Vent: My buddy Dave swore by cheap track tires and I paid for it

Dave from my local autocross club kept telling me to run those $60 Achilles tires because they're 'good enough.' I did 3 sessions at Buttonwillow and the inside edge was corded by lunch. That was $400 down the drain plus a scary spin into the dirt. Has anyone else had a friend give them bad tire advice that cost them real money?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica70727d ago

My buddy Dave makes the same argument and I finally snapped on him after my last alignment. I asked him how many track days he actually does a year and he said two. Two. He's giving tire advice based on two events while I'm out there every month. Cheap tires might survive a casual session but they can't take the heat cycle abuse that real track driving puts on them. I bet your spin happened because those tires got greasy and lost grip way earlier than a proper 200TW would have. Sometimes the "good enough" advice from a friend is just them justifying their own cheap setup.

kim.nina27d ago

Fair point but I kinda see it different. Even with two track days a year, if someone's driving hard on cheap tires they're still gonna learn what bad grip feels like. The heat cycle thing is real for sure, but for a lot of people who just want to have fun without going bankrupt, cheap rubber still makes more sense.

the_thomas27d ago

Haha, two track days a year. That's like me giving relationship advice based on my two Tinder dates in 2019. I ran a set of cheap all-seasons at a track day once, they felt like driving on butter by the third lap. Greasy mess. I learned real quick that 200TW tires are worth the money if you actually drive hard.