% |
| V730 | 44.616 | 44.351 | 44.484 | 99.81% |
| RS4 | 44.568 | 44.568 | 44.568 | 100.00% |
| P1 | 44.877 | 44.514 | 44.696 | 100.29% |
| PSS | 45.207 | 44.927 | 45.067 | 101.12% |
| PZ4 6/4/25 | 45.170 | 45.096 | 45.133 | 101.27% |
| PZ4 6/25/24 | 45.176 | 45.125 | 45.151 | 101.31% |
| Crosswind | 46.095 | 46.095 | 46.095 | 103.43% |
| Blu Trac | 46.247 | 46.026 | 46.137 | 103.52% |
| Atlas Force | 46.450 | 46.401 | 46.426 | 104.17% |
Note the final column in the table, % Time. You can use this value to find your approximate lap time using different tires. For example, on RS4s I typically do Watkins Glen in about 2:16 (136 seconds) and so on SC3Rs that would be a 2:13.7 (136 * .9843 = 133.74). Likewise, if I use my shitty Atlas Force tires, I can expect a lap time of around 2:21.7 (136 * 1.0417 = 141.67).
As I noted previously, I didn’t like the feel of the SC3R, and I actually drove the V730 to a better lap time at NYST. If my Veloster had coilovers, I would surely be singing a different tune. The P1 Tempesta felt fantastic, but V730s are a performance bargain, and that’s probably what I’d use most of the time.
But as my car sits now, all-season tires are a better driving experience than Super 200s. Sliding around sideways with the tires howling is where the fun is at. And even if my off-brand all-season tires are a few seconds slower per lap, my budget Korean FWD hatchback is still getting a lot of point bys in the Advanced/Instructor group… from people driving expensive German sports cars, on expensive French rubber. Just sayin.
But at the end of the day, the Hankook R-S4 is the best dual-duty tire for a FWD car with OE suspension and not a lot of camber. The tires grip well enough, have great feedback, and when I wear out the shoulders I can flip them once and get more life out of them. The more I test, the more I come back to old faithful. Long Live the RS4.
2026 Tire Tests?
I enjoy tire testing as much as racing, and I’ll certainly do more of it in the future. Pineview Run’s short track is the ideal venue for this, as it’s mostly vacant during weekdays, and I can get in runs whenever I want. The 45-second lap time is also a bonus, as I can get in many more laps to normalize the data. So what’s up for 2026?
- Super 200 – The fact that my Veloster doesn’t like tires that are any better than a 200 TW Enduro tire begs the question: is there any reason to test anything else in the Super 200 category? Probably not. My Veloster will destroy the outside shoulder on a A052, CRS RE71RS, RT660+, Hoosier TAP, etc., without getting much more performance out of them. But I got a set of used RE71RS tires and I’ll have to at least bench mark those vs the PZ4s. And if I get anything else for free in this category, I’ll test them out.
- Enduro 200 – The Continental ExtemeContact Force is supposed to be a smidge faster than RS4s, but the price is typically a lot higher. There really isn’t anything else with a symmetrical tread pattern that’s worth experimenting on. But I’m thinking about going back to an old friend, the RT615K+, just to see how they compare.
- Max Performance 300s – At the top of the list is an old favorite, the Continental ExtremeContact Sport. I loved these on my Miata, but I haven’t tried the Sport 02 yet.
- Drift tires – Nobody believes me when I tell them the Veloster is a drift car, but it goes sideways like no FWD car should! There are a couple drift tires with symmetrical tread patterns that look like they’d suit my purposes. The. Kenda Vezda KR20A is about $135 each, while the Accelera 351 GD is about $5 cheaper. Both go on sale regularly, and I might pull the trigger on either. Another one that looks interesting is the Vitour Enzo, which comes in a 300TW and 340TW.
- UHP All-Season – I’m also curious about high-end UHP tires like the Cooper Cobra and Pirelli PZero A/S Plus 3. Tyre Reviews and Tire Rack have tested these and put them within 1% of a PS4S, which is kind of shocking. I have a set of unmounted Conti DWS 06 tires I got on Marketplace for a song, and they will be my daily tires next year. Of course I’ll test those on track as well.
Occam's Racer 